[Dailydrool] Heartworm

[Jaclyn Whitehorn]

Hi Ashley,

I did use this method seven years ago when the basset I "adopted" from
my parents, Jake, was heartworm positive.  The main reason I chose it
was that Jake was 9 years old, overweight, had glaucoma, and rotting
teeth.  Not the best physical health!  I knew that the full treatment
would be very traumatic for her, and I had one vet give her 50-50 odds
of survival and another refuse to treat her.  Jake lived another 5
years, and I'm pretty sure that it was cancer of the spleen, not heart
damage, that caused her death at 14 1/2.

Personally, I would make the same choice again, as long as the dog
wasn't showing any symptoms of the heartworm infection.  Jake never
coughed, never had gum color changes, never had any of the other
signs.  The vet thinks her adult worm count was fairly low, and
putting her on the Heartguard kept it low by preventing other
"teenage" wormlets from migrating to her heart to grow up.  For me,
it's a balance between the damage a low worm count can do over a few
years versus the damage the heartworm treatment can do.

The vet that treated her this way is in a fairly rural, agricultural
area.  The majority of his clients are farmers or ranchers, and he
makes his living on large animals.  His clients tend to not want to
spend a lot of money on their dogs, so he does dog/cat services for
really cheap.  (If I could still manage the drive, I'd absolutely keep
using him for their shots!)  About a decade before I worked with him,
he had gotten tired of people asking him to put down their HW+ dogs
rather than treat them.  He tried the Heartguard treatment to see if
he could keep dogs alive longer and prevent them from spreading
heartworms.  He said they all ended up living their normal lifespans
(which he hadn't expected) and he personally had quit recommending the
other treatment because of the immediate harm it could do.  I
recognize that's not necessarily a popular viewpoint, and I'm sure
it's not right for every dog in every situation.  But it worked
wonders for Jake, and I'm really thankful.

Jaclyn
Abbie & Josh & the cats
Missy, Jake, Hannah, and Otis (and kitty Nic) all ATB



>  There is a basset at a local rescue. They state that he is heartworm
>  positive, "My care did not include Heartworm preventative and therefore I am
>  HeartWorm positive. What this means is that I will need to be treated
>  monthly with HeartGuard to keep the worms already in my heart from killing
>  me."
>
>  I thought that treating a dog with heartworm preventative that has heartworm
>  just kills off the eggs but does nothing to kill the adult parasite?? Wont
>  the adult parasite eventually grow and cause major damage to the heart?!?
>
>  This guy sounds like a sweet boy. Im not sure why the rescue wouldn?t treat
>  him (I assume lack of money and hopefully not lack of knowledge?)
>  http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10545765