waiting to begin heartworm treatment?

Question

my mother just called me in tears, their dog was just diagnosed with heart worms. she said the vet wants to wait until september until beginning treatments since the texas heat coupled with the treatment may be "too much" for our dog to handle, and he is sending them home with preventive meds to give her. ok i didnt go to college for 10 years and the vet did so lets assume he's an expert but, my question is--wont waiting harm the dog more? also, everything else i've read says treatment pretty much works but the vet told my parents that the treatment itself may kill the dog. shed some light please

she is about 9 years old, lab mix around 75lbs in decent health she is an outside only dog and she hates staying inside when they try to bring her in. that is why he told them to wait because at least if she wont stay in, by september it will be a little cooler (say 90 versus 105?) and she wont be *as* bad off outside.

yes, i believe it's common sense that had the dog been on preventive meds she would not have gotten the worms to begin with. thanks to those of you who are giving serious answers not trying to belittle me or be a smartass for the dog not being on meds.

Answer 1

Sorry to say but I use to work in a vet clinic also and your vet is right. Heartworms are a very big deal.Listen to your vet and whatever you do don't give your dog heartworm medicine now. It will harm it more than not giving it to him in the first place. I hope that everything thing goes well. I did see several dogs go in with the heartworm treatments and come through just fine. Very rearely did I see one die after recieving heartworm treatments.

Answer 2

Unfortunately the vet is right, and for some of the reasons I would suggest you start by reading this page: http://www.vetinfo.com/dhwtreat.html#Heartworm%20treatment
I used to work in a vet clinic and don't remember a whole lot of details about all the heartworm stuff, but I do remember the issue being a very big deal. I know the vets always pushed for a HW test prior to giving HW prevention because giving prevention after a dog is already positive for HW can make the whole issue much worse (why had to do with either speeding up the process or killing them off and then there were a bunch of dead heartworms floating through the dogs system, which could make them very sick without other treatments). I don't think waiting a couple more months will harm the dog that much more - there are some that have lived with it for years before the owners discovered the problem and finally got treatment, a lot depends on the individual animal. HW prevention is usually encouraged so much largely for one - the reason you mentioned, that the disease and also the treatment itself can be fatal to the dog, and two - the treatment itself is usually far more expensive that paying for preventative is, even if you add it up over the course of a few years.
You didn't say much about the dog itself though - is it an old dog? weak dog? small dog? big dog? etc. These things can make a big difference in how effective and risky the treatment can be. Well I hope that helps and that your parents' dogs does okay.

Answer 3

The heartworm treatment is massive doses of poison to kill the heartworm. There are dogs who do not survive the treatment, mostly the elderly and sick. Heartgard can be given to a heartworm positive dog. I've done in with a rescue until we could aford the treatment. Heartgard will keep any more larvae from turning into a adult heartworm. If the worm load on the dog is light then waiting will not do too much more damage to the heart.

Answer 4

When your dog goes through heartworm treatment the dog has to be kept very still for several days (some vets will keep you dog for this period of time to make sure they stay still and to monitor them). This is because when the treatment kills the heartworms, the heatworms can come loose out of the heart and cause a stroke. They need to be still and calm untill the body absorbs the worms.

Answer 5

If this dog would have been on heartworm preventative, such as Interceptor or Heartgard, it probably wouldn't have gotten heartworm.

Answer 6

i'd deal with it now purely by reality the attempt although gained't get up constructive even in 4 weeks. be certain you stay on the antibiotics for some weeks--do now no longer stick to the stupid CDC's guidelines they do now no longer comprehend something. it variety of feels like your wide-spread practitioner knows that although. So yea, get on antibiotics ASAP.

Answer 7

no your vet knows the cycle of the worms and knows what he is talking about.