My Dog has heartworm

[Ninjasquirrel]

I have never had to deal with this before...we adopted Duchess from a shelter 6 months ago. She was given a heartworm test there and it was negative. I was advised upon adoption that they would cover her treatment if we retested in 6 months. Well today I took her in for her blood work. I waited for the results and then the nurse came out and said they were moving us to a room. Immediately, I knew; the results weren't good. She came back positive for heartworm. The vet said the eggs take 6 months to develop so she already had it before we adopted her. We have been giving her Heartgard so she could not have contracted it in our care. The shelter has agreed to pay for it and do all her treatments in house. The vet also assured me that it is highly treatable and most dogs live completely normal lives after it is eradicated. It's just the waiting now that is killing me. She can't start her antibiotic until tomorrow afternoon and it will be a month before her first injection. Anyone have any stories of their dog going through this? Did your dog get cured and live normally? I really just need some sort of reassurance that my poor baby is gonna be ok.

 

[wyoDreamer]

About 20 years ago, a co-worker of mine had a shelter puppy (1 year old) that they adopted and ended up going through heartworm treatment. Her dog was 12 years old last time I talked to her and still getting into trouble. The actual treatment period was tough, but her dog lived a long, happy, healthy life afterword. She never said anything about the dog being affected negatively by the treatment except that the dog hated going to the vets office.
You caught it early, so thats a good thing. I hope everything works out good for you.

 

[Aunt Angus]

My dog had the same thing! 6 months after I adopted her, she tested positive! The treatments seemed to go on forever, and she is super hyper, so we had to sedate her at first. But she's fine now. She was 6 when I adopted her. She's 12 now.... and still hyper. If the vet is confident, you can be confident, too. Vets usually give you the realistic-to- worst case scenario in my experience.

But I COMPLETELY understand your fear and sadness. Been there with my Hattie!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

My dog had the same thing! 6 months after I adopted her, she tested positive! The treatments seemed to go on forever, and she is super hyper, so we had to sedate her at first. But she's fine now. She was 6 when I adopted her. She's 12 now.... and still hyper. If the vet is confident, you can be confident, too. Vets usually give you the realistic-to- worst case scenario in my experience.

But I COMPLETELY understand your fear and sadness. Been there with my Hattie!

Duchess is only 3 years old. She's pretty lazy but she can get overly hyper when she's excited so I worry about the spinal treatments. She might just have to me confined to her crate or sedated. How long did it take? I feel like this is going to take forever.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I don't remember, honestly. I think 2 months??? And we did have to confine her for a while. My dog is super high strung. Like bouncing off the walls at times. We didn't allow ppl over so she would just relax.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I don't remember, honestly. I think 2 months??? And we did have to confine her for a while. My dog is super high strung. Like bouncing off the walls at times. We didn't allow ppl over so she would just relax.

Oh thank god. I thought this was gonna be a years worth of treatment!!! She's already been through so much. First she was abandoned, then she was moved to another shelter, then she was brought to a new home with new people, then she had giardia, now this. It's just a "great...NOW WHAT?!" situation. I know God doesn't give you more than you can handle but if he/she could ease up on me that'd be great.

 

[Folly's place]

Usually everything goes well, although it does take three months or so now. Good for you for adopting a rescue! They do seem to arrive with at least something that has to be dealt with.
It's also very nice that the shelter is going to take care of the whole thing!
All the best,
Mary

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Usually everything goes well, although it does take three months or so now. Good for you for adopting a rescue! They do seem to arrive with at least something that has to be dealt with.
It's also very nice that the shelter is going to take care of the whole thing!
All the best,
Mary

It is very nice. They also provided all of her antibiotics for her giardia treatment...unfortunately they did not cover the testing. They only cover the treatment...not the test. Which, imho, testing to be sure the treatment worked should be part of the treatment. I'm not gonna complain though. If they weren't paying it it would cost me around 700 or 800 dollars for the entire thing.

 

[Folly's place]

As I said, VERY nice of them!
Mary

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I have not been through this personally but watch a lot of vet shows lol. Treatment can be hard on the dog, but they usually always pull through it. The earlier it's caught the easier treatment and recovery goes. Wishing your pup a speedy recovery!!!