Anyone with a Heartworm + dog? My 2 year old black lab mix was just diagnosed. n/t

[michaz]

[livetohike]

1. In 1980, our dog Smokey was diagnosed with heartworm

He was just one year old. The treatment at the time required us to keep him "quiet" for thirty days - no jumping and excitement. That was tough! However, he came through it just fine and so will your pup .

[michaz]

2. She is on the Doxycyclene and the heartwork preventative now but

the Immiticide is still not being made so we have to wait. I did find some of the drug that the FDA is letting into the US from Europe at another vets but she can't start that till the 4th month. Keeping her fairly quiet is not easy. What did you use for meds for your dog?

[livetohike]

4. Things seem to have advanced in 31 years!

I believe Smokey was given some arsenic based drug (can't remember the name) via an IV. No meds by mouth. He went to the vet office and we brought him home the next day. After 30 days, we started him on the heartworm preventative which if I remember correctly, was a daily pill. Now our dogs take Interceptor once per month.

It will all be okay .

[MrsBrady]

6. the injected drug used today is still arsenic based n/t

[livetohike]

8. Thanks!

[phylny]

3. Our shelter dog, Jack Bauer, came to us without us knowing he was

heartworm positive. We found out right before he was supposed to be neutered.

His treatment consisted of having a rectangle of hair shaved on his back, and then he received drug treatment (which is painful, they told me). Then afterward, he had to be kept quiet for at least a month - this is due to the breakdown of the worms into the bloodstream, and there is a chance that "pieces" of the worms can block the pulmonary artery, causing death. So, no exercising, very short walks. We kept him crated most of the time, and since he was new to our home, the poor guy didn't know better. Little did he know that he'd eventually have the run of the house!

He is great now, very happy and healthy.

Good luck to you and your dog.

[michaz]

5. The Immiticide drug is the arsenic based drug given through IV.

That is the one that the company Merial no longer has available from the plant here in the US. It is still being made in Europe and the vets can get some that is shipped over here. The FDA is allowing it but there is not a lot of it that can be gotten. This Merial company is not giving a very good reason for why it is not being made here at this time. People are furious and it is costing a lot of animals to be euthanized since they cannot be treated. Many are boycotting the companies other products like Frontline Plus and Heartgard. It is pretty frustrating for people like myself. I live in northern NY and had a rescue pull her from a shelter in GA so she wouldn't be euthanized. Supposedly when she was vetted down there before she was transported up she was negative but now my vet is wondering about that as we really don't have much Heartworm here.

[MrsBrady]

7. I rescued Rosie last year. She had it pretty bad.

Luckily, it looks like she will be ok.

The vet was concerned that as the worms would die off, it might leave a hole in a vital area of the heart -- because her case was pretty bad. And she was really really underweight already. They do lose a bit of weight during treatment.
They can get the heart worms in their lungs too. Rosie, I think must have had a few. But she didn't cough too much.
My husband had dealt with this with his own dog and that dog apparently coughed quite a bit.

I got a crate for her and kept her in whatever room I would spend most of the day in.
I would pet her a lot and found her "spots" that she liked to have scratched that would calm her down,
Also the vet gave me something to keep her calm. I used it if I thought there would be a situation with extra stress.
She is a really hyper dog, but would be calm as long as she could be in the room with me.
I kept her in her crate while I was gone to work.
Also she slept a lot....even though she's a hyper dog...you could tell that she didn't feel all that great.
Just was really tired all the time, and that's from the heart worms. So the crating was really the best thing for her anyway.

Sometimes I would give her a benadryl and that would help too. Sometimes they itch as the heart worms die and break off. So I would give it if she was scratching really bad or it was going to thunder. She was probably left outside during storms and still gets really scared.

You could see the worms get "backed up" into her breast/nipples, which helped me to realize that she really did need to keep calm
to help prevent a stroke or embolism.

I took her out on a leash even in the back yard and in the house, that way she could not "run".

The body will eventually get rid of the broken up worm pieces.

Apparently there are 3 stages of heart worm's life. The middle stage is apparently not killed by the injected medicine. So they now give the preventative
for a few months first, not only to help prevent a new infestation, but also to let the middle stage worms get to adult so they can be killed by the arsenic .

It has taken a solid year to get Rosie in the clear. But she's totally worth it.

Nothing like an appreciative lean/hug from a rescued dog who just had her breakfast.

[iscooterliberally]

9. I got my Samson 2 years ago from the pound.

I found out he was HW positive on my way out the door. Luckily my vet came to the rescue and did the treatment, but only charged me for the drugs we needed. It still cost me about $300 and took us about 4 months total. The problem was that we did not know Samson's medical history. He came into the pound as a stray. My vet treated him for tick-bourne illnesses first like erlichia. Then he started him on steroids to help his body absorb the worms as they died off. When the time came Samson had one shot of imiticide and then a month later he gave him two shots, 24 hours apart. That was the toughest time, but the shot really knocked the hell out of him so keeping him quiet was not an issue. My vet told me to keep Samson crated, and only walk him out in the yard to relieve himself. Samson never had the tell-tale cough that a lot of heart worm victims get. He was a strong positive, but I don't think he actually had the condition for very long. I found Samson in Miami, and we have a huge mosquito problem down here. The shelter was under a roof, but open air where I found him. He probably got HW while he was in the pound. I was lucky in the fact that Samson is an older dog. A young lab mix might be tough to keep calm. One thing I use when needed is benadryl. This works great to keep the dogs calm. Patience is going to be the key, but it's well worth it. My Samson is a healthy boy now and he can get excited whenever he wants. Good luck to you!