Heartworm

[Jeannie]

Greg,
Our rescue, Sara, had heartworms when we got her. I too was told to restrict activity (not even short walks)and keep her in a cage. Needless to say, the cage was not needed. What newfie would not just sleep all day?? She came through it like a real trooper. I hope your newfie does also.
Jeannie

 

[Theresa]

Jeannie, what is the treatment like for heartworms? Do you have to keep giving them medication until their test come back negative? We almost adopted a newfie mix from the humane society that had heartworms. We actually knew the owner. She was a bad owner. She would go on vacations and leave her dog chained. When she got back from vacation, her dog had a huge laceration on her neck that got infected. I didn't hear about this until later but if I knew, I would have offered to watch her dog while she went on vacation. Anyway, the humane society said that the owners neighbor was planning on adopting Nana. That made me feel better because if she couldn't find a home, I'd of brought her home that evening. They said she had a really bad case of heartworms

 

[Greg L]

Actually Fezzik is up at the vet's right now. His treatment started today. Essentially the treatment is a series of shots that kill the worms. Fezzik needs to stay at the vet's until Friday or Saturday under sedation (he agreed with me that a newf probably didn't need to be sedated (who could tell) but better to be safe). When he comes home the only thing that he will be able to do for the next 2-3 weeks is to go outside for a very short quiet walk (no seeing the other dogs or kids). After three weeks he should be ok to play around with again.

The treatment kills the worms and the 2-3 weeks of no activity is to give time for the worms bodies to disolve/decompose. During this time you don't want to do anything that will get the heart pumping hard.

Greg

 

[Jeannie]

Sara's treatment for heartworms was not like you are discribing. She was given a shot of Imiticide and they kept her for one night. She had to kept quiet for 30 days them was given a shot to kill the larve. Then 30 days later she was given a clean bill of health. All together she was given 2 shots--not a series. She had no complications and no after effects. Thank God
Jeannie