I have read a lot of the questions and answers but never contributed to any. We have had our dog Sam for 3 years now. He was a rescue from the pound. He is a really great dog. He is a Samyoid he is beautiful. When we go to town to get water or when mom or dad picks us up from school he rides in the back of the pick up truck. He never jumps! All the people come over and pet him he loves it! Well back to the point. This spring he wasn't acting like Sam. He wasn't as happy and acted weak and not perky if you know what I mean it wasn't a huge difference but there something wrong. So yesturday we took him to the vet's. My dad took him so I don't exactly what happened. But they ran a test and he had heartworms. Now he has to have a shot two days in a row. he will lose his strenght not want to eat for 3-4 weeks and we have to keep him quiet (like in a kenal) if he runs he could clot and die.he will start coughing badly and maybe blood for 3-9 days. he could lose part of his hair. they might have him stay at the vet's for a couple of days so as to be watched. and he could have bad side effects. This is all what we have read from the internet. if any of you know any thing else please let me know. The reason I listed all that could happen was to let people know to get their dogs heartworm prevention medication.

-- lindsey shamhart (l_shamhart@hotmail.com), April 24, 2001

Answers

Hello Lindsey, A long time ago, one of my dogs developed heartworm. He would just run across the yard and back and would be completely out of breathe. The vet said he was in second stage, which meant that the worms were working their way into his heart. He was given shots and we had to keep him confined for awhile. He was to be kept from running or getting excited. The vet said, that as he recovered his poop would be bluish. The more bluish the better he would get. For a long time we watched his poop,(which wasn't hard to see since it was blue). After a few weeks his poop return to normal, which meant that all the worms had been removed. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), April 24, 2001.

Thanks Lindsey, I know how expensive heartworm preventatives are and I also know a lot of people don't give them to their dogs because of the expense. It is well worth every penney when your dog doesn't have to suffer like that. It isn't worth the risk of not doing it. Thanks for your concern for everyone elses dog and your own dog and I hope your dog gets better real soon. Julie

-- Julie (dabanks@harbornet.net), April 24, 2001.

Years ago, I picked up the most pathetic mangy starved stray you could imagine. She was under a year old, and had heartworms along with a host of other nastiness. The vet said they could go through a really expensive series of tests and get real accurate about the dosages, or they could just guess at it, which was A LOT cheaper. We weren't too attached to this one yet, so we opted for the best guess method. She recovered just fine and my parents have had her for about ten years now. Maybe her age played a part, but she certainly wasn't a very strong pup at that time. She does still have some flaky skin problems, but that may be totally unrelated to the heartworm issue. Good luck with your dog!

-- witness (carlaevans@hotmail.com), April 24, 2001.

As a dog rescuer, I have literally had dozens of dogs treated for heartworm. Around here, treatment runs about $300 for an average size dog. The treatment can be very hard on them, as the drugs are very powerful and potentially dangerous. Follow your vet's directions to the "T". Watch carefully for any problems, and call the vet if you notice anything that concerns you. I have had some dogs get through treatment with nary a side effect...others who seemed miserable & suffering, and one who actually died from it. Heartworm sucks. Keep your dog on preventative, whatever the cost.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 25, 2001.

The stray I picked up had heartworms, intestinal worms, and so many fleas and ticks she finally gave up scratching, it was useless. It took 3 of us to hold her and cut out the mats and burrs. We named her Mattie. We opted to skip the tests also, and began treatment which was brutal on her since she loved to run and swim, but keeping her calm through the treatment was very important. It was hard on both of us, but she survived thankfully, and I was out almost $500 in the end, but she has been worth every penny. I don't think $70 for a six months supply of preventative medicine is overly expensive and I will make sure she gets her dosage right on time, always. Good luck with the treatment and be sure to keep up with the preventative medication.

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), April 25, 2001.

Our dog Josh was diagnosed with heartworms when he was seven years old. We opted not to get the treatment because we knew we would never be able to keep him quiet because of our sons (who had a tendancy to act before thinking) and we did not want him to die from the treatment (the vet said it was a very painful death). I asked the vet what to do for him since we were not getting the treatment. She said as long as he was happy and not in pain we should not put him to sleep. He is 15 now, the vet said he out lived the heart worms, that they die after five years. He coughed up some nasty stuff for awhile a couple of years ago, I thought he had been eating his dog blanket. This may not be the best route to go, but it worked out well for us. Good luck.

Namaste,

-- Judy Murray (nomifyle@yahoo.com), April 25, 2001.

Has anyone tried Zimecterin (ivermectin)paste as a cure/preventative for heartworms in dogs? When the cost of treatment became more than the cost of the dog, a local healthfood practitioner put me onto Zimecterin. It contains ivermectin which is the active ingredient in heartworm preventative medications. Zimecterin is intended to be used on horses for the same problem. It comes in a syringe-looking container but doesn't use a needle. The syringe is so that you can administer the paste in doses graduated for each 50 lbs. of animal weight. My dobe gets two notches per month and so far, shows not sign of heartworms. The beauty of this method is that enough medicine to treat my dog for 6 months costs less than $10.00. My vet was not happy when I asked him if this stuff really worked and wouldn't tell me flat out that it didn't. Form your own opinion. Am looking forward to comments from others who have used Zimecterin.

-- grass (jjames@n-jcenter.com), April 27, 2001.

Hi! We got our dog sam the second shot. He is very unhappy beening caged up! We tried in the garage with a potty break very often. but he had to much energy! very time we would open the door he would lunge to the outside. And when we would call him in he wouldn't come. We can't put him on a chain to his dog house or in the grass because when we got him from the pound he had been beaten now if you raise a broom or raise your voice he will put his tail between his legs and lay down or try to slink off. He is getting better. We have taught him if we raise our hands or lift up a leg not to be scared but to lay on hiss back and wait for a belly rub. Which he loves. Back to way we can't chain him. He goes crazy and lunges and tries very hard to get away. Which the whole purpose is to lay still. right know we have him in the extra goat house in the barn. We just use it for mom goats and kids for the first days. Luckly we don't have any brand new kids now. It is very big so he can walk if he wants but he mainly cries and barks. He thinks he is being punished and can't under stand why. We pet him and tell him he is good. We take him out for potty but he lunges to get lose and tries to run. He never has coughed yet even after he tries to get away. Arn't they soposed to? And a big problem is draging him back in. And telling him it is not cause he was bad. Any sugestions?

-- lindsey shamhart (l_shamhart@hotmail.com), April 28, 2001.

Hi! We got our dog sam the second shot. He is very unhappy beening caged up! We tried in the garage with a potty break very often. but he had to much energy! very time we would open the door he would lunge to the outside. And when we would call him in he wouldn't come. We can't put him on a chain to his dog house or in the grass because when we got him from the pound he had been beaten now if you raise a broom or raise your voice he will put his tail between his legs and lay down or try to slink off. He is getting better. We have taught him if we raise our hands or lift up a leg not to be scared but to lay on hiss back and wait for a belly rub. Which he loves. Back to way we can't chain him. He goes crazy and lunges and tries very hard to get away. Which the whole purpose is to lay still. right know we have him in the extra goat house in the barn. We just use it for mom goats and kids for the first days. Luckly we don't have any brand new kids now. It is very big so he can walk if he wants but he mainly cries and barks. He thinks he is being punished and can't under stand why. We pet him and tell him he is good. We take him out for potty but he lunges to get lose and tries to run. He never has coughed yet even after he tries to get away. Arn't they soposed to? And a big problem is draging him back in. And telling him it is not cause he was bad. Any sugestions? He is acting normal when he calms down.

-- lindsey shamhart (l_shamhart@hotmail.com), April 28, 2001.

Had a dog several years ago that got heartworms despite being on preventives. Vet said it is rare but happens. We went with treatment since he was fairly young and well-loved. I was told the treatment is arsenic! He recovered fine and lived several more years before succumbing to a rattlesnake bite. As far as Ivermectin, I had an old vet awhile back that told me to give my dogs a dose (weight- based of course) when I did the horses. I quit when I went to the monthly wormer but now that I think about it, I didn't have any problems back then. Hmmm....

-- Hoosiermom (hdnpines@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001.

This sounds like I am copying a story, but I am not really!!! I got a dog from the Humane Society, a real sweet dog. We took her in for a check up and found out she had heart worm...advanced...We were told that our wonderful dog we just got would only live about a year. She was 4 1/2 yrs old at the time. He did not think that she would live through the treatment, but she was lively enough still that he didn't want to put her down. He told us to take her home, keep her inside (we planned to anyway) and love her for the time we had with her. She was a dachsund/chihuahah mix. 10 yrs later we move to the country, bring our wonderful dog...July 4th...we put her outside to play while we ran up the street for a moment. (She was on her beloved leash). She was so smiley and happy! Then we came back and she was dead. She had gotten bit by a snake. She lived a long happy life with us and didn't succom to the heart worm..but I had never put two things together..until reading this post...She had gotten into some horse wormer right after we took her to the vet. We had taken her up to a pet halloween costume contest at a farm supply store, where she got loose and we found her munching the wormer. They were doing dog dips and live stock wormers that day, and some was laying on the ground. The worker told me that it wouldn't hurt her, she would be ok. She coughed up what looked like an old blanket a few days later....could that have been heart worms? I guess we will never know, but it makes we wonder!!

Cindy

-- Cindy in Ok (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), April 29, 2001.

Cindy, that's what my coughed up too a couple of years ago, I was sure he had been eating his blanket stuffing. Nasty looking stuff and according to our vet it was probably him coughing up the dead heartworms. Sorry to hear about you losing your doggie after all that time to a snake.

Namaste,

-- Judy Murray (nomifyle@yahoo.com), April 30, 2001.