I just found out that I have a 3 1/2 year old dog that has heartworm. It is in the beginning stages because the dog shows no signs at all, other than protien in urine when ran hard. He is in perfect shape other than that. No heavy breathing, plenty of endurance, good blood count great sounding lungs, normal liver, bladder and prostrate.
My questions are.......Have any of you ever had your dogs treated for this? I want to know what to expect! Does the dog get sick after shot treatment in back, what is the pain like for the dog, how long does it take until he is back to normal, any bad results from any of you?
Thanks,
Randy
Heartworm treatment in dogs.......
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S.Preston
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Aaron Bartlett
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Randy, I have heard that if it is treated in the early stages that it doesnt affect the dog to bad. I had a dog get heartworms about 15 years ago and I had him treated. The dog had them pretty bad and it ended up killing the dog. If I had a dog with heartworms today and it was a bad case, I would have to do some thinking weather or not to have him treated. I hope the treatment is much different today than it was then. It wasnt a very enjoyable experience. I make sure all my dogs are on preventative since then.
Last edited by Aaron Bartlett on Wed Jan 08, 2003 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Crane Creek Kennels
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James Carman
Heartworm
I had some experience with heartworm several years ago. I had two with the worms and they were not treated. Of course, they died. I have had two with heartworm that were treated. One of these died. It was a 60 day arsenic treatment. He died on the 57th day. The other managed not only to live but to carry to term one pup while on treatment. My advise is if you want to save this dog, you must treat him. The vet I used was not too expensive. Check the price ahead of time and decide what you want to do. Surely this treatment is different than when I had dogs with heartworm.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
I spent the day checking around and asking and learning what I could about this subject and have to admit...I am feeling pretty good about what I have learned.
I guess up until the last 10 years or so they used an Arsenic product which could sometimes cause kidney failure months after the heartworms were killed. The product had a high mortality rate of around 50%+! Todays treatments in early stage heartworm using Immiticide powder injections results in less than 3% deaths, which leads me to think chances are good of saving a dog if caught early (before any signs of sickness). The cost is around $400-$500 for treatment including Xrays and follow up injection & 3 days & nights at Vets.
Still this is a very delicate procedure where strict home care must be met. Dog will be down and confined for 2 -3 months while recovering.....and crated for the first 30 days while worm disperses into blood stream and passes thru the lungs without blocking any passages.
I also learned that a dog that is on heartwormer year round still needs to be checked yearly......figured this was foolish before, but I guess now I see why it needs to be done.
Thanks again for all advice and wish the old boy luck!
Randy
I spent the day checking around and asking and learning what I could about this subject and have to admit...I am feeling pretty good about what I have learned.
I guess up until the last 10 years or so they used an Arsenic product which could sometimes cause kidney failure months after the heartworms were killed. The product had a high mortality rate of around 50%+! Todays treatments in early stage heartworm using Immiticide powder injections results in less than 3% deaths, which leads me to think chances are good of saving a dog if caught early (before any signs of sickness). The cost is around $400-$500 for treatment including Xrays and follow up injection & 3 days & nights at Vets.
Still this is a very delicate procedure where strict home care must be met. Dog will be down and confined for 2 -3 months while recovering.....and crated for the first 30 days while worm disperses into blood stream and passes thru the lungs without blocking any passages.
I also learned that a dog that is on heartwormer year round still needs to be checked yearly......figured this was foolish before, but I guess now I see why it needs to be done.
Thanks again for all advice and wish the old boy luck!
Randy
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Aaron Bartlett
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Randy,
I take it that your saying this dog was on some type of preventative and still got it????? If so why do they tell you to have them tested before giving them a preventative? If the preventative will kill them if they have heartworm then how can they get them if they are on preventative?
I take it that your saying this dog was on some type of preventative and still got it????? If so why do they tell you to have them tested before giving them a preventative? If the preventative will kill them if they have heartworm then how can they get them if they are on preventative?
Crane Creek Kennels
Aaron, I asked the same question and they told me that no medicine is 100% effective....so therefore occasionally a dog will get heartworm even when on preventative.
I made a major mistake, which in hindsight would not of mattered. I started this dog on Interceptor without having a test done, even though I didnt know the dog was already on Interceptor (which I just found out). My vet uses a microscope slide to check for heartworm filaria(eggs), Interceptor kills the filaria but not the adult.....so therefore a slide test can show negative heartworm filaria even though there is an adult heartworm. Thats why one needs to have an occult test done to determine 100% whether your dog is positive or not........this assuming he is already on a preventative.
Did I confuse you? They sure confused me. So if this is wrong and someone knows a better way to explain........please do so.
Talk at you later, Randy
I made a major mistake, which in hindsight would not of mattered. I started this dog on Interceptor without having a test done, even though I didnt know the dog was already on Interceptor (which I just found out). My vet uses a microscope slide to check for heartworm filaria(eggs), Interceptor kills the filaria but not the adult.....so therefore a slide test can show negative heartworm filaria even though there is an adult heartworm. Thats why one needs to have an occult test done to determine 100% whether your dog is positive or not........this assuming he is already on a preventative.
Did I confuse you? They sure confused me. So if this is wrong and someone knows a better way to explain........please do so.
Talk at you later, Randy
Randy, I was just talking to my boss last Thursday who is a licensed Veterinarian in Southern Indiana. We work for the USDA as Meat and Poultry inspectors and he also works in a clinic on the weekends. He said that the heartworm treatment is nothing like it used to be several years ago. I know my mother-in-law had a dacshund treated about 15 or 20 years ago and it cost about $600.00 but now I guess it takes two shots one on each side of the back, I think he said. I asked him the cost and he said he had a guy with a 7 year old beagle with heartworms in the clinic and he said the cost would be about $150.00 and the guy didn't know if he would treat it for that. Where are you located?