Damien has heartworms. :(

[Amie]

I'm actually looking into that right now. The vet here said that he will not use the slow method and it doesn't look like something to try at home. I want to take him elsewhere, but the visit tapped me out. I have $8.00 to my name now, and no vet around will see him without full payment at the time of the visit.

I have him laying down and taking it easy for now, until I can figure something out.

pbrc has financial assistance, but you have to look into it first: http://www.pbrc.net/fund/financial.html

[chuey_316]

pbrc has financial assistance, but you have to look into it first: http://www.pbrc.net/fund/financial.html

Thank you Amie. I'll check into it when I get home from work.

[chuey_316]

Update:

Damien was started on the slow kill method, and after a day or two was back to acting normal. He has been on restricted activity. No playing, or exercise, only outside on a leash to potty, then back inside. Everything has been going good until tonight. He has developed a cough and my gf said that he coughed up some blood earlier. If he is laying still the cough goes away, but soon as he sits up, or moves around, it's back. He's constantly licking his lips as well. You can tell he's not feeling good just by looking at him.

Of course there's only one vet here and they closed hours ago. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see what he can do. I'm at a loss. If I take off to go to the vet tomorrow, I'll more than likely lose my job, which is going to pay for the immiticide treatment, if it ever becomes available again, but he needs to be seen.

[pblove]

maybe you can send Misskiwi a private messge if she doesn't respoond to this thread (she is a vet in case you didn't know)
for Damien

[chuey_316]

Thanks pblove, I did not know that. I got to see what the gf was talking about a few minutes ago. He was coughing which turned into what I would call retching and a very small amount of blood splatter was on the wood floor. It was so small that I had to get down and look for it and wipe it up to see that it was blood.

When he 1st saw the vet he had a cough and he told me that I could give him benadryl and amoxicillin to help with it. It helped then, so I gave him some earlier, but it doesn't seem to have helped any.

[chuey_316]

I have pm'ed Misskiwi. Thanks again pblove.

[patty]

Sending wellness wishes for Damien. Let us know what Misskiwi thinks.

[Ilovethepits]

You and Damien are in my prayers.

[randomroads]

http://holisticvetclinic.net/contactus.aspx

I have PERSONALLY used this to treat a moderate case of heartworms in a dog and he tested clear seven months later. I also PERSONALLY know another woman who also used this to treat a moderate case of heartworms and her dog also tested clear after completing the treatment, but I don't recall how many months it took.

If I were to ever take another dog that had heartworms, this is the only way I would treat.

[Misskiwi67]

http://holisticvetclinic.net/contactus.aspx

I have PERSONALLY used this to treat a moderate case of heartworms in a dog and he tested clear seven months later. I also PERSONALLY know another woman who also used this to treat a moderate case of heartworms and her dog also tested clear after completing the treatment, but I don't recall how many months it took.

If I were to ever take another dog that had heartworms, this is the only way I would treat.

That first page has some serious faults to it, making me seriously question the knowledge of the people writing it.

I also prefer our pets to be watered with a filtered product such as reverse osmosis (distilled water is okay for a month or two to detox, but I have seen clients who have been on distilled water for years become very sick until the distilled water was replaced with reverse osmosis water-apparently the minerals in reverse osmosis water are needed by the body to stabilize the blood.

Um... reverse osmosis water is PURE water, free of any minerals...

[Kingsgurl]

Poor Damien (and poor you) This started in September, correct? So, what treatment had Damien received thus far? Were diagnostics ever performed to determine the worm load? Do we know what stage he is at? Can they do a more aggressive treatment now?

[lilangel]

You can also save a ton of money by buying Ivomec 1% injectible from a feed store or you can order it from Jeffers, Kvvet etc. and dosing on your own. You just draw out the right dose into your syringe, take off the needle and squirt the Ivomec into the back of your dog's mouth. I mix it with chicken stock or juice to make it go down better and my dogs have no problems drinking it all on their own. It tastes nasty on its own. But some 3cc/ ml syringes while you are at it. A few years supply of Ivomec with syringes costs the same or less than 1 box of Heartguard for one dog.

Just be sure to get the right dosage from your vet.

Just in case: Ivermectin has been shown to have adverse side effects in Collies.

[chuey_316]

Thanks everybody. The vet says that he has not been able to get any Immiticide and that it still has to be waited out. He has been started back on amoxicillin which I already started giving him, but the dose has been doubled. I started him at 5mg/pound, he is now at 10mg/lb.

The cough had gotten better. Before the only time he wasn't coughing was when he was laying down and totally relaxed. He can now move around and walk, and only coughs if he gets excited. We're going to wait it out till mid week and see how he's doing, and if it doesn't get better, or if it comes back worse then I'm going to ask the vet to write a prescription for prednisone, which I think will really help. I know it helped alot the 1st visit.

We don't know what stage it's in right now, but he still has his appetite and isn't laying around lethargic or anything. He's still full of energy, have to watch him closely to make sure that he's not running and jumping around. I'm keeping him laying down as much as possible.

Thanks for the tip lilangel. That's what we have been doing for him to try and keep it under control until the Immiticide is available. Only we use butter flavored propylene glycol to mix it with, it's mixed so that .5cc is equal to one 51-100lb heartgard pill. He was also started on Doxycycline 300mg every 12hr for one month, then off for one month. Damien hates anything to be squirted in his mouth, so I get creative on him. I'll ball up a little bread and inject the ivo mix into it, and ball some bread around each pill, or sometimes I'll use a mcnugget, he loves that.

[chuey_316]

I should add that the ivo and the doxy treatment was started by me after very extensive research because no vet around here likes to use that method. Not because of Damiens case in particular, just with all the ones I talked to, it's Immiticide, or nothing. He received a dose of benadryl prior to the 1st treatment of ivo, which was a reduced dose, then the next week another reduced dose, then full doses each week after that.

[Misskiwi67]

It IS possible to get Immiticide from europe, and it was not very difficult to get, either.

Our hospital treats about 1 HW positive dog a year, and we got 5 bottles... find a vet thats willing to try.

If you haven't had radiographs done yet, then you don't know the stage. Radiographs are how you decide what stage your dog is in and how to treat effectively.

Heartworm is DEADLY, "waiting it out" is not an option...