Quote:
Originally Posted by beausgrrl  So sorry for what you are going through Madraga.
I agree that the vet should not have given vaccines with the immiticide. How harsh for the poor baby!
I wanted top post here so others could learn that things don't always work even when you do the "right" method. Ok, I am probably out of line here because my dog is a rescue Lab and not a Yorkie. But I've been researching high and low for all information on the slow kill methods for heartworm. We rescued our dog 2 years ago and he has been on preventative the whole time and also supposedly while in his foster home b4 our adoption... Anyway at his annual I brought him in for knee probs and he tested heartworm positive. Fast forward and our vet did the 2 shot injection of immiticide and now almost a year later we have had several followups and the vet believes there are still adults even though June's test result was "negative" for adults...So, the immiticide failed! There are many microfilareas still in his blood and now we are doing doxy 3pills/2x a day for a month, ivermectin(heartguard) once every 2 weeks for 3 months with a followup in Jan.
So, I wanted to share with others that we did "what is recommended" and are so sad that a year later and there must be more damage done and is being done to his heart and lungs (although he shows no signs) and he's still considered positive even though the test said negative as all the followup blood smears show more and more babies....
I wish you luck on treatment....
oh and we have also noticed alot of panting on our walks since starting the high doses of doxy so they have been cut very short.....
Good luck.
-Tracey |
So sorry to hear this, Tracey. So you mean to say the immiticide didn't work for your dog? Do you think it's coz they didn't give enough dosage? Or maybe she's like Stage 4 when you got her?
My dog got tested for those blood smear things as well and we did see those heartworm babies under the microscope. So the vet says the infestation is widespread and she's probably at stage 3. I really don't know if seeing larvae in her blood is an indication of the stage of heartworm infestation, but I do notice her coughing sometimes when she's been running. I have her for 3 weeks only so her full self is just slowly coming out. She likes to play in the garden and she jumps and plays with us when she sees us. I've only hear her cough today for 2 -3 times. So far, for the duration that I've had her, she's coughed for like maybe 5 times. She is very very skinny though. So I don't really know the extent of her heartworm problem. I've asked the vet for x-rays and ultrasounds but they say those don't really show the heartworm unless the heart is completely infested.
I didn't want to give her immiticide just yet because I'm not sure she'll survive it. We got her frail already. Today I just spent the entire day with her and so far she's very active and she eats a lot. She drinks a little but she does eat a lot. I've seen some improvement and I think she was dehydrated already when we got her but it didn't really affect her until she got overly dehydrated during and after the vaccine shots.
I'm sorta paranoid now... I force her to drink water by all means. And I've also started giving her pedialyte. Can i always let her drink pedialyte from now on instead of water? or will this be bad as well?
Thanks so much guys for all the help.