Rainier Has Heartworm
You may remember the article I wrote a few months ago about a very sweet dog that was trying to adopt us. Of course we kept him and he and Ginger the Min Pin have become best buddies. They just love to play together, they run around the back yard and wrestle and don't even care about the size difference. I worry sometimes because he is so much bigger (about 60 pounds) than she is but he is so gentle with her that she's always fine.
Rainier is an attention hound who loves nothing more than to push his head under my hand so I'll pet him or he'll rub his entire body against me, usually when I'm trying to tie my shoes. I'm not sure if he thinks that this will get him a walk or if he'll just be able to knock me to the floor so we can wrestle. Either way it's sweet, annoying, but sweet.
We took him to the vet yesterday to get his six month heartworm check and it came back positive. The vet believes that he was infected just before the first test he had which is why that came back negative. He has been on treatment so they don't see any sign of baby heartworms but it's still going to be a long, expensive and difficult treatment process.
We have two traditional, vet recommended options and several non-traditional, herbal alternatives which sound less invasive but don't carry any guarantee. Mostly, I'm concerned about trying to keep him quiet during several months of treatment. Apparently activity like running around with his little sister could be deadly as the heartworm start to die. This is what scares me the most.
Thankfully, he's very healthy otherwise and since we've found them pretty early he's got a fantastic chance of a full recovery.
Other Stuff:
American Heartworm Society
Unchain Your Dog
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery
Rainier is an attention hound who loves nothing more than to push his head under my hand so I'll pet him or he'll rub his entire body against me, usually when I'm trying to tie my shoes. I'm not sure if he thinks that this will get him a walk or if he'll just be able to knock me to the floor so we can wrestle. Either way it's sweet, annoying, but sweet.
We have two traditional, vet recommended options and several non-traditional, herbal alternatives which sound less invasive but don't carry any guarantee. Mostly, I'm concerned about trying to keep him quiet during several months of treatment. Apparently activity like running around with his little sister could be deadly as the heartworm start to die. This is what scares me the most.
Thankfully, he's very healthy otherwise and since we've found them pretty early he's got a fantastic chance of a full recovery.
Other Stuff:
American Heartworm Society
Unchain Your Dog
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery
Hope Rainer has a fast and easy recovery -- good thing he has you guys!
ReplyDeleteThanks Judy. The recovery can't be fast but I am hoping for easy. I'll keep you posted.
ReplyDeleteOne of our dogs got heartworm and he had the treatment which was arsenic, apparently they get a dose just short of enough to kill them, ugh; which was painful for him but he did recover, he was angry and had a short temper while under treatment but we couldn't blame him for that. I hope Ranier does well under his treatment.
ReplyDeleteLinda - I've heard that the arsenic treatment is painful for the dog, not to mention dangerous. I hate that about it but since it also works I'm glad it's available and saved your dog. Thanks for the well wishes.
ReplyDeleteOur dog Was diagnosed with heart worms years ago, we had no money for the treatment and he is now 12 years old with no symptoms at alll. Sometimes I wonder about diagnostics in the medical world...... Hope YoUr pup will be ok!
ReplyDeleteTracey - I find your comments very interesting. Did you have the dog on Heart Gaurd or something after diagnosis? We are considering that as a treatment option.
ReplyDelete