Heartworms =(

LuvinWeimies · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: Heartworms =(

I live in Alabama, so of course mosquitoes are almost considered state birds and also great threats to both humans and fur babies. I have been a vet tech at a clinic in town for alittle over a year and when I first started there I had my two year old weimy Dugan tested for heartworms. Thank the lord it was negative. I immediately began giving him heartworm preventive every month because I didn't want to take any chances.
However, a few days ago I noticed he had been losing a ton of weight and not eating as much, so I took him to work with me this morning and cried the whole way to the vet clinic wondering what was wrong with my precious boy. Doc and I ran blood counts on him to check his levels and found that a few things were off. He asked me If Dugan was on HW preventitive and I told him of course especially since he is so generous to provide it at no cost, how could I not? But, being curious I used the leftover blood in the syringe to perform a HW test, what would it hurt. 8 minutes later I rushed to Doc crying. IT WAS POSITIVE! After calculating all the dates and times of what I could of done wrong I now recall going on vacation for a week, the same week Dugan needed his preventative. I had missed the day and never took notice meaning I had completely missed one whole month! I feel like a horrible weimy mommy. I am missing Dugan like crazy.. I'm letting him stay a few nights to keep him calm and hopefully put on some weight before his treatment coming up on Thursday. I just want to let everyone know how important it is to have your dogs on HW preventitive! Heartworms can happen to any dog even those of owners who work at vet clinics for crying out loud. Spending a few dollars every six months for preventitive can keep your babies healthy and heartworm free. Plus it is way better than having to spend a couple hundred to treat them. It's not going to be cheap for me and I will only have to pay at cost prices. So please please please have your pets tested every year when you get their annual shots and spend a few extra dollars to keep them heartworm free! I am so upset that this happened to my weimy baby I just want everyone to be aware of how serious it is and how quick it can happen to anyone.

AmyB · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject:

AW! I'm so sorry your little guy has to go through that! Sad

YOU should not be beating yourself up though. You are a great mommy and we all have those forgetful moments. If we didn't we wouldn't be human. Thank you for reminding everyone about how important it is to give our dogs heartworm medicine, you may of save a few dogs from getting them.

teatime · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject:

Awww, I'm so sorry! Living in Texas, I'm always worried about heartworm, too.

I have to get my Morgan tested. I adopted her from the animal shelter and I thought they tested the dogs so I gave her heartworm preventative right when I brought her home. Turns out they DIDN'T test her! I was worried when they told me they didn't have her checked cuz giving her the pill if she did have heartworms could have made her super-sick! We have a vet appt. this week.

All best wishes for your boy!!!! I'll bet you caught it early and he'll sail through treatment!

Luv,
Julie and Morgan

h20fwlkillr · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:12 am Post subject:

I had a beagle that got heartworms once. He was on heart guard at the time he was infected. Never missed giving his dose, even for a day. Don't beat yourself up too much, it is possible that missing a month had nothing to do with it.

anne · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

Most dogs carry a microfilarae infection. It's the adult hearworms that can kill a dog. Heartworm prevention is a misnomer, you are actually killing the microfilarae in the system before they mature to adults every month.

weimdawgs · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject:

I have a friend who's dog tested positive. They did a second test and it was negative. The third test was also negative. The first was a false positive. Since you work there and can do the test yourself, I would run a second just to be sure.

Your boy will be fine. Even if he is HW postive, you caught it early.

Please keep us posted.

jamiekuntz11 · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:09 pm Post subject:

I am sorry- i hope your baby is feeling better!

kblakemore · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:

I'm so sorry to hear about your baby! Crying or Very sad

I hope he feels better real soon. I'm from Tennessee and mosquito's are super bad here too. I'm positive that your a great mom, don't beat yourself up. Hope everything works out. Let us know how it goes.

LuvinWeimies · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject:

We did a blood smear to see if any microfilarae were present and they weren't which was great, meaning I caught it early. I also did end up doing two test because the first one kinda left me in denial. Dugan was super happy when I got to work this morning, we went outside and played with quakers (see my post on "Quirky Pups" to understand Dugan's sentimental values towards Quakers) Smile

and he got to greet some clients and help me out when we weren't busy. It was so funny when I went up front to do office stuff cause all you could hear coming from the treatment room was random QUACKS when he played with Quackers. I hated when I left work though cause he gave me that big wide eyed look as if to say "Why can't I go?" His treatment will start on Monday but he is going to stay at the clinic for now to regain back some of his weight by keeping him calmer. Thanks so much for all of you guys support!

WeiMe · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:07 am Post subject:

We will be pulling for him!

AmyB · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

How is Dugan doing with his treatments?

weimdawgs · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

I was wondering, too.

LuvinWeimies · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:53 am Post subject: Hi Everyone!

Hi Everyone! Sorry it took so long to get back on how Dugan is doing. He began his treatment Monday with no problems at all. Wednesday afternoon after work he was able to go home with me. Yay! As always he enjoyed the ride. The surgeon at our clinic has dobermans and he was kind enough to let me borrow his 48'' cage to put Dugan in for the next 6 weeks to keep him calm. Although alittle nervous and pacey from being cooped up, Dugan is doing great! He's more spoiled than ever! I added a picture to by gallery if ya'd like to see him. Thanks for the all the encouragement!

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:24 am Post subject:

so good to hear!

kamfam · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:36 am Post subject: Re: Hi Everyone!