My dog has heartworms?

Question

does anybody knows about heartworms? my female german shepherd, she is 5years old. and i am scare that she gonna die. right now, she is on treatment, but they have told me that the real treatment to kill the heartworms is from $1000 to 2000.

Answer 1

HEARTWORM TREATMENT - DOGS

The bottom line: Heartworm is a significant disease in dogs and cats. The treatment involves managing the heart, vascular and systemic disease present as well as eliminating the parasites. The goal of treatment is to eliminate the worms one way or another so the animal’s body can rebuild itself and return to the best possible post-infection health. This sounds simple but it can be very complicated depending upon the number of worms present, the dog’s reaction to their presence, the patient’s general state of health, handling the side effects from the medication and the effects on the patient of the dead worms within the circulatory system.

By now, it is clear that the treatment varies from dog to dog. Each animal’s personal condition is evaluated and the treatment protocol tailored to best effect a full recovery with the least side effects. Therefore, this discussion of heartworm treatment will be very general regarding the medications used and the more common side effects. The specific treatment protocol for your pet will be left up to your veterinarian since there is no way to predict how each animal will react to Heartworm treatment.

Treatment involves two basic areas:
1st) Patient evaluation and stabilizing for treatment procedure.
2nd) Elimination of all forms (adult, larvae, and microfilaria) of the Heartworm parasite.

Patient evaluation and stabilization

This involves X-rays, blood tests, heart evaluation, and any other tests indicated to completely evaluate the pet. The veterinarian evaluates the over-all health of the animal, then determines how to best proceed with treatment. Part of this evaluation is staging the severity of the Heartworm Disease in the dog. Some animals need to have certain conditions stabilized before Heartworm treatment can proceed. Those in third stage Heartworm disease may require deliberation to decide if it is best to try surgical removal of some worms through the jugular vein before any other steps of parasite elimination are considered.

Elimination of the Heartworm Parasite

This is a two-step process. The adult worms and the microfilaria are eliminated separately. No one medication kills both. The adults are treated first then a different treatment is used to kill the microfilaria and migrating larvae.

The most serious side effects usually occur with the treatment of the adult worms. As the worms die they lodge in the lung arteries and block even more blood vessels than before treatment. Besides the usual inflammation caused by the presence of the worms, the inflammation is amplified due to the decomposing worms within the blood vessels. This worm destruction releases foreign substances in to the dog’s circulation as the worms break down and are eliminated from the dog by the immune systems. A large amount of inflammation and swelling generally occurs during this period.

Before treatment begins, it is very important to ask your veterinarian any questions you may have about the treatment and what to expect. Some veterinarians will keep the dogs in the hospital during treatments to watch them closely. Your Doctor will make the decisions on an individual basis regarding what would be best for your dog.

The prescription medications used to treat the adult Heartworms are called adulticides. The two adulticides used most commonly are derivatives of arsenic. It is not known exactly how these medications work to kill the worms. We just know they do work.

NOTE: New medications may be available at any time; this listing of treatments may not be complete!

The first one is thiacetarsamide (Caparsolate). It has been used for at least half a century and is effective but can be toxic to the liver, kidneys, or cause severe irritation if the solution gets outside of the vein. The second medication is called Melarsomine dihydrochloride (Immiticide). With fewer side effects than thiacetarsamide, it is also an arsenic derivative and is administered by a careful intramuscular injection. It appears to be as effective and possibly more so in dogs than thiacetarsamide. It has potential for significant side effects and close veterinary monitoring is very important.

Side effects from the medication can be immediate or take up to 2 weeks to appear. One aspect of the side effects are due to the destruction of the adult worms and the resulting blood vessel blockage and inflammation. No matter what adulticide is used, it is very important to keep your dog very quiet and follow all of your Doctor’s instructions. If you have any doubt about what to do or what is going on, do not hesitate to call your veterinarian ASAP.

As the inflammation peaks after adulticide treatment at 5-10 days, sometimes anti-inflammatory medications are used. The veterinarian will determine at the time what to use after evaluating the severity of the reaction. Some anti-inflammatory medications can reduce the effectiveness of the adulticide. Therefore it is a judgment call regarding what is best for the pet’s health at the time.

Some patients even require a second set of adulticide treatments since the very immature L5 Heartworms and young female adults are more resistant to the treatment.

After the adulticide treatment and its side effects are resolved (usually at about 1 month post treatment), the microfilaria are then eliminated with one or another of two common Heartworm preventatives, Ivermectin (HeartGard) or Mibemycin oxime (Interceptor). This will be done approximately one month after the adulticide treatment, depending on your veterinarian’s final decision regarding when it can be done.

Approximately four months after adulticide therapy, the dogs are retested for the presence of Heartworm. This will determine if a second treatment will be needed.

Answer 2

You have to have the treatment. When I was a vet tech (many moons ago), it essentially made the bloodstream toxic (to the heartworms and not the dog). The hope is, if you do it right, and slowly, the worms die, and are absorbed by the natural immune system. If you do it wrong, or the infestation is too severe, the dog dies.

Giving a dog heart worm medicine will not kill off the heartworm infection.

First, you should ALWAYS have your dog on heartworm preventative. Second, if you can't afford the treatment, and can't find someone like...the SPCA or other organization who treat at a reduced cost (sometimes)...you probably should consider putting the dog down. It's not going to get better, and it's not going to be a painless death.

Answer 3

A dog with heartworms will eventually die from them, but there is something you can do besides the heartworm treatment. Heartguard is normally a preventitive, but it will kill baby heartworms that haven't made it to the heart yet (they are still in the blood stream). It doesn't work near as well as the treatment, but if you can't afford the treatment, it is your best option. It will take quiet a few years for your dog to be heartworm negative, but the good thing is, her condition will not get any worse due to the fact that there will be no new worms getting into the heart. Talk to your vet about Heartguard and good luck!

Answer 4

Listen I Have 11 Dogs,Get Liquid Ivameck,5 Drops 1st Month,6 Drops 2nd Month Ease Up To 1 cc Per Month,She May Pass But Heartworms Are A Hard Way To Die,Believe Me,I Had Very Old Dog This Procedure Saved Her IM Me And We Can Talk By Phone I Will Be Happy To Help You If I Can..30 To 40 Dollars

Answer 5

Ivermectin Is Safe to give to your dog- if anyone has a box of Heartgard laying around- check out the main active ingredients- wow is Ivermectin not one of them??? The dosage is 0.1 cc per 10 lbs. You can give a dog heartworm preventative if it has heartworms, it will take 18-24 months for the dog to be heartworm free. Heartworms have a lifespan of about 18-24 months so what you are doing is preventing the dog from getting more microfilaria ( baby worms) and allowing the adults to die. The saying that if you give your dog preventative and it already has heartworms it will die is False, that only works with the once daily meds, that no-one hardly uses anymore. The facts are that the monthly "preventative" you are giving is really not preventing your dog from getting heartworms, it is killing any baby heartworms your dog may have picked up that month.

Answer 6

The treatment for heartworms is usually pretty safe now days. the vet I work for gives 2 injections total and sees the animal back in a few weeks for a heartworm check and to get the animals back on preventative. I have worked with this vet for 7 years and we have never had a dog die from the treatment. I want to know why it is so much at your clinic though. The clinic I work for only charges $400

Answer 7

He does not need to be on heartworm preventative since he has heartworms. I bought a Lhasa Apso from a friend and the following day I took it to the vet and it had heartworms. She stayed in emergency care for 3 days and it was not $1000 or $2000 dollars, I payed $250.00 for the treatment. Boy was I mad at my friend! If you would have had the dog on heartworm preventative there is NO WAY it would have gotten heartworms. My dog lived but alot of them die.

Answer 8

It is very expensive to treat heartworms and the dog runs a risk of dying surring treatment.
You will need to keep the dog crated all the time and out ot potty on a leash the entire treatment time. As if they run around the worms can act like a clot and they can have what amounts to a stroke and die.
After you will have to have your dog on heartworm preventative for the rest of its life every month and you must not let it slip.
It is very important to give the preventative pills for heartworm as this is one thing that can kill your pets very easily.

Answer 9

Will my dog live with treatment for heartworm

Answer 10

Should be given month heartworm med + get professional advise from the vet, continue with the check up and probably raise some money incase if needed.