Heartworm infected dog - Just found out today :(

mindfulsilence -- you mentioned this pup had demodex.  That's another big clue to you -- demodex dogs may 'grow out' of the worst of the reactions with the mites BUT they always have a flawed immune system, so honestly this dog needs a little extra help (and this is not a dog I would use simple homeopathics on -- simply because like the guy who is 5'4" - a nice suit may help him act and feel more successful but he's NEVER going to play forward for the basketball team!!
 
Even after the treatment you will need to be really careful to make sure this dog is protected.  I'd use Interceptor rather than HeartGuard simply because this dog is going to be easy prey for hooks, whips, sarcops or any other parasite because that immune system just isn't ever going to be 100%. 
 
You might consider doing some extra stuff to boost the immune system -- like a supplement formulated for immune system and skin like Solid Gold's Sea Meal, like flax oil (again, the one Solid Gold makes is a good one for dogs -- dog's don't tolerate regular flax oil well), omega 3's (like mackerel, sardines, etc.) and anything else you can do.
 
When a dog has demodex as a pup, even after they 'grow out of it' (if they do) you really have to go the extra mile for them.  This is a dog you don't want to over-vaccinate (pull titers rather than always doing the combo shot every year) and you want to keep a careful eye on things like the thyroid, etc.  You want to make sure you don't feed a food that has hidden carcinogens in it  because you don't want to set them up for future problems.
 
Most of the herbals and homeopathics that are used to 'prevent' heartworm depend on a dog having a GOOD solid immune system.  That's probably never going to happen with this dog.    I'm not saying that this dog got heartworm because he had demodex -- but the fact that he had demodex as a pup simply means the immune system just isn't 100% so you have to take extra precautions all the way.
 
Just tossing that in to help, I hope.

IM all for Interceptor..... Samantha its the best....
 
My dogs were picking up stuff with Heartguard....  and I never miss a month...I do Interceptor all year round.... No matter what the weather is like....
 
Try not to look at 4 months... just look at the first 4 weeks and then the last 2 you can start doing things slowly...
 
If I looked at 4 months... I would need Valium....LOL

Yeah he had demodex, but the doc said it was very light and not a huge coount, which was good. The plan is to put him on Interceptor because the doc found hookworms andd an egg of something he thought might be whipworms, so he dewormed both dogs for everything. 

I'll definitely look into some immune boosters.  We are feeding him Authority (the PetSmart premium blend) because he was eating poop when we were feeding them Iams and the vet thought that it might be a bit rich which was why he was liking it.  Well, he still likes to eat poop (which could be cuz of the worms), but he seems to be doing ok on that food. 

Thanks for the Input.

LOL I definitely need valium!  If he doesn't, I sure do. 

I'm confused, on one hand, I heard that he needs to be sedentary and completely quiet for 90 days (3 months) but then I heard not that long, and then I see on the paper that he isn't pronounced HW free until Day 120.  So, hopefully the vet will clear that up, although when I asked, it sounded like 3 months.

All I can say is, "Oh dear."

The horrid thing is I'm obsessing about it, worrying, I'm such the Jewish mother.

Oy vay.

Hey, you have kids--even if they are fur kids--and you are going to fret and worry over them.  I stayed home from church this morning, and from going to my son's for Easter Dinner because my 11 year old golden had "di'rear" yesterday, refused to eat breakfast (I did get him to eat some boiled chicken breast & rice later, but not a lot) and refused his nightly treat last night. He normally follows me from room to room and when i am on the puter, he is on the corner of the bed nearest me. He also "bugs" me all the time I am on the sofa watching TV--putting that head under my arm and flipping it, pushing against me, etc.  Yesterday he spent the entire day in the dining room sleeping.  He had no fever, his nose was cold and wet, eyes clear and normal. My vet's was closed yesterday for the holidays.
 
This morning he was more perky, but only ate a tad of breakfast and then threw it up.  I decided to stay home in case i need to take him 30 miles to the nearest emergency--or call my vet who would come in if I called him...which is what I would do as he knows my dogs.  Anway, around noon i did an egg in the microwave and he gobbled it.  He has been following me and when I went out to water my flower beds and potted plants on tahe patio, he was with me every step. I am going to make him some more chicken and rice in a little while.
 
You vet must be doing a different treamtment for you baby.  I took Honey in bright and early, she had the injection, they kept her all day and over night and gave her the 2ed injection early the next morning and I picked her up just before they closed at 7:00 that night, and she only had to be crated for 6 weeks...what is that, 42 days.  She has been heart worm negative ever since.
 
Oh, I have rheumatoid arthritis, which is actually an autoimmune disease and not truly arthrits at all--or so rheumatologist.   tells me.  It not only attacks joints, but also muscle and nerves.  Anway, I take EsterC to try to help my immune system, and I also give one to each of my dogs each day.  They also get a Dr. Foster & Smith vita-cap for large dogs and a fish oil capsul.  I also take the fish oil.  And they get canned mackeral or fresh caught baked fish 4 or 5 nights a week.  My rheumotologist had told me to eat fesh several times a week.  I figured it if was good for me, it would be good for the dogs and the cat as well.  Pippi our cat had so much real fish that she would not touch canned cat food or dried that said it had fish.  She turned 17 last month and we lost her this past Monday.   She had been an outdoor cat the last 14 years of her life because at 3 she decided not to ever use a litter box again, but liked the bathtub and closet floors. 
 
Even being an outdoor cat she got lots of love and attention every day, never roamed past the yard on either side of us and loved to be carried around by the grandkids--by her head, tail, upseide down, it didn't matter.  She was always purring. Am going to post a picture of Pippi being carried around by 4 year old granddaugher last Nov--to chilly to be outside, so Becki brought Pippi in.  Also a picture of me with one of my fish--I love to fish and my dogs love for me to go fishing.
 
 

Wow, Pippi looks like our cat Obsidian, aka Sid, aka Fuzzy.  She is a porker!  

So sorry to hear of your loss.    Yes, our pets are our kids - I don't think of myself as a Pet Owner, but a pet parent.  You can't own a life. 

Interesting about the different treatments.  Time has been flying the last several months, I hope it continues to fly so we can be 'normal' again.

I'm so incredibly wiped out emotionally and physically today.  We're both worrying and tense and trying not to be because the kiddos are obviously going to pick up on it.  It's hard - my partner works from home and while that's good, it's also a lot on her because of what his special needs will be.  It's hard to focus on work and meetings when you have a child that is home sick, albeit a furry one.

That is a big fish!  I've never been fishing.

Btw, I see you're from TX - I lived in Texas from '98 - 2001.  Dallas metro area, then Austin, then Corpus Christi, then moved back home to California and now in Michigan since two years ago this last March.  I've never had BBQ like I did in Texas - beef brisket.  Yum. 

Hope that your baby feels better and that he perks up.

He's probably only gonna appreciate the palm fronds if he can bite at them as they whiz by *grin*.
 
I pm'd this to you, but just for the record -- Calms is a homeopathic -- the baby human dose and the adult human dose are pretty close to the same!! even a tiny baby would take one tablet -- but 2 tablets for a dog (or most kids or adults) three times a day (or "three times a day or as needed" is actually what the bottle says) works fine.
 
I did this gonzo long post the other day on homeopathics you might want to look at.  A homeopathic isn't an herbal and it isn't a supplement or a pharmaceutical.  The theory is that a homeopathic is a 'thing' literally diluted almost beyond chemical recognition -- it doesn't 'make' the body do a thing.  It simply prods the body to do what it WANTS to do when that thing is present. 
 
Rather than wax poetic here, I'm going to encourage you to either go to the [linkhttp://www.hylands.com]http://www.hylands.com[/link] website or to [linkhttp://www.boiron.com]http://www.boiron.com[/link] or to [linkhttp://www.abchomeopathy.com]http://www.abchomeopathy.com[/link]  and read on any of those three websites ABOUT 'homeopathics'.  They are an entirely different type of thing.  You often hear people use the word "homeopathic" like it's a synonym for "holistic" and it's totally not.  Let's say "homeopathy" is to alternative medicine as "teal blue" is to Color.  It's one of many, but a very specific one.  (In other words there are a zillion "blues" but when I say "teal blue" most of us pretty much get the same mental picture??? Altho there are MANY variations on that particular shade and 10,000 different things can BE teal blue.  Does that make sense??).

LOL Gotcha!  Yes, I looked at hylands website this morning, I think or last night.  don't remember - it's all one big blur.

In any case, thanks for the info.  And yes, I probably referred to it as holistic, instead of homeopathic.  *Grin*

Anyway, I'm going to go down and give the puppies their supper.

Be back shortly.

Thanks again!

Samantha

Yeah, we are in Ingleside which is just out of Corpus.  Been here since '88. We wre transferred here from Austin where we had lived since '72.  Small world, huh! I do most of my fishing on the south jetty in Port Aransas, but do some wade fishing in Redfish Bay which is between Aransas pass and the ferry to get over to Port Aransas.

I had never heard of autoimmune hemolytic anemia until my Hunter was diagnosed with it.  I had never used a computer--okay, I am 61 and of the stone age, LOL-- so I had to go to little library here in town and have them show me how to use one so I could research AIHA.  You can imagine how my heart sank when i read that 50% of them die within a week of diagnosis, another 30% within a month. 

I was allowed to visit Hunter any time and i went 3 times a day and took boiled chicken, which he gobbled (unusual for a dog with AIHA I am told).  He was on round the clock IV with drugs, but I was still alllowed to take him outside to do business and to love on him. He had been diagnosed and put in ICU on Oct. 9 and on Oct. 12 his HCT dropped to 9.7 and my vet said he should have been dead when it went below 11, but he fought so hard to live.  He was given 2 units of blood that day.

By the 15th we knew the first line of treatment was not working, so we went to the next, a drug that is used in transplant patients and also in chemo.  He got his first dose after I left that night.  I didn't get to go in to see him until noon the next day as I had to pick up more of the drug in the next town.    When I got there he looked so bad and it was noted he had been throwing up, which was expected with this new drug.  And for the first time he refused his chicken.

When I went back atbout 5:45, my heart sank.  I couldn't believe that golden in that large cage was my Hunter.  I had gotten use to his shaved legs for the IV, his shaved throat for blood withdrawal twice a day, his grossly bloated tummy from his huge spleen (it couldn't get rid of all the red cells it was killing as it was killing them to fast) and his shaved tummy for his ultrasound.But this time he sat there with his head bobbing up and down, his eyes twitching so that he couldn't focus, and any movment was so herky jerky.  I knew then he would not be with us the next day.  I opened the cage and sat in the doorway, hugging him kissing him brushing him, telling him what a special boy he was,how beautiful, how good, how much I loved him.   I had never cried in front of him and always been jolly as I knew it was important.  But that last day, it took everything I had  not to cry.  When I knew my voice was going to break, I hushed and brushed and hugged.  Three times i went back to the front and each time i went back to tell him again how much I loved him.  They close at 7:00, but the receptionist said they would stay until i was ready to leave.  I left at 7:15 and at 9:02 i got the call Hunter had gone into seizure and died.  He died at 8:40 on oct. 16, 2003.  I still miss him so very, very much.  I will post a couple of pictures of him, one as a puppy, and then the last one taken of him.

That's so sad about Hunter.   He sounds like an amazing dog and he sure was adorable from his pictures.  

Yes, Hunter was the sweetest dog, he loved everyone, he was my heart dog.  I loved him no more than the other 3, but there was a special bond between us that everyone saw and commented on.
 
Any time i read where someone lost a beloved dog, or their beloved dog is facing surgery or treatments for something, it hurts because I know the pain and fear they have.  Hunter's sister had luxating patellas and had her right knee operated on at abut 16 months, her other knee just a little more than a year later.  I was so terrified at the thought of having the surgeries.  I was terrified at the thought of Honey have the heart worm treatment after my Dad had lost his elderly English setter all those years ago.  But arsenic is no longer used and the treatments today is a lot better for the dog (but no better for us "parents".
 
I am sure your guy will do just fine and no matter how hard it is, uyou have to keep him calm and quiet as possible.  My vet told me that most of the times when a dog does die after a treatment it is because the owner didn't keep him down and he played, etc and a clot of dead worms rushed into heart.  that is the reason i didn't let Honey out of her cage one day early.  The day she was let out--on leash to go the vet--she was declared HW free and as soon as we got home, I turned her loose in the back yard.

And that's my biggest fear - not being able to keep him calm and quiet.    I'm to the point where we can only do the best we can, not let them wrestle, keep them seperated and crated, and hope for the best. 

Great pic's everyone... Oh My Hunter..what a heartbreak....
 
Hey everyone has gone home .... .dinner is over...... and Im pooped...
 
I had a thought that my holistic vet told me that I wanted to share...
 
She told me to always by the Fish Oil that humans take... not the ones that are for dogs...
Here is the reason.... she said cause they don't monitor the fish oil for Mercury in the dogs fish oil suppliments. But the FDA does in the human suppliments.
 
Just food for thought... what do you guys think of this?
 
I'll check back in tomorrow...
 
Oh Samantha... you don't have to be jewish to be obbessive and a worry wart...LOL You sound like my kind of gal... I so understand how you feeling and what your going through... if I only had time to tell you my other doggies stories... I kid you not... I need the medication for relaxation more than the dogs...LOL \
 
Nite

Our dogs get the same fish oil and EsterC that we use--get it at Walmart.  They do get doggy vitamins and we take human ones.  Because Buck is 11 adn has a little arthritis and KayCee has had both knees operated one, we give them the same MSM/Glucosamine as we use.  KayCee does get a SynoviG3 chew each day that I get from the vet.
 
I had never thought about fish oil for dogs not being the same as ours.  Glad for that bit of info. 

Interesting about the fish oil!  Good to know.

I'm at work and having a heck of a time focusing and being non-obsessive. 

I know you don't have to be Jewish to obsess, but it's in my blood! LOL

I am an absolute stress-case.  Here's hoping I win the lotto tomorrow night so I can pamper my baby.  You know, it's funny - quite often you think that money will solve everything, but then the stuff happens when you realize it doesn't.  Of course, it makes things 'easier' sometimes, but gosh, I just can't keep my mind off of it, as much as I'm trying.

I got some good ideas as to how to calm him down - the calms forte stuff, lots of good frozen kongs and marrow bones, reading to him, etc. 

I'm wondering - we have steps and to our best efforts he won't just take 'em one at a time - are we able to 'pick him up' carefully to carry him up and down the stairs or is that going to be hard due to picking him up close to his heart?