So my husband and I are taking in an abandoned dog, Sandy. We take Sandy to the vet today to find that he is heartworm positive, but did not find any larvae in the blood. So we have 1 of 2 options. The first option would be to just let him live as long as he can, then have him put down (b/c the $700 treatment is just out of the question...). The second option is to treat him with heartworm medication. Apparently there is the chance Sandy can go into shock – but the vet said that the shock occurs between the larvae and the medication. So, pretty much she said we could take our chance and hope Sandy doesn’t go into shock – being that she did not detect any larvae in the blood. If we keep the “baby” worms dead by giving monthly heartworm medication – wait for the adult worms to die (3-5 years) – then he has a much greater chance of living longer. Anyone had any experience with this sort of thing?? She made it sound like it was our best option but it still makes us a little nervous.....

12/30/2005 7:51:46 PM

my girlfriend's sister is a vet and she was talking about how you can cure a dog of heartworms with the medication, but it takes a couple years at least, and the dog sometimes dies by then. Sandy sounds like she has pretty good chances though, so i'd go with that route.

12/30/2005 8:06:37 PM

The heartworm treatment injections are the best option but as you pointed out, they are very expensive. The other method you mentioned, using regular heartworm preventative to kill the heartworms isn't nearly as expensive because it's just using Heartguard once a month. If it were me, I would call around to other vets to ask for a price quote on the heartworm treatment injections. That really is the best thing to do and if you can get it somewhere else or maybe set up a payment plan, then you ought to do that. The other method doesn't work nearly as well but it CAN work, depending on the dog. As far as the concern over shock, you could request to day board the dog at the vet on the days where you give him the heartworm pill. I am not sure how soon shock sets in on heartworm + animals who are taking the oral heartworm preventative as a method of treatment. Just ask the vet.

As far as the other option of just letting her go on until she needs to be put down, that's completely up to you, but heartworms take a toll on dogs. He will get to the point that he can't breathe well and will not be able to get around/exercise as much as previously. He will pant and become much more lethargic. His gums will get very pale and his circulation will obviously be affected as the heartworms essentially starve the animal from it's own blood.

Did the vet say he's showing any symptoms? DId they xray his heart to see if it's enlarged? Is he having problems breathing? Is he able to exercise as much and for as long as he should?

Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Edited on December 30, 2005 at 10:29 PM. Reason : Edit]

12/30/2005 10:28:41 PM

have you contacted a rescue to see if they would take the dog, treat it and then adopt it out. Call Petsound animal hospital and talk to dr. monce and see if he can help you with the treatment. tell him the situation. good luck

12/31/2005 12:33:51 PM

Anything but letting him suffer through heartworms. Since there weren't any larvae it sounds like the heartworm med would work out, but only if you don't find some way to fund the treatment, as ^ suggests.

12/31/2005 8:46:38 PM

^^^If you board the dog every day it gets the treatment for 3-5 years you might as well pay the $700...boarding at the vet is $$$$.

posted by: Lutra

[Edited on December 31, 2005 at 8:52 PM. Reason : durr]

12/31/2005 8:51:42 PM

You do not have to bard the dog to give heartguard. You can jsut give them the chewey tablets at home.

12/31/2005 9:18:11 PM

^*sigh* You either didn't read the whole post or it didn't sink in. Taking heartgard when the dog already has heartworms can cause shock or other problems, so this person was suggesting boarding the dog for the day the tablets were given, hence boarding.

12/31/2005 9:27:10 PM

please do not use dr monce

12/31/2005 9:46:41 PM

If you want to put the dog through it without treating it properly then just find another owner or put it down now. To be honest, a few hundred bucks is a blip on the radar in pet expenses so stop before you start if its too much.

1/1/2006 2:11:56 AM

I think NCDoodlebug is going to be the dog's best bet. No one is going to want an adult dog that is heartworm positive. There may be some people out there willing to donate toward his treatment though. Keep in mind that it's an abandoned dog - not his/her current pet. Not everyone can afford to fix stray animals they want to help find a home for, and when that's the case, they shouldn't be above asking for help.

The people that took in the beagle I was fostering found out he was heartworm positive and it cost around $400 to get rid of them. I might be able to look them up and find out what vet they went to.

Also, some vets will do payment plans, especially if you make it clear you're rescuing this dog.

1/1/2006 10:43:49 AM

Cat
have u talked to Heather C?
she still works at Oberlin (as well as another girl)
they might be able to help you out


and i know Quail Corners does payment plans


good luck girl.

1/1/2006 10:55:01 AM

couldnt other dogs get this dogs heartworms over the course of the 3-5 years? i dont think the risk would be worth it if so

1/1/2006 11:32:47 AM

A dog can't "give" another dog heartworms. What happens is that a mosquito bites a dog who has heartworms. That mosquito then bites another dog. If that 2nd dog is on heartworm preventative then, they can't get infected. However, if dog #2 is not on heartworm preventative then he could become infected with heartworms. Heartworms takes about 6 months to show up on a heartworm test in a veterinarian's office. (Ie: If your unprotected dog got bitten by a heartworm infected mosquito yesterday then if it took a test tomorrow, it would come back negative until about 6 months when the population of heartworms is present enough for the test to pick up on.)

1/1/2006 5:38:17 PM

^yeah the larvae in the blood are what get passed on from dog to dog via mosquito
I just gave Sandy a Heartguard pill - vet still seemed confident this was the best way to go

^yeah not only does he have heart worms, but he has hip displasia as well - so that’s why we opted to keep him because we were pretty sure that no one would want an old dog with so many problems

so far so good though, vet said if anything happened it would happen within 4 hours or so - we're keeping our fingers crossed

1/2/2006 8:55:51 AM

Sometimes I wish I was rich so I could help out in situations like this.

1/2/2006 11:19:35 AM

same here. good luck little guy!!

1/3/2006 9:29:19 PM

Sandy did just fine

The first pill was the only one we had to worry about - so now we'll just continue giving him heartguard monthly and wait the 3-5 years or so for the adult heart worms in his heart to die and he'll be cured!

1/4/2006 10:51:11 AM

I'm glad to hear that he is doing well.

1/4/2006 11:40:05 AM