Heartworm detected

Ulrich

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Oct 11, 2014
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Murray
We just learned that our 2 1/2 year old, Murray, has heartworm. His heartbeat is normal, and Murray's energy is good. He needs to have treatment to get rid of the adult heartworms. I'm told the first shot can be somewhat risky. I'm sad that Murray has to go through this. We gave him the heartworm meds, so we're not sure how or when he contracted this. Our vet quoted the treatment of 3 shots at around $1k. Is that the going rate?

Has anyone experienced this before? Do you have any advice or can you share your experiences?

Thanks,
Murray's mom
 

2BullyMama

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I have no experience with this and wish you and Murray the best -- sending prayers and positive thoughts.

I will tag some members they may have experience or just some knowledge. A lot of dogs that end up in rescue have them and are treated while with the rescue groups and go on to a full happy life.

Please keep us posted
 

Texas Carol

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Brutus & Cami live in Heaven
So very sorry to hear this, I'm hearing dogs on HW prevention are
experiencing infestation, not sure WHY, hoping more experienced
post. That sounds like expensive quote from Vet, maybe 2nd opinion.
I do know there are holistic options that are not as hard on the dogs.
Please let us know, am praying for him!
 

brutus77

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So sorry to hear this. I wish Murray the best
 

Tuneybuster

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Oct 7, 2014
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Hi, I do not have any personal experience but I do have a message in to some of the rescue directors and fosters who have had experience. I will post whatever I get from them. Sending love to Murray[emoji173]
 

Manydogs

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So sorry to hear about Murray. I had two German Sheps who had heartworms way back in 1968. They both had treatment, and did well through the process. I actually don't think the treatment is much different after all these years. There is someone on here-whose dog recently completed treatment. I am sorry I don't remember her ID-but the dog's name is Jack. Maybe [MENTION=2894]2BullyMama[/MENTION] or [MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] may remember who it was. That cost sounds outrageous to me-but I am way out in the country! Get some other estimates. Best Wishes for your baby!
 

Tuneybuster

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Oct 7, 2014
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I agree that the price is exceptionally high. Of course we don't know the level of infestation and other factors, but that seems high except in cases where the dog will be kept at the clinic for around the clock monitoring during the treatment. Dr. Becker (our rescue vet here in Kansas City) charges the rescue about $250 for treatment. I do not know how much he charges private owners, but I would imagine it is probably close to what Cindy's local vet charges.

Depending on the level of infestation Dr. Becker has a couple of different methods. His usual method is the slow kill method giving accelerated doses of heartworm medication (pills) to kill the eggs/young worms and once that is completed he then gives the dogs the typical 2 shots. Yes, the first shot is usually the "harder" of the two on the dogs, but the second one is usually better only because they don't have as many worms to kill. I think the dogs still feel pretty awful each time after the shot. The biggest thing in this is that your friend keep her dogs quiet and calm during treatment (or until her vet gives her clearance to start certain activities).
 

Goob14

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Hi, Im sorry you and Murray are going through this. Like others have said, I have no experience with this either but....My uncle's German Shepherd got heart worms WHILE taking prevention medicine. He contacted the company and the company ended up paying for the vet bills. I am not sure exactly how he went about this but maybe this is something you could look into. It's worth a try.

P.S. His dog went through the treatment very well and she is a happy healthy dog, no lingering issues.
 

bullmama

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So sorry to hear about Murray. I had two German Sheps who had heartworms way back in 1968. They both had treatment, and did well through the process. I actually don't think the treatment is much different after all these years. There is someone on here-whose dog recently completed treatment. I am sorry I don't remember her ID-but the dog's name is Jack. Maybe [MENTION=2894]2BullyMama[/MENTION] or [MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] may remember who it was. That cost sounds outrageous to me-but I am way out in the country! Get some other estimates. Best Wishes for your baby!
[MENTION=13140]Donnam[/MENTION] (I hope I spelled the name right!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

1Chumly

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Before we got Monty, we fostered a Boxer for a while. She was HW positive and the rescue was doing the 'Slow Kill method' with her. She was at least 8 years old and they thought it would be easier on her. It was the normal dose for her size but would probably take a couple of years if I understood correctly. We didn't have her long as we found out she wasn't cat friendly, we couldn't take our eyes off her and for an older girl that had other health problems, she was really fast!
 
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Ulrich

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Oct 11, 2014
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Minnesota
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Murray
  • Thread Starter
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  • #13
Thank you for all the responses and best wishes! We will definitely call for estimates and ask about the different treatments before going ahead with anything. I will post again when I have an update. :)
 

Texas Carol

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Brutus & Cami live in Heaven
Thank you for all the responses and best wishes! We will definitely call for estimates and ask about the different treatments before going ahead with anything. I will post again when I have an update. :)

Great thinking, from how you describe Murray's health & energy, you've
got time to learn of all options.

One poster here suggested you contact the company whose preventative
didn't protect Murray and request they pay for his treatments, they should
as this is EPIC fail of their product :(

Prayers continuing over y'all, GOD bless & protect you & yours!
 

Donnam

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Nov 5, 2014
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Dallas, Texas (Richardson)
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Winnie
We just learned that our 2 1/2 year old, Murray, has heartworm. His heartbeat is normal, and Murray's energy is good. He needs to have treatment to get rid of the adult heartworms. I'm told the first shot can be somewhat risky. I'm sad that Murray has to go through this. We gave him the heartworm meds, so we're not sure how or when he contracted this. Our vet quoted the treatment of 3 shots at around $1k. Is that the going rate?

Has anyone experienced this before? Do you have any advice or can you share your experiences?

Thanks,
Murray's mom

I just read your post and I'm so sorry that this has happened to Murray. My dog Jack just completed heartworm treatment about a month ago. We adopted him from a shelter and a couple of months later he tested positive for heartworms. We were scared to death for him, but he came through it like a champ and is doing great now. He'll be retested in June, but he's allowed to play and exercise now. So, I'll tell you about his treatment and our cost.

A HW positive dog must be on heartworm preventative meds for six months before they are given the first of three injections. The reason for this is that the injections only kill the adult worms. The HW preventative kills only the larvae after they enter the dogs blood through a mosquito bite. By taking the HW preventative for six months before killing the adults, you avoid the problem of having a crop of worms maturing after you do the injections. Jack had started taking HW preventative in the shelter and we continued giving it for the couple of months we had him, so we were able to begin treating him right away.

The first thing we did was get him on an antibiotic called Doxycycline, which kills a bacteria produced by the heartworms. tge heartworms feed on this bacteria and it makes them stronger and bigger. By killing the bacteria they produce, the adult worms are weakened and more easily killed by the injections. The cost for us for the Doxycycline for a month was $400.00.

As soon as the Doxycycline was finished, we went right ahead and took Jack to the vet for his first injection. They did radiographs to see the extent of the infestation, some other tests I think, and they kept him overnight at the vet so they could watch him. He did fine. I understand some dogs are very sore from the injection because it is a deep intramuscular injection, but Jack didn't seem to even be sore. Then we took him home and tried to keep him quiet. I was told to crate him and only take him out to potty on a leash. Jack is pretty laid back, so I ended up not having to crate him and I just didn't let Jack and Winnie both go outside together so he wouldn't run and play with her. He never had any coughing, which is one thing to look out for. As far as exercise goes, you just want to keep your dog from doing anything that would raise his blood pressure. That's because the adult heartworms begin dying and breaking up and those pieces have to be absorbed. Any sustained exercise runs the risk of getting some of those pieces into lungs and causing lots of trouble! From day 4 through day 10 after the injection is the most critical time. The vet also put Jack on prednisilone for most of the month following the first injection. It really made him super hungry all the time and he put on some weight. The bill for the first injection, tests, overnight stay at the vet and medication for the following month was about $650.

The first injection kills the male heartworms. The second and third injections, which kill the females, come a month after the first one and the third one is 24 hours after the second. So the vet kept Jack for two nights for the next two injections. He started taking the prednisilone again and that dosage is reduced after the first week and again after the second week. The vet bill for that part of the treatment was about $500.

Our treatment was expensive, but we wanted to do it the safest and most effective way. You can certainly cut corners (like eliminating the Doxycycline before the treatment). The slow kill method (just putting the dog on HW preventative) is not a recommended method because it takes 2 or more years for the adult heartworms to die. Instead of being able to control and limit your dogs activity when you know the heartworms are dying and breaking up, you would never know when to curtail their activity to avoid HW fragments entering the bloodstream and/or lungs because the adult worms continually die and break up over a two or more year period of time.

I would absolutely go to the company that manufactured the HW preventative meds that Murray was taking when he got heartworms! I have heard that those companies do often pay for the treatment, though I didn't have that kind of experience. I do know that VPI Pet Insurance Company, who insures my dogs, doesn't pay for HW treatment at all! It is unfortunate that some dogs are getting heartworms, even though they are taking the meds. Usually they tend to be dogs that live mostly outside, which I'm sure Murray probably doesn't! I didn't realize it before we had this experience with Jack, but if your dog happens to throw up his HW pill one time, he is unprotected for that month and it's enough to get an infestation if he's exposed.

I hope this helps and hope I'm not just repeating what the vet told you. The cost sounds about right to me from my experience. Vets don't charge us the same thing they charge rescue groups--I wish they did! Let me know if you have any other questions. The thing I was most worried about was keeping Jack still and quiet and it turned out to be not that big of an issue. You can't avoid short bursts of energy (like greeting you when you come home or jumping up on the bed). You just don't want any sustained exercise that would raise blood pressure (like chasing squirrels around and around the yard--which our bullies don't usually do anyway).

And remember that most dogs go through heartworm treatment and do fine. All of them have minor damage to their hearts from the worms, but most go on to live a normal life span. I would think that if Murray has been tested annually for heartworms and only now has had a positive result, then he hasn't had them too long. And he's also young and strong, so he should be fine! I hope his treatment goes well. Please keep us posted!
 

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