Hogan Update

you know honestly I wonder if he is just anxious.... Casey is also panting when he comes in and the more I think of it... they are both doing it.  But i would think its bad for Coal since he is going thru the treatment and  not sure if his heart rate is up or not from panting... thats the part that worries me...

There is panting from heat and there is also a particular kind of "heart pant" -- DO CALL THE VET -- in any event.  Make the vet aware of it.
 
It can mean the body isn't getting enough oxygen.  If it were my dog I would likely give CoQ10 -- that is a supplement that simply helps oxygen get TO the cells.  It can bring a lot of relief when a dog is panting to get more oxygen

I would tend to agree with Callie and say call the vet.  Maybe even take him in and ask the doc to listen to his breathing.

you know they say bad things come in threes it really is true.... wow....  First Coal has heartworms, my sister ended up in the hospital last night and I get home and my air conditioning is on the fritz.  Guy is coming to fix it on Friday afternoon.   Poor Coaly was really panting last night and so was Casey... it was about 78 degrees in my house with fans....  I opened the windows in my room and it go a little cooler but then we ended up sleeping in the living room and got up about every hour on the hour cause Coal wanted to go outside... and I dont blame him it was a little warm.  its supposed to rain this afternoon and then the temp is dropping to around 70 so hopefully it will be better... wish I had a phone at home right now so i can call my dad and check on Coal.   Called the vet and he told me to keep an eye on him and if continues to pant like that tonight I have to bring him in... Just a wonderful day

When a dog feels like it's not getting enough oxygen they OFTEN want to be outside -- the more you say the more convinced I am he needs to see the vet

thanks Callie.. i am calling this morning..
 
Hey i never asked.  When the heartworms break up do they get out of the body eventually in their stool???   Just wondered.  Coal also had hookworms and I gave him his last deworming Tuesday night and this morning I saw some weird stuff in his stool which is probably the hook worms?  And he is eating very little.  but he he is eating a few bites... hopefully his appetite will be back tonight.   he did the same thing with the first dose of hookworm meds...  poor coaly... hes going thru everything....  he didnt want me to leave this morning.    but yesterday when i got home he was just laying quietly in his crate and wasnt panting as far as i can tell.  And i asked Dad if he pants when he is there and dad said no he just lays on the floor and watches tv... dad says Coal likes to watch tv...lol... 
 
So he might just be panting cause I am there and because i let Casey in not long after we come on......  I dont know... will see what the vet has to say... 
 
thanks for your help []

Heart worms are absorbed into the body as they are in the blood stream, heart and possibily the lungs.  No way to be "pooped out."   I know that sounds gross to think about the dog's body absorbing the decaying worms,   YUK.  But that is how it works.

Hook worms are nothing but little vampires, They latch onto the intenstine and just drink blood.  They can kill a dog, especially a smaller one, if they have a bad enough case.  Just take to much blood out of the poor body.

I just came from one of my golden boards and an adopted golden starts treatment today.  I am the only one on the board who ever had a dog treated, so told the story of Honey,a nd also passed along the stories of Hogan and Coal and things you are doing to try to keep the babies quiet and still.  The poor lady is so upset and knew nothing about treatment, success, etc. She said she got more info from me than from her vet.  I had always hated that Honey had the worms, but I guess it is a good thing as i can tell her sucess story and kinda let folks know what to expect. 

Here is hopes your babies are coming along just fine at this point.

How did it go with Coal and the vet?  Did you take him in or anything? 

Hogan is doing well - still on steroids.  We've been leashing him up more to our chairs and Melissa has been taking himf or rides so that he has some mental stimulation, but he's also not as used to being in the crate again because he's not in as much.  So, we have to balance that out.

We've gotten through the first week.  Only 16 more weeks to go.   112 more days. 

How is Coal doing?

Where hookworms latch onto organs (and they can go further than the intestines actually) -- and Sandra's description of them as little vampires is pretty close, except they are virtually ALL teeth (the whole parasite is almost one big mouth filled with teeth -- nasty nasty buggers), whipworms are like little razor blades - they slice and then feed off the blood they let. 
 
If  a dog gets a bad case of them, which can include older animals, or animals generally not in wonderful health -- it doesn't take long to kill them.  You'll often hear many of us  say that one of the first steps when you suspect an animal is ill is to check the gums to see if they are pink, and to check the "capillary refill time" by pressing the gums hard and then releasing to see if the color snaps back right away (within a second or two) -- these things can help a vet over the phone detect that there might be such serious parasites.
 
Sandra is also correct that because heartworms are IN the bloodstream there is no way for them to get out in the stool -- think of how the body works. Food in, goes to stomach, passes thru to intestines and kidneys. 
 
Blood circulates thru kidneys and liver -- in order for blood to 'filter' waste it goes thru the liver (which doesn't excrete waste well) and to the kidneys (which exits thru urine).  This is why you have to keep heartworm dogs so sedentary for so long -- because it takes the body a LONG LONG TIME to process the dead parasites slowly and safely breaking the dead 'bodies' down sufficienty for them to become 'liquid'. 
 
Think of what a stroke is in humans -- a blood 'clot' right??  What causes a blood 'clot'??  Any thickening of the blood or any bits of stuff that breaks off inside a blood vessel (that's why arterial surgery in humans is so risky if you think about it) goes sailing thru the blood vessel to 'clog' it up if it takes a wrong turn.
 
This isn't to scare anyone -- but Sandra is totally 100% right -- vets often don't tell people enough.  So people sometimes don't take enough precaution to keep the dog sedentary thinking "oh, it's been a couple of weeks now SURELY they're dead!!"  Well, yeah, they are and that's where the danger zone begins!!
 
But given time and rest the body CAN take care of this.
 
But once again I'll say something unpopular and say heartworm is so much more easily PREVENTED than it is treated.  I'm honestly glad that these ladies have taken the time and effort to post about their dogs being treated, cos it AIN'T easy and it's hard of the people and very hard on the dog.
 
I lost a dog to hooks/whips (and he hadn't been anywhere but in MY OWN yard, but I'd taken a foster briefly during a hurricane who brought in the parasites, Mike got them and was gone within a month before I even knew he had them.) and I've helped a dog thru heartworm treatment.  I hate having to give my dogs chemicals to prevent heartworm, but I'll do it to prevent having them be treated.  The odds of a dog getting one of these parasites is so much higher than winning the lottery it's not funny.  I don't play the lottery.  I do use heartworm prevention.
 
(Dang soapbox hasn't gotten THIS kind of use in a long time.  Sorry!)

I am so lucky I have such a great vet who explians out everything to me so that I really understand it.  Before he did KayCee's first knee surgery, he showed me with his hands what the problem was, and drew out the procedures. etc.  He also stressed how important it was to keep her inactive for the full 4 weeks (6 weeks the other knee as it took more procedures).  Said to many times as soon as the dog THINKS it is well, folks release it and it undoes the sugery, especially large dogs.

And when we adopted Honey and found she had heart worms, I was terrified.  Thirty odd years before my Dad lost his elderly English Setter to heartworm treatment.  Was the first time we had ever heard of them.  Commander was treated with arsenic and went blind and died a few days later. 

But my vet assured me that the old arsenic treatment is no longer used and the new one he used was harsh, but much safer.    he explained step by step why it was so important to keep her as inactive as posible.  Most dogs that do die,  die from the clots of worms than from the actual treatment.  Right now on one of my golden boards, an adopted golden starts treatment for heartworms Monday I think it is.  She was also terrified and her vet didn't give her much information.  She said she learned 10 times more from me than from her vet, and it should not be like this.

My dogs get interceptor because it does control those nasty hooks, whip, and round worms as well as stops heartworms.  It does not take care of  tapeworms, however.  And one time KayCee did have a few tapes, but she is the only one that has ever had any worms---except of course for Honey with the heartworms when we adopted her.

It is funny,CC becuase I have often described hook works as a vampires mouth.  They are horrible looking things.

 
EDITED--I had thought Tess started treatment this week, but I got e-mail from her "mom" and it starts next week.   Poor Mom is trying to get some last minute information as to idea for keeping her inactive, etc.

Hi all... Coal is doing good thanks....  Vet says just keep an eye on him.   He really does pant more when Casey first comes inside and then calms down a little later.... 
 
Going out of town tomorrow the first time since all of this has been going on.  My dad is going to dog sit for me...  worried about leaving him all day but will back late tomorrow night and off on friday so it should be ok.... 
 
hope things are going great with Hogan!
 

Glad to hear that Coal is doing well.  Hogan is still on steroids, we had him down to 1 every other day (this was his first day of not getting one), but yesterday morning he was coughing before I went to work, although Melissa said he was pretty much ok during the day.  Last night he coughed before bed, and he woke us up at 2:30 in the morning and we were up with the little guy for about 45 minutes and he was coughing again this morning.  I called the vet today on the emergency # and told him he's gonna be sick of me by the end of the heartworm treatment and apologized profusely for calling so much, told him he's been coughing and bringing up white mucusy stuff.  He said he needs to be on the higher dose of prednisone for a while (2 a day) and we're taking him in tomorrow so they can listen to him again and we can get more steroids.  The doc said he'd rather us err on the side of caution, that he's totally okay with the calling, and that he would rather have that than us be worried.  So, we love our vet.

Poor little guy.  Today is day 13.  He yelped this morning when I tried to pick him up and put him on the bed.  Two weeks from tomorrow will be the next treatment.

This is gonna be a long haul, but it's worth it.

Glad to hear from both of you!! 
 
Hogan's cough is worse because he's sedentary -- that happens easily.  Ask the vet if he wants to supress the cough or NOT.  I just posted in another thread about making honey and lemon cough syrup -- it soothes but it doesn't really 'suppress' a cough.  (use the search for "supress the cough" and I bet you find it.)

Hoho's had developed some fluid in his lungs and inflammation a few days after his first treatment.  When we spoke to the vet today, he said that he wanted him on the higher dose of prednisone as long as he is coughing.  I take him in tomorrow morning so he can listen to him. 

Right now, Emma is crated chewing on a raw doggie bone that we got her from the meat market todayh.  I asked for soup bones and they said, "You mean doggie bones?"  They had 'em there and they even label em doggie bones.  Hogie is laying on the floor, leashed to my chair, in between Melissa on her chair and me in mine.  He's chewing on a bone that's not raw or smoked.  Just a bone.  The house is pretty content, I'd say.

We'll keep Hogan in our prayers.  And I wanna know what grocery store you used!