Heartworm Treatment advice

[greenheadman1]

Looking for you guys opinions..my 6.5 year old lab contracted heartworms late last year, long story short, vet says its one of the "slightest" cases he's ever seen. She has been on Heartguard religiously her entire life, they are going to pay for everything.

Now the second part of the story, she has also developed pretty severe arthritis in her spine and it has affected her mobility a good bit, mostly after she's running around active for an hour or more. It's so bad that she literally has trouble standing up for a couple of days afterwards. Vet gave her Prevocox and it really gets her back going but I give it to her sparingly due to some of the harsh side effects I've read about on it...I say all that to say this,

Would you guys go through with the HW treatment. I'm just thinkin that the benefits of the treatment won't outweigh the consequences of he having to lay up for a couple of months, essentially allowing the arthritis to develop further.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[chance]

Had my two labs on HW treatment several years ago. One had no adverse reactions and one had some severe reactions. With your description of your dog's present health issues the treatment may be a bit dicey. What is your vet's opinion?

[greenheadman1]

Had my two labs on HW treatment several years ago. One had no adverse reactions and one had some severe reactions. With your description of your dog's present health issues the treatment may be a bit dicey. What is your vet's opinion?

He's wanting to go for it but I'm just having a tough time agreeing with him. Thinking about shooting an email to someone at MSU vet school to see what they think. Anybody know any of the professors over there?

[Northbigmuddy]

My parents labs have been treated for heartworms complements of HeartGard. One did well the other never came back to 100%. Close but not quite there.

My neighbor and his buddy had a vet in Hernando that did what they called a "slow kill" method. You don't have to confine the dog and you can still work/hunt the dog. I doubt HeartGard will pay for that. Both dogs have a clean bill of health and the owners say they are fine.

My vet and some buddies who are vets say HeartGard is not a 100% protection. The "research" HeartGard refers to as far as its efficiency is not based on real world conditions from what I've heard. Something like the research tested for 100 mosquito bites over some period of time. This maybe the case in some residential neighborhood, but not for me. In my location in the Delta you can rack up those kind of numbers in minutes. Pretty much what I've been told is a dog that spends a lot of time in a mosquito rich environment is gamble as far as heartworms go. My pup is on a 6 month shot which I reup every 5 months. So far so good.

[Jay Dufour]

Yup,we have been doing the proheart 6 ,along with a small dose of Ivermectin in the middle of the month. No positives in four years. My clients that insist on Heartguard have had light positives for years now.

[chance]

Heartgard folks paid fully for the treatment of my two labs. After we got a clean bill of health I am still treating monthly with Heartgard but am also using the ProHeart six month dose. After four years we have had no further indications of heart worm infestation in any of our dogs.

[BGITTER]

My dog had heartworms and i was in on a meeting where a vet from Hernando was talking about Heartworms. He broke everything down in terms where anyone could understand it. He said that its possible no guarantee that you can give your dog doxycycline for 4-6 wks cant remember and possibly get rid of the heartworms. I was at a stand still with my dog cause i was concern about doing the heartworm treatment. 1 - The treatment is a direct injection of arsenic!! 2- The confinement issues. 3-The possibility that even if he barks part of the dead worm could fall off into his lungs and kill him instantly!! With all that being said after the meeting with that vet. I went home and made the decision to do the doxycycline. While the dog is on medicine he/she can stay active and nothing changes except for you being consistent on giving it to your dog. Price is very cheap as well believe it cost around $50 and from a personal experience i can say it works. My dog has been heartworm free ever since i try this and i also give advantage multi every month instead of heartguard. Also thats been two years ago so the doxycycline works!!

[greenheadman1]

Thanks for the input guys! I'm starting to feel a little better knowing there are some options out there. A couple of y'all have referred to a bet in hernando, can somebody tell me a name?

[BGITTER]

I cant remember his name for the life of me i know there are several people on this forum that was at that meeting. Maybe one of them will read your post and can remember his name. My vet. is Lee Payne in Oxford would recommend him to any pet owner.

[Henna Sag]

Go to Dr. Lee Payne at Animal Clinic of Oxford there # is (662) 234-8022

[kb7722]

I don't recommend changing vets just to get the answer you want to hear.

Your dog is at risk of throwing a blood clot because it has heart worms. That is why the dog need to be kept confined not b/c of the treatment. Running around and getting excited gets the heart rate up increasing the risk of throwing a clot. The risk may increase with the heart worm load and if the dog is being treated. Ask your yet about this.

If you are concerned about the arthritis from the dog being confined, you can do some stretching exercises with the dog during this time. Again ask your vet about this.

Most of the vets I know went to school for 8 years and know alot more than the guys on the hunting forum (including me). Each case has unique variables. The care given to one dog may not apply to another dog's case. So listen to your vet.

[SkippyJ]

Go to Dr. Lee Payne at Animal Clinic of Oxford there # is (662) 234-8022

I've driven from Meridian before just to Lee!! He's spot on!!

Chip