Please help! Heartworm question...

[ddani740]

My 2 year old English Mastiff has been on heartworm mediction and his last test in October was negative. Started coughing 3 days ago..rushed him to the vet and the last thing suspected he has heartworm! He now has to go through 2 das of treatment and stay at the vets for these days. I am crushed that this happened to my poor boy. I am just sick.... They are telling me that he has to be on bedrest for a month and no activity at all. He is very hyper and I'm told he may have to be on tranquilizers for a month to keep calm. Has anyone had to deal with this? I am just so upset I don't even like talking about it....

 

[raechiemay]

If he's been on heartworm preventative consistently & has had been tested like he's supposed to, the manufacturer of the heartworm pills will pay for his treatment. Not sure if you knew this. It will be hard on his body & he will probably be fairly sore. Hopefully your vet gives you pain medication also.

 

[musicdeb]

I'm so sorry to hear your baby has heartworm. Yes, they have to remain very calm during treatment. Keep us posted on his progress.

 

[DennasMom]

YIKES!
Definitely get the preventative mfg. to pay for the treatment if you can. That's terrible that it didn't do what it was supposed to.

Hope your baby feels better soon.

 

[angelbears]

Did your vet discuss the slow kill method? IMHO, I have a hard time believing that your baby has heartworms. Which heartworm test did he do? If you dog does have heartworms then I would think that they missed it in the Oct. test. With the hard winter we are having I have a hard time believing it was recently contracted. If it hasn't been done I would insist on an occult heartworm test, one that is sent out to a lab to verify a positive finding before I would treat.

 

[raechiemay]

^^ yes. I believe it takes 6 months for a test to become positive & there's a few ways you can test. Did they just do a snap test? Did they send it out to the lab? In either case my vet will look at a sample under the microscope to determine if there are baby heartworms present. This helps them figure out which course of treatment is needed. I agree with AB, I would be surprised to hear if he had an advanced case which would warrant the more aggressive treatment, given his age. If he is a candidate for the slow kill treatment, it is cheaper. The treatment with injections & hospital stays could cost you well over $1000. So definitely get a 2nd opinion & find out the severity of it. And also go after the mfg of the pills too for payment of treatment. You'll have to provide documentation of heartworm tests & refills of the pills but your vet should be able to print or copy his chart & give this to you.

 

[CeeCee]

There are also holistic treatments available that are much less toxic. You may want to check into them. My holistic vet has successfully treated a number of heartworm positive dogs. (The dogs all came up here after Katrina.)