A few weeks ago I brought my sisters dog home with me since she's in and out of the hospital with pre-term labor. He was given to her when a guy could no longer keep him due to moving out of the country. I took him to the vet today to have his shots and heartworm test and the test came back positive. How succesful is treatment? How long does it take? Is there anyway my other dogs can get it other than a mesquito bite? He is a five year old boxer.
2007-01-20 05:59:31 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Dogs
My girls are on heartworm preventitive but this dog wasn't I'm in connecticut but the dog came from florida. The vet did have me start him on heartgaurd today until we know what we are going to do
2007-01-20 06:12:27 · update #1
Well, heartworms can be a pretty serious condition. Especially in southern states like Florida and Texas (where I am) heartworms are rampant. In Houston, where I used to live, we would say that any dog that is not on heartworm preventive is pretty much guaranteed to get heartworms after one year.
Heartworms live in the heart and blood vessels of a dog. They migrate to the lungs during their life cycle. They can cause a lot of permanent damage to a dog's heart and lungs so it's important to treat if you can.
The most common treatment (2 injections of immiticide given in the lumbar muscles 1 day apart and oral doses of ivermectin) is pretty mild. Most vets will do some labwork to check the kidney and liver function of the dog (the treatment has been known in the past to cause liver problems in some dogs so ruling out a pre-existing condition is important), and take x-rays to check for any damage to the heart or lungs. This will help the vet determine the risks of treatment for the dog. Most dogs will fall under low or moderate risk , get treatment and be perfectly fine. For dogs that have a really heavy infestation for many years, there may already be too much damage and killing off that many heartworms at one time could cause more problems than good. It's important that your vet do the evaluation first to see what's up with this particular dog.
If the treatment is too dangerous, there are other routes that can be tried. Your dog can be put on heartgard every month to prevent any more heartworms from infecting him and just wait for the adults to die. They cannot complete their life cycle and multiply within the dog. They must pass through a mosquito first. Your dogs cannot get heartworms from your sister's dog. They must be bitten by an infected mosquito. The heartgard route takes longer (heartworms can live around 3 years) and increases the chances that the dog would develop heart abnormalities or lung scarring, but sometimes that's all you can do.
If you do have the treatment done, it takes 2 days for the treatment and he would need to be on cage rest for about a month. If he gets excited and runs around a lot while the worms are dying off, they could cause a clot and he could die, so he has to be kept as calm as you can during that time. (I know, it's hard! But it's worth it!) Once he has a negative heartworm test after treatment, he can go back to normal activity.
There is a lot more info on this site.
http://www.heartwormsociety.org/heart.htm
2007-01-20 06:44:21 · answer #1 · answered by Lauren M 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
heartworms are a very serious condition. The treatment is sucessful mostly. It is a very hard and painful procedure though. It runs generally 500.00 plus. A first shot will kill the heartworms. The dog has to be quiet for a month as the worms die and come out of the heart. Any undo stress can cause embolism and heartattack and death. Depending on the burden of the heart, this can be a very rough time.
Your vet will tell you if you dog is a good candidate for treatment. I would get a second opinion if you are not familiar with your vet. Some dogs that are older are put on preventive, if the microflaria is light, so they don't get more heartworms.
If you live in a high heartworm area, heartgaurd is a monthly prescription that will keep your animals from getting heartworms. And yes they are transmitted through mosquito bites.
2007-01-20 14:09:55 · answer #2 · answered by 2ndchhapteracts 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it really depends on how the the dogs has had the heartworms, and whether the meds will help or not. Getting your pets on the meds now will help prevent infection.
2007-01-20 14:14:51 · answer #3 · answered by spiritwalker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it is not transferable to your other dog. Treatment is usually successful unless they dog is heavily infested. Treatment takes weeks sometimes even months. It depends on the infestation.
2007-01-20 14:08:34 · answer #4 · answered by Great Dane Lover 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the dog was recently infected treatment is very successful. And it is only contracted from infected mosquitoes.
2007-01-20 14:06:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
calm down... your dog will be fine as long as it had the treatment .. what kind of worms do you know? my bulldog had a tape worm once and you could actually see the worms comming out. it was heartbreaking, but the treatment is really effective and if it is a heartworm put it out of your mind or youll go crazy the meds will work... promise so relax you cant keep them from getting into everything...lol
2007-01-20 14:15:37 · answer #6 · answered by jessica lopez 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
they get it from infected mosquito ,,, treatment is successful...
2007-01-20 14:02:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋