My dog has heartworms

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My dog Callie has heartworms, she is a Golden Retriever that we adopted from the animal shelter back in Feb.. The lady that was the previous owner took her there because she was getting a divorce and couldn't keep her, anyway supposedly she had her on heartworm preventive and I have had her on it since we have had her but I'm not sure how long she was at the shelter and how long she went without it. They took an x-ray and her heart is enlarged. On a scale from 1 to 10, it is a 4, not sure what that means, but I am taking her Thursday morning to start treatments.. I am so scared something is going to happen to her during treatment, they are going to treat her with Immiticide, has your dog ever had heartworms? How did they do? I think this medicine kills the worms right off the bat and you have to keep her confined 4 to 6 weeks after the treatment.. I know that I am rambling, I'm just nervous!!

By Jackie on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 01:04 pm:

I am sorry your dog has heartworm .... BUT...no worries.. heartworm is easily treated these days.
My 3 yr old yellowlab mix had heartworms when we adopted her 2 yrs ago. She went through treatment with no problems. They kept her at the vets for 2 nights. She had the injections two times, 24 hrs apart.
I have had a foster dog here who had heartworms as well, she went through treatment...came out perfectly fine.

A lot of the dogs we get through the rescue group are Heartworm positive. all dogs who are heartworm positive are sent for treatment, BUT... all have survived.

Yes, they want you to keep the dog calm for a period of time. This is becauase the trestment kills the worms. It takes time for the dead worms to get out of their system.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 02:39 pm:

That sounds so yucky. Keeping them confined for a long time, would be hard. Did you just keep them in a crate, except for bathroom outings?

By Jackie on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 03:34 pm:

We didnt keep our dogs in a crate. With my yellow lab, we just made sure she didnt have any extra running around. IF they started to play we would stop them. We didnt leash walk them for the confinement period./ We would let her out in the yard to potty and bring her right back in.

My foster dog was easier, she was not very active to begin with. Basically she was a couch potatoe, so it was easy. All she did was lay around all day LOL

By Kaseys on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 04:11 pm:

Thanks so much for the info Jackie, Callie likes to dart after things like squirrels and birds when she goes out to potty so I will probably have to take her out on a leash and the only time that I am going to crate her is when I have to run to the grocery store or something because she and the cat love to play and I would be scared that they would be running around while I was gone..

By Jackie on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 05:30 pm:

Yes, they recommend you leash walk them, even in the yard. This is just so they do not have any extra running around time. My dogs are not use to going potty while on a leash,so I would just watch her and bring her back in.

By Unschoolmom on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 08:15 am:

I think the biggest risk associated with heartworm treatment is anaphylactic shock in reaction to the dying heartworms (thank you Animal Planet). That's fairly rare and i not as big a deal if your dog is otherwise in fairly good shape.