Heartworm Treatment - help & experiences?
 

Ok, I'll be upfront about this one - the thread really isn't about my Yorkie Winston.. its about his soon to be friend, Neville who's a mix.

I've been looking at getting Winston a friend for a while. I fell in love with this stray at the local shelter. My parents fostered grayhounds and then later normal strays throughout my childhood, but out of all the dogs I've ever met through fostering and lure coursing and more Neville is the most "chill" dog I have ever met. He was a stray, but its clear he was once loved. Total sweet heart, and the both dogs seemed to get along. I couldn't leave him.

Neville is heartworm positive.

I've searched the forums quite a bit, but I was only able to find a few threads about dogs actually undergoing heartworm treatment. I have researched treatment options quite a bit (need to make an informed choice) so I have an idea of what I am getting into choice wise when we talk to our vet. On the other hand, I was hoping there might be a few out there who can tell me what stage their dog was in and what treatment they chose and why? I know quite a few of you rescue frequently, I know Neville isn't a yorkie but this community has some really wonderful educated people.. and I could really use your help.

Luvfla's pup was HW positive and she did treatment. I also know that quite a few of YHR's fosters have been HW positive and treated. Right now LadyJane is at the dog show working with the YHR fundraising booth and has not been on the past few day. But I am sure that once she gets back she will be able to give you a lot of her experiences with HW positive pups and how they were treated. I'm very sorry that I can not give you any info regarding treatment. But if you can hang tight for a day or so she will be back to answer your questions. In the mean time maybe you could send Luvfla a PM and see if she could give you some info.

Standard of care for otherwise healthy dogs for stage 1 and I think stage 2 is still Imidicide therapy. Staging with xrays and urinalysis is safest. This way runs about 1K here. I think pretreating with doxy is becoming more common for the wolbachia. I know the thing now is to use Ivermectin and that may be the best choice in some cases, but the worms aren't going to be killed for about 2 years and there is some concern that the disease can progress in that time.

Never had a heartworm positive pup, but I can only say I'd have it staged, have his overall health assessed, and then make a decision. I believe Luvfla's pup was treated with Imidicide...

True...my rescue Sweet Sophie tested HW positive late last November. She had a 2 stage treatment then a treatment for any microfiarea (sp). So it was one shot each month for 3 months.
How was she effected? Not at all...we were supposed to keep her quiet and that was quite a chore because she was full of energy. I don't know if her vet is just skilled or what but she showed not signs of pain or angst from treatment.
It was not crazy expensive (I know expensive is realtive)...I think our final costs were about $500 BUT since she was a rescue, and her vet said he understood that they come with issues that we can't begin to know, he gave me a generous discount. Which a really nice!
Today Sweet Sophie is a bouncy happy little 10# girl. She also has elevated bile acids but we got great news on Tuesday that she does NOT have a liver shunt. So now she has a shiny future.
If there is anything I haven't answered, please let me know.
Good luck my friend.
Elizabeth