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Alright, so I took my dog in to see the vet the other day because he has an ear infection. They did the works on him, and they did a heartworm test because he hadn't had one since we got him (a few months ago).
Well, he tested positive for heartworm, but he has no microfilarie (sp?) in him. The microfilarie are the heartworm babies.
The vet told me that this means one of two things. He either has heartworms that haven't reached sexual maturity and haven't begun reproducing yet, or he has a heartworm infection that is all the same sex.
Either way, something needs to be done. We've only had the dog a few months. He's about 2 years old. He has become a member of our family already. I can't just put him to sleep knowing that there is treatment for his disease. I also can't just let him have the heartworms and die slowly from them. The problem is, the treatment is pretty expensive, and there's a slight chance that the dog may die from the treatment.
What they do to treat, is put an arsenic based poisin into the dog, which is a small enough dose to not harm the dog at all, but to kill the pesky little worms trying to kill him. The problem with the treatment is, after the worms are dead, they basicly have to decay inside the dogs body. While they are decaying, they will travel throughout the dogs body. They can cause blocakages in small blood vessels, and the worst vessels they could block are the ones in the lungs. Those vessels getting blocked would mean the dog could sufficate to death.
The treatment costs anywhere from $600 bucks on up. Depending on if there are any complications. I paid $52 bucks for the dog when we adopted him. I know it seems a bit outrageous, but I HAVE to try to treat him. From what I've read, the chances of him dying are between 1-2%. That's extremely low, and those are only in VERY severe cases. From what I've read, my dog's case is probably mild-moderate, because he is showing ZERO signs of a heartworm infestation (i.e. trouble breathing, coughing alot, not wanting to run around at all). He is acting like a normal, healthy dog...which makes me think he won't have any complications...
All that said, I'm still extremely worried about him. I love this dog. He's become one of my best friends. Not only would my wife and I be sad if we lost him, but our other dog wouldn't know what to do without him around.
His name is Gordon, and he has been a basket case since we got him...he was pretty abused by his former owner, and it took a while for him to fit into our family...but now he's our loving coonhound that likes to move around as slowly as possible, just enjoying his new life he has. I'd hate for him to have to end up losing his life just after he started to live the life he deserves.
I take him in on Monday to have the X-rays and blood tests done to see how severe the problem is. If it's not a severe case, they will do the injection that morning, and I can take him home Tuesday morning. He will have to be VERY quiet for a few weeks (which shouldn't be an issue, considering he's already about as lazy of a dog as can be), but it will be hard for him not to get into any tussels with his "brother."
I hope he makes it. I'm really worried about losing him.
Well, he tested positive for heartworm, but he has no microfilarie (sp?) in him. The microfilarie are the heartworm babies.
The vet told me that this means one of two things. He either has heartworms that haven't reached sexual maturity and haven't begun reproducing yet, or he has a heartworm infection that is all the same sex.
Either way, something needs to be done. We've only had the dog a few months. He's about 2 years old. He has become a member of our family already. I can't just put him to sleep knowing that there is treatment for his disease. I also can't just let him have the heartworms and die slowly from them. The problem is, the treatment is pretty expensive, and there's a slight chance that the dog may die from the treatment.
What they do to treat, is put an arsenic based poisin into the dog, which is a small enough dose to not harm the dog at all, but to kill the pesky little worms trying to kill him. The problem with the treatment is, after the worms are dead, they basicly have to decay inside the dogs body. While they are decaying, they will travel throughout the dogs body. They can cause blocakages in small blood vessels, and the worst vessels they could block are the ones in the lungs. Those vessels getting blocked would mean the dog could sufficate to death.
The treatment costs anywhere from $600 bucks on up. Depending on if there are any complications. I paid $52 bucks for the dog when we adopted him. I know it seems a bit outrageous, but I HAVE to try to treat him. From what I've read, the chances of him dying are between 1-2%. That's extremely low, and those are only in VERY severe cases. From what I've read, my dog's case is probably mild-moderate, because he is showing ZERO signs of a heartworm infestation (i.e. trouble breathing, coughing alot, not wanting to run around at all). He is acting like a normal, healthy dog...which makes me think he won't have any complications...
All that said, I'm still extremely worried about him. I love this dog. He's become one of my best friends. Not only would my wife and I be sad if we lost him, but our other dog wouldn't know what to do without him around.
His name is Gordon, and he has been a basket case since we got him...he was pretty abused by his former owner, and it took a while for him to fit into our family...but now he's our loving coonhound that likes to move around as slowly as possible, just enjoying his new life he has. I'd hate for him to have to end up losing his life just after he started to live the life he deserves.
I take him in on Monday to have the X-rays and blood tests done to see how severe the problem is. If it's not a severe case, they will do the injection that morning, and I can take him home Tuesday morning. He will have to be VERY quiet for a few weeks (which shouldn't be an issue, considering he's already about as lazy of a dog as can be), but it will be hard for him not to get into any tussels with his "brother."
I hope he makes it. I'm really worried about losing him.