Anybody ever have a dog that was heartworm positive? We are in the process of adopting a dog from a local rescue group. She is a yellow lab mix, 1 1/2 yrs old playful and happy in every other way. Ive never dealt with a dog with this problem. It was explained to me that its common for strays to have this. The lady who runs the rescue group explained that they go to the vet for 2-3 nites for treatment. Then the next 4 weeks are to be kept fairly calm. Sometimes death does occur with treatment, but there is a high sucess rate.
Im so sick of people trying to talk me out of adopting a dog with this problem , expecially when I know its common.(although none of my dogs have had it).All medicial expenses are paid for by the rescue group. We do have to pay the 100$ adoption fee.
Anybody go through this with a dog before?

By Kaye on Monday, August 1, 2005 - 09:46 am:

My dog was heartworm positive. At age 5 she was dxed. She had been on a preventative and missed one month. We were torn, we actually chose not to do the treatment. Long story there, but we put her on a different heartworm pill, the theory being that she won't get reinfected and the old ones grow and die. It should cause some damage to the heart that way, but you only know via expensive tests and symptoms. At age 11, my dog ran away. So we had 6 years of normal dog life, she was a little more tired maybe, or maybe just older, but she never had any breathing issues, etc. My neighbor was a vet and he kept a pretty close eye on her and said he was amazed at her health for her age. So if you love the dog, go for it. Yes it may be horrible and she may die, but there are no guarantees with any animals.

By Bea on Monday, August 1, 2005 - 10:56 am:

Jackie, do you want a rescued Great Dane? My neighbor now has two and is looking for a home for the female.

By Jackie on Monday, August 1, 2005 - 11:06 am:

No Thanks Bea... Thats not the type of dog Im looking for. I try to stay with the labs or golden retriever mix type dogs because of my kids and because of the baby. My friend had a great dane. It did well with her kids at first, then kind of got snippy and they ended up giving her to another couple.