What are the odds that my dogs have heart worms?

Question

What are the odds that my dogs have heartworms? I have 3 dogs a 1 year old male Papillon 8lbs! A one year old female Doxie/Corgi mix 14lbs! And a 1 year old male German Shepard mix 55lbs! I know the testing for heartworms is expensive! I have already purchased heart worm preventatives! But i don't wanna waste them! I live in northern Ca! Thanks in advance! Oh another question! Can dogs get asmatha (spelling ??)

No! I don't want to waste it because if they already have heart worms and i give them the pills then it won't do anything its wasting them! And they are expensive!

Answer 1

Wow you are the poster child for bad pet owners. Sorry to hear your poor dogs are stuck with an owner who thinks caring for them is a waste of money.

Answer 2

If you think testing is expensive, do a price check on treatment of an infected dog. It's expensive AND hard on the dog.

Did you purchase Heartgard or Interceptor? Interceptor can be dangerous to a dog who is infected with heartworms already. If you have a negative test (for safety, all you really need to know is "few or no circulating microfilariae") then Interceptor is unlikely to harm the dog -- but neither preventive will kill adult heartworms. Heartgard does not USUALLY harm a heartworm positive dog. However! When a positive or possible-positive dog gets his or her first dose of preventive, they should be at the vet's office where they can be observed for a bad reaction; if they are positive, the vet can give an anti-inflammatory first.

If they are heartworm positive, talk to the vet about putting the dogs with heartworm on DOXYCYLINE before, and during, heartworm treatment. There is a sort of bacteria (but it's not exactly a bacteria) called WOLBACHIA that coexists with the heartworm and many people now believe it causes as much trouble as the heartworms themselves. Heartworm treatment also requires you to keep the dog fairly quiet for a month or two (on leash walks and loose in the house may be okay, but no running around the yard playing fetch or wrestling with the other dogs). And, it's expensive, even before you add the doxycyline which I would definitely do if it were my dog being treated.

++IF++ a dog is heartworm positive but has no symptoms and can't have had them for very long (your year old dogs might fall into this category) there is an option to treat with a preventive alone. This does NOT "cure" the heartworm infection, it just keeps the dog from being re-infected (and, from giving heartworms to the rest of the neighborhood) until the adult heartworms die off naturally. The risks of heartworm treatments that kill the adult heartworms have to do with all these dead worms coming loose and floating around in the heart and blood vessels -- ewwwwch! -- and slow treatment does not involve a big sudden die-off; that's a plus. But the dog will still have heartworms, and they really are in the heart (ouch), and you'll have six months to two years to worry about the live worms making trouble, which they also can do. It's just not a sure thing either way.

Please get your pups tested. Hopefully they are heartworm negative and you can pat yourself on the back for getting them on preventive now so they won't have problems! If they aren't, well, better to know it early and start treatments soon.

I'm giving a link that talks about treatment as my source here. Great place to learn about the life cycle of the heartworm and how the preventive works as well.

Much to my surprise, dogs can have asthma. Any recurring or persistent coughing or breathing difficulty should see the vet. So when you call to set up the heartworm tests, talk to your vet about whether you can get a multi-pet discount!

Answer 3

Heartworm testing is only about $25 a dog. If you consider that expensive, then maybe you aren't cut out to own three dogs. Nothing about owning a dog is cheap.

Get them tested for heartworms. If they do have heartworms, the treatment runs about $400 a dog. If they don't get the treatment, then they will die a rather uncomfortable death in a year or two.
If they don't have heartworms, then make sure they get the monthly preventative religiously.

Heartworm preventative is a prescription product, and vets won't prescribe it until they do the heartworm testing. Heartworm preventative will actually hurt or even kill your dogs if given to them while they have a heartworm infestation.

Heartworm has been found in every state, with the highest occurence in Texas, and the lowest in Alaska.

Difficulty breathing can be the final stage of a heartworm infestation. It could also be some kind of "kennel cough", or other doggie respiratory infection. It would be best to have the dog evaluated by your vet to be certain.
Hope this helps...

Answer 4

The testing for heartworms is not that expensive. It is certainly not more expensive than purchasing heart worm preventative. If you've never tested your dogs, and are using cheap or older (technology wise, not "age wise") products, there is a chance that just giving the preventative without testing and they have heartworms, the overload of the parasites on their system could kill them. The practice I work for gives a "volume" discount on testing, and our tests only run $38 a dog. If you are that strapped for cash you could contact the humane society or a low cost clinic to see what their cost is. Where I am at, the prevalence of heartworms in untreated dogs is relatively high. I would recommend getting testing to know for sure what you are dealing with. I am not even going to go into the whole "you should have known what you were getting into, cost wise, when you got three dogs", but in the future think about this experience before you get another dog. In regards to the asthma, as mentioned by a previous answer, breathing difficulties are common in the later stages of heartworm infestation. I would recommend getting in touch with your vet about testing for heartworms. Animals can get asthma, and if your dogs don't have heartworms, they can be inexpensively treated for asthma if they're having breathing difficulties.

Answer 5

Heartworms come from Mosquito's
you can take the animals to the vet and request a Heartworm testing only.....for the three animals that is not too expensive.
Them just make sure that you are giving them Heartgard they are the best preventative for your animals....If they are positive for heartworms you can give the meds and it will prevent them from getting any more but they will need to be treated for them or in time the pet will die ...just call and see if your local vets will do a HW testing only without all the shots..it is worth a try...we do that here and it is not expensive...Good Luck

Answer 6

Using heartworm preventatives to prevent heartworm is not "wasting them" thats what they are for. Treatment for a dog infected with heartworm is costly and life threatening. If you live in an area with mosquitos where the temperature stays above 20C to 30C (60F to 80F) at all times for 14 days on a regular basis then your dogs are at risk to contract heartworm. Where I live dogs are only at risk for a short time each year, areas that have no real winter are at risk year round.

Answer 7

Is your dog wheezing?? Because if he is then there is a great chance he is in the advanced stages of heart worm infestation, by this time in the stage there is almost no cur. Sorry to be so blunt but you need to hear it. And yes you should use those pills, testing really isn't that expensive if you compare it to the bills of treatment. It gets very costly and weakens the dog for life. You could probably find a low cost clinic in your town, just call the vet and ask for recommendations. Please get them tested