Hi Guys,

While the GD forum has its fair share of idiots and trolls, we also have pour fair share of heroes.  All too frequently someone finds an abandoned mutt.  And someone will give that dog a home.  There are more than our fair share of dog lovers here.  This is just a word of warning...

I rescued a cute little dog last January.  I took her to the vet, had all the tests run, and the full spectrum of shots.  Fortunately, she tested negative for heartworm.  Over the last 10 months that dog has become a huge part of the family.  I just brought her in for follow up shots, and had more screening done.  Unfortunately, she is positive for heartworm....

This came as a HUGE surprise, since she's had heartworm preventative each and every month.  How could this be???  Long story short:  Apparently, the typical Antigen test for heartworm doesn't immediately pick up presence of heartworm.  In my little girl's case, the Vet figures she got zapped by a mosquito in October or so, the worms got established but the infection wasn't far enough along yet to trigger a positive on the antigen test.  And the little bastards were far enough along that when I started heartworm preventative in January (when I took her home) my heartworm preventative was ineffective (since it started three or four months later).  And here we are with a heartworm problem today.  This could have gone reaaaaalllly wrong.


Good news:  Sadie, my dog, will likely be okay.  We've got several months of treatments ahead of us, and she isn't completely out of the woods.   There is still a risk of embolism  when we zap the adult heartworms.  Oh, and it's cost me $1,800 this week alone for diagnostics and all the other related shit.  


The warning: For those of you who do adopt these strays, have them checked for heartworm.  And even if its negative, test the dogs again in six months.  It's waaaaaaaaay cheaper, and a lot easier on the dog and on you.



Fro

that's great advice, sorry to hear your buddy has this problem



Hope everything works out for your dog.   I think I understand that the problem with killing the adult heartworms is when the clump of worms lets go, and maybe gets stuck?    



Keep us posted.

WOW...  heart worm meds while an active hear worm infestation can be bad from what I understand.

Great advice, my rescued pups are going in next week for their full check ups.

It cost us 500 dollars for de-heart worm treatment, dog could not be active for a while afterwards.

It bears saying that this is not exclusive to rescues.

All dogs are at risk, all should be tested yearly, and all should receive monthly preventatives.

The fact that you bought the dog has no bearing on exposure.

You're doing good OP. Your dogs going to work through this.

Best of luck

Adorable dog!  

However I see you post on a gun forum and are from NY. Hide yo Dag before the nazis shoot her.

She's a cutie OP. Good luck.

Fro

If you had your dag on heartworm prevenative since you got her, contact that company and explain the situation. Our rescue dag had the same issue and the company (I forget which one) gave us a years supply of the medication and covered about 80% of the heartworm treatment as a good will gesture since ours was a rescue dag.

YMMV