Saturday, May 22, 2010

My dog has heartworms even though I have never missed giving him his monthly preventative.?

I use heartguard as preventative. Has this ever happened to anyone else out there?
Answers:
It is possible for this to happen. No medicine is 100% effective. Talk with your vet to determine if treatment is the best option for you and your dog. If he is what they call a weak positive, or if it's an older dog, or if he has other health problems, you may opt not to treat him. You can just continue on with a different heartworm preventative to be sure that the worms do not reproduce.
One of my Shepherds is heartworm positive, but she also has pancreatic and metabolic issues so we opted not to treat her. I still give her a heartworm pill every month to prevent further infestation. She has been positive and on this regimen for approximately 6 years now and she is doing just fine. The worms will eventually die off, and she will be negative again.
This is just an option, it's best to discuss it with your vet to see what they say.
If you decide to have the treatment, Heartguard will pay for it as they guarantee their products to work.
Good luck to you and your dog. I've been through this numerous times with the dogs that come into my shelter, all of them have come through it just fine.
this can happen heartworms are mainly caused by mosquito bites. when was the last time that your baby was tested , if it has been over 6 months then you might want to call your vet on monday
A guy I work with had this happen. He had the dog treated and the heartworm company paid the bill. You would probably want to contact them first to find out what your course of action is.
First, let me say that I am sorry your dog has heartworms. This diagnosis is never any easy thing to hear from your vet and can be very expensive to treat, but it is definetely worth treating.I haven't had this happen to me, but I have seen it happen. I work in a vet clinic in Oklahoma and this is pretty common in dogs who take Heartguard. I'm not saying Heartguard doesn't work or isn't good, I'm just saying that it isn't effective here with all our swarms of mosquitos. Once you get your dog treated and well, I would suggest you put him on Interceptor instead. I haven't heard of this happening with Interceptor. This is what all 3 of my dogs are on and they are doing great.

If you contact the company and let them know this happened, they usally pay the bill for treatment.
their are animal hospital that are open 24 hours.you got the internet use it.heart worms can be deadly if not treat fast
mite have had it before u got him
Oh, I am sorry!
First of all, are you sure the vet said he has heartworm? Heartworm testing is a blood draw, where as intestinal parasites (worms like roundworm,hookwork,whipworm) are tested through a stool sample! If in fact he does have heartworm, which is possible because you cannot guarantee that every month, he didn't throw up the pill, or spit it out somewhere that you didn't see, or anything like that! The first thing to do is get proof from your vet that he has been on prevention all year round, and tested negative every year before (they should have record). Then you need to contact the Heartguard company, and they should pay for the charges to treat this disease! However you need to act quickly, because this is a very serious disease! Good Luck!!
Where were you getting your Heartguard would be my first question, because yes I have heard of this before with mail order counterfit drugs.
My dog tested negative for heart worms in Sept. 05 and 3 weeks ago tested positive for Adult Worms only. The Heart guard will kill the babies (microfaleria) but not the adults. He has been on Heart guard for a year and never missed a dose. I was told that if the animal is bitten by the mosquito and tested BEFORE the adult worms mature and put antigens in the blood that you will get a false negative. Mine is now going through treatment. Vets are supposed to tell you on a negative test or after treatment for heart worms to have your dog retested in 6 months. Most of them never do. Heart Guard will only pay for the treatment with proof of purchase for 2 yrs for the Heart Guard and a second test.
I am switching my dog to another preventative. Heart Guard, altho it doesn't state in on the label, is also supposed to prevent whip worms. My dog has whip worm also. I never missed a dose with my dog either. I am taking my other dog to have her retested on Friday. She was positive for HW when I got her, went through treatment and tested negative after the treatment. Can't wait to see how that goes.

No comments:

Post a Comment