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richhodg66
01-20-2013, 12:15 PM
Wife and I have had a dog or two around most of the time we've been married. Just have one now, older Shi Tzu, and are contemplating adopting another one, only problem is the shelter says he's tested positive for heartworms.

We've always kept ours on the preventive meds and never had a problem. I've heard before that the treatement is almost as bad as the disease and that it generally takes a young, strong dog to get cured of it. Is this true? Vet treatment is aslo expensive, so if treating the worms is an option, what kind of costs are we talking about?

The dog is a four year old mix who is mostly bassett hound. I love bassetts, have had three of them over the years and all have been good dogs. I'd love to have this little guy, I'd just like to make an educated decision before adopting him.

By the way, this shelter that just opened in Topeka has some awsome dogs for adoption. It had been a long time since I'd been in a shelter, just amazed to see how many potentially great pets are homeless.

kenyerian
01-20-2013, 12:35 PM
If you know of an older country vet the treatment shouldn't be too costly. Just a couple of visits for tests and meds. I had one treated back in the 90's and it wasn't all that expensive. just had to give it a dosage of Ivomec dailey until they were killed. The medicine cost around $40. Just call up a couple and get some estimates. Most of them will be glad to work with you to rescue one from the shelter and to gain a new client. Good Luck.

cbrick
01-20-2013, 12:36 PM
Can't answer your question but I have always heard pretty much the same thing as you posted. Shame, for a few bucks a month the pooch could have been kept healthy. I've seen photos of a dogs heart with heart worms. Shocking doesn't describe it.

I try hard to stay out of the shelters, once inside it's almost impossible to not post bail on all of them. Obviously I can't do that, just makes me feel horrible about leaving without them.

Rick

shooter2
01-20-2013, 01:24 PM
Wife and I have had a dog or two around most of the time we've been married. Just have one now, older Shi Tzu, and are contemplating adopting another one, only problem is the shelter says he's tested positive for heartworms.

We've always kept ours on the preventive meds and never had a problem. I've heard before that the treatement is almost as bad as the disease and that it generally takes a young, strong dog to get cured of it. Is this true? Vet treatment is aslo expensive, so if treating the worms is an option, what kind of costs are we talking about?

The dog is a four year old mix who is mostly bassett hound. I love bassetts, have had three of them over the years and all have been good dogs. I'd love to have this little guy, I'd just like to make an educated decision before adopting him.

By the way, this shelter that just opened in Topeka has some awsome dogs for adoption. It had been a long time since I'd been in a shelter, just amazed to see how many potentially great pets are homeless.


About four years ago we adopted an English Springer that had heart worm and the treatments. He is lying next to me as I type this. As far as I'm concerned he is a gift from God.

richhodg66
01-20-2013, 04:39 PM
Good to hear. We have a pretty good vet here, couldn't call him on the weekend, but I will Tuesday.

DLCTEX
01-20-2013, 05:22 PM
One of my Shepherds developed heartworms and the treatment ran more than $400 at our country clinic which is so much cheaper than most that they have people drive hundreds of miles for treatment of their pets. He later developed a tumor as large as a football and had to be put down. I've wondered if the heartworm treatment may have been causative. It has to be done in several stages as the shock of large numbers of the dead worms in the system can be fatal. He always like going to the vet and didn't mind shots, wormers, etc. After the heartworm treatment he resisted going in their door.

richhodg66
01-20-2013, 09:13 PM
This facility really is a good one, they just recently opened it and seem to treat the animals very, very well, but I fear that a dog like this would keep folks from wanting to adopt him. Bassetts are so loveable and love everybody, this guy is no exception. I have the wherewithal to take care of him, I just wouldn't want to have him if he was just going to die as soon as I got attached to him.

This shelter had two pure bred German Shorthairs and a Black and Tan coon hound like Jim has. Couldn't believe some of the dogs in there. They had some great cats too, but our cat is definitely a mama's boy and I doubt he'd deal with another one in his territory very well.

gbrown
01-20-2013, 10:33 PM
We got our dog, mixed breed, Lab, Basset & Pit Bull, 5 years ago. He tested positive for heartworms for the first 3 years. No treatment, other than the preventative--HeartGuard, I think. Last year and this year he tested negative. Inside dog. S.E. TX. mosquito capital of the world!!! Have no fear, have faith. Use preventative and see how it goes.

flounderman
01-21-2013, 01:25 PM
Ivomec isn't supposed to kill adult heartworms. You give it every 30 days and it kills the microfillia. I have gotten dogs with heart worm and give them ivomec once a month and if they are not infested too heavily, the worms gradually die off. the treatment is with arsenic and the dog has to be imobilized for days. they try to kill the worms a few at a time and let them decompose. they can cause pneumonia or get in the heart valves. A dog with severe heartworm will have a swollen abdomen and have the dry cough, no endurance. I have been feeding the ivomec instead of injecting it for years and it seems to work. It may take out intestinal worms that injecting it doesn't. I don't have any worm problems and I'm in the heartworm center of the universe. It takes mosquitos to spread the microfillia and we are ate up with mosquitos. Don't overdose the ivomec because it is hard on the kidneys

shooter2
01-21-2013, 04:27 PM
We did not treat buddy. We adopted him through English Springer Rescue (ESRA) and they did the treatment. We have him checked every year and he is clean.

My feeling is to go with your heart. There are no guarantees in life, only opportunities. Long or short life you will have enriched his life and, in the final analysis, isn't that what it's all about. S2.

Jim
01-21-2013, 04:48 PM
Rich, a very old Black & Tan female wandered up in our place a coupla' years back before we had Dolly. We suspected she had been used as a puppy mill and was put out when she stopped producing. We adopted her and took her to the vet. She was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and was given about a year to live.

We called her Lucy and the bond between us and her became incredibly strong. Lucy had the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard in a hound and she would sing for me on request.

Sure enough, about a year went by and the quality of her life got so bad, we had to make that ultimate decision. I took her to the vet by myself and cried all the way home. I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit that, either.

Had I known Lucy's condition when we found her, it would not have mattered one bit. That one year we had with her was wonderful. The vet thanked me for giving an ol' worn out 'coon hound one last year of love and comfort.

I told you that story only to tell you this: Give it some thought.

Below is the only photo I have of Lucy. I guard it carefully.

59205

shooter2
01-21-2013, 05:17 PM
Jim, great story! Thanks for sharing. S2

44man
01-21-2013, 05:43 PM
My little dog, Mai-Ling is always with me. (Pekinese.) We have an old Peke-a-Pomb that is 16 years old and has even lost her hair on her tail so it looks like a pig tail. She weighs nothing much any more. Mai protects Spencer and herds her to the house, Spencer can't hear or see good anymore. The love and concern from Mai is heart breaking and I fear the day Spencer dies. If it is cold Mai will sleep with Spencer.
I have 3 larger mutts in the garage and they are bundles of love too. Just too big for the house.
Mai has a basket of stuffed toys and loves to play. She knows which one to get when I tell her. She never damaged a single thing when growing up. Other dogs chewed table and chair legs, etc, but Mai never did. I have to think she is the smartest dog I ever seen and she will look in my eyes when I talk to her and I swear she understands every word. She will roll or toss a ball and bounce it on the floor. She will toss a stuffed toy over the coffee table and has never grown old.
I love dog people that really understand our best friends.

scb
01-21-2013, 07:08 PM
Here some more info.
http://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/canine-heartworm.html
What is they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

DLCTEX
01-21-2013, 07:11 PM
Our Shepard was too smart for his own good. My son trained him to not take food from anyone but him, and to not eat anything that didn't smell right. He did this by putting Habernero peppers in meat or bread and offering it to him. He would take food from me, but would just take it in his teeth and then drop it and would not even look at it until I went inside. He would watch the window to see if I was looking before inspecting it. If it smelled "off"he would leave it. I could not get him to take heartworm meds any way I tried. I would coat it in bacon grease, bury it in ham or raw meat, no go. I would force it down deep in his throat and hold his mouth shut until I saw him swallow. After I went inside he would hack it up and spit it out. After he became infected I was told that giving him the preventative could kill too many at a time and kill him.

richhodg66
01-21-2013, 07:35 PM
This guy is a bassett/German Shepherd mix (try to get your head around that one), but he lookd like 99% bassett. His coloring is weird, never saw a bassett colored like that and his face is a little longer and ears a bit shorter but from the few minutes I spent with him, he's just like a bassett (I love 'em).

The last bassett we had never was real healthy and wasn't as good a dog in other ways as the other two, but a pretty good dog. We got him as a puppy from some folks in town who put him on swap shop and in retrospect, he was probably a puppy mill product. Anyway, had to put him down a year and a half or so back, and the Shi Tzu acted weird for a while, I didn't think they were that tight, apparently they were. We're thinking having another layed back dog will help him a little. I doubt the cat will mind him at all.

I've about made up muy mind to get him this week. I have the wherewithall to give him a good home and treatment. The house we're moving into is close (for a long, long time now we've lived pretty far out and getting back to the house from work during the day has been a pain). The place doesn't have a real big yard, but big enough for him and the Tzu.

Jim, I thought about you as soon as I saw that black and tan and if I was gonna continue to live here where I have a big fenced yard and neighbors who would tolerate a howler, I'd have left with him, but Topeka is different from Milford. There's another hound mix there that I'm gonna have a hard time saying no to as well. Two good looking German Shorthairs too, upland bird hunting used to be huge around here and still is to some extent. Somebody will get a great dog with either one.

Jim
01-21-2013, 07:44 PM
Rich, 'scuse me for gettin' all mushy on ya' but that ol' quote " 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all" is most certainly true with dogs.

cbrick
01-21-2013, 08:27 PM
'Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all" is most certainly true with dogs.

The best people I have ever met had four feet and a cold nose. :mrgreen:

Rick

kweidner
01-21-2013, 10:05 PM
FWIW. My dad is a vet. not that he treats heartworms with preventative (heartguard). However I can't tell you how many of his customers have done so. As long as they are not at the terrible coughing phase, It seems to work every time. Cured my stepfathers mini pin like that. Despite his cough being pretty bad, it worked. That was 6 years ago. He is still going strong today. Cough is gone. He has plenty if endurance these days.

richhodg66
01-22-2013, 10:08 PM
I called both my vet I have here and a recomended one in Topeka and talked at length about treatment options. Pretty much confirmed what you guys are telling me. I went by to fill out forms and meet him (his name is Charlie). Seems to be a pretty good dog, friendly and apparently perfectly healthy, so he hasn't had those worms long enough for them to take much of a toll. It was reight at closing time when I got there, but I think I'll have another dog soon.

shooter2
01-22-2013, 10:28 PM
That's great! Keep us posted.

gbrown
01-22-2013, 11:50 PM
That's great! Keep us posted.

+1 with that. Have faith, be strong. I've lost dogs in the past, just like losing any other member of the family. Give this one the love, affection and home it deserves. Enjoy every moment. My current dog died on me, but came back. Cost me about $500 (for a free dog?). Long story, won't go into it here. He is a blessing to me and my family.