Heartworm treatment

Hi and welcome to the board.  I'm sorry to hear what you're going thru but hopefully they've caught it early and the treatment will go smoothly.  I don't know much about the treatment but I know that there have been postings previously.  You might use the search tool to find some earlier threads discussing this.
 
I just want to thank you for your post though.  I've been delaying giving my one lab the new heartworm treatment because she's been battling some infections and some allergry problems.  I've been concerned about adding another complication to her system, but I'm going to go ahead and give it to her tonight. 
 
Good luck to you and I'm sure others will be along to offer some advice.

thanks Cathy... 
 
I have searched the board and cant find anything about heartworm treatment.  Just about heartworm prevenative. 
 
If you cand find anything let me know!  thaks []

Oh he's a beautiful boy.  My lab, Sassy, looks very much like that too.  I'll check for some threads and post what I can find.

He's a really sweet boy too.  Loves to chase the cats though.  and when he wants to go somewhere its hard to stop if a cat is in his sights...lol...[]
 
 I dont like to see him sick.he is my baby...   

I'm so so sorry you're having to deal with this. Go here [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/cgi-bin/discus/search.pl]http://forum.dog.com/cgi-bin/discus/search.pl[/link] and do a search for heartworm treatment, there were a lot of threads. That's the old version of this board. Best of luck to you and your pup!

Kelly's suggestion is the best.  You'll find tons of info on the old forum.  Here are a few threads I found - good luck to you!

[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/98560.html]http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/98560.html[/link]
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/63808.html]http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/63808.html[/link]
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/163409.html]http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/163409.html[/link]

thanks Kelly and Cathy...  that really helped.  I have also emailed a lady that does Lab rescue in NC for any thoughts and suggestions on how to keep him quiet. 

another question though.. would you crate both dogs?  or leave the other one outside during the day by himself?  I dont know how its going to go over seperating these two.  they have been togther for 6.5 yrs. 

That is a really tough question and you're probably going to have to play it by ear somewhat.  Do they have separate crates but near each other?  If so, I'd say that's a good thing so they can be near, but not playing with each other.  I'd imagine the healthy dog will still need lots of exercise though and I know how heartbreaking that is to be able to play with one but not the other.  I know this is going to be rough for you and your dogs and hopefully someone with experience can give you some tips but just know that it's 8 weeks (seems like a long time, but really isn't) and it's going to be worth it in the long run.

I am borrowing a crate from my sister for Coal and have a smaller one that i used when he was house breaking but neither one has been in one since they were 6months old.  Casey (my english setter) likes to sleep in the bed and Coal likes to sleep on the air vent on the floor.  gets a little warm in the middle of the night.  []   We will see how it goes.  I might crate both just to be fair at night and let casey out in the morning.  that way hes not barking all night because he is alone...  []  my sister even said she would take him to her house so he has somebody to play with... guess we have a little time to figuire something out....  thanks Cathy!

Hello---I can tell you about heartworm treatments.  I have posted Honey's story on here before, but has been a while back.

Okay, we had 3 goldens, had no plans at all to get a 4th dog, and then our neighbors across the street who did volunteer work for the tiny little local brand of the Humane Soceity tricked us into getting a golden mix.  How did they trick us?  We said no, we were not interested in a 4th dog and would not go see her.  SO they brought her to our house and all it took was one look into those huge brown eyes eyes, one swipe of that pink tongue and we were hooked on her--as were our 3 goldens.  But it was going to be 2 days before we could bring her home because truck driver hubby was leaving on the road and I was going to be out of town for 2 days.

I picked her up Dec. 7 2002.  Her history was very short.  She was thought to be right at a year old, she had been one hour from being gassed at the county pound when the HS took her.  They got every "gas day" and try to pick 2-4 dogs they think they can find homes for.  she was one of them.  No history past the pound days.  She had been spayed and declared parasite free, including heartworms.  She was given a pill the night before i picked her up.

A month later I took her in to start her on Proheart6 (this was before it killed my Hunter and I had no idea how dangerous it was) and she tested positive for heart worm.  My vet said there was no way she could have been neg. the first of Dec., gotten a pill on the 6th of Dec. and test positive on Jan. 6.  He did the test again and I stood right that and watch it pop up positive.  I made arrangments to get her treated a few days later.

I called the HS (our town is only 9400 people, so is very small organization) and told them about Honey being HW positive.  They wanted me to take her to their vet in the next town.  I did and she tested negative.  A few days later, after she had had the treatment, the HS called and asked if i would be willing to bring Honey in and let him take blood and send it to Texas A&M for deeper testing.  I said yes, i did, and several days later he called back and said the test results from A&M were that she WAS positive for heartworms.  Why two different results.  The HS used the Idexx Snap text before adoption and then after she was declared postivie by my vet.  My vet uses the Heska (I think he called it witness) test.

As to treatment, I took her in early and they shaved 2 places on her lower back.  She got one injection that morning and was kept.  She got an injection in the other site first thing the next morning and I picked her up just before closing at 7:00 tha night.  I had borrowed a large wire crate and set it up in the livingroom--you can also see into the kitchen from where I put the crate.  She spent 6 weeks in that crate, only allowed out on a leash to do business 4-5 times a day.  It was really hard on her as she didnt' feel bad and she could see the other 3 dogs running free in the house....and she was really just a puppy herself. I did get some tranq's for her but only gave them if she got to rambunctius in that crate.

My sweet precious Hunter had the biggest heart and even tho we had only had Honey a month, he would often spend time laying by the crate as if to keep her company.   I would always put the others in another room or outside before taking Honey out of the crate to take her out front to do business.  Didn't want her jumping or anything.  But you should have seen her running and jumping when she was declared heartworm free and able to do what she wanted to.

Honey came out of her crate somewhere around the middle of Feb. 2003.  On oct. 16, 2003 we lost Hunter to AIHA 6 weeks after his 3rd Proheart6 injection.  Honey was a life saver for his littermate sister.  KayCee was so depressed she spent all her time under the table.  But Honey refused to let her mope like that.  She got kayCee out and playing again and today, 2 1/2 years later Honey is a ball of energy and she and KayCee are best buds.

Hope this helps some. Will post a picture of Honey.  And wishing all the luck in the world for your fur kid...and for you.  Is hard seeing them crated for so long.

Somehow I didn't Honey's pictures, so will give it another try.

I haven't read through all of the posts or checked out the links to the old board to see if this was already said, but if it wasn't, I wanted to add this...
 
Both of my boys went through treatment after they were adopted. From my own experience (and this certainly won't be the case for every dog), they stay pretty quiet in the first couple of days after their injections because they don't feel well. Some may also be sensitive around the injection site. Between treatments, they will probably regain energy and feel ready to go back to usual activities. This is when crating/keeping quiet will be really necessary because they're not out of the danger zone. At some point in the treatment, the adult worms will be dying off and passing through the blood stream. They really should be kept quiet partiularly at this point because the dying-off process can cause complications that could result in death. I'm not saying that to scare you or anything like that. I just wanted to pass that on so you'll know to keep him quiet even when he's begging, "But Mom, I feel great, let me play!!!!"
 
Good luck. I hope everything goes well!!

Gosh - she's beautiful Sandra and what a great story, especially the part about Hunter laying close to keep Honey company.  I can just picture how sweet that must've looked.