One of my just- rescued rescue dogs was diagnosed with heartworm disease. She's 8 yrs old, and a bit overweight. (terrier/chi X) She also has a heart murmur. I'm attached to this girl and having her treated. She gets nervous, frightened and worked up easily. I heard treatment can be painful ( the injections,etc) and leave them sore. She doesnt like being with people she doesn't know either. How can I make her more comfortable during treatment? With a bad heart, i am nervous about her being restrained and getting worked up, wheezing, etc. I am so nervous. I am definately treating her, I love her and am so attached - but is it likely that the treatment is way too traumatic for a dog like her? I am confused and upset. I want her cured, but comfortable. Any ideas?? Thanks so much!
...was treated for heartworm back in 1998. He was positive when we brought him home; he was at the time about 7 mos. old, and had been stray for a while. Mr. Blue was very sore for about a week after the injections. The only "good" thing about it is that it kept him quiet and moving slowly for that time. For the rest of the weeks we had to keep him quiet, we had to work a lot harder. I came home from work every day on my lunch hour to take him out and to visit with him; I thought he might get too excited if he had to wait all day to see us. I also borrowed some baby gates from friends, and blocked off staircases so he couldn't go running up or down them. I know how worried you must be; it's a horrible thing that happened to our dogs! Our vets told us, before the treatment, how much safer it is now than it was, and also how bad the results of NOT treating him would be.
Please let me know if I can help with this in any way by sharing more. If you ever need to just worry out loud for a while, we're here!
Thank-you for your reply - it is odd because the reason I rushed her to the vet at midnight was because she was suddenly acting lethargic, vomiting and having bloody stools. (VERY bloody). My first thought was Oh my GOD, Parvo! However, she tested negative for Parvo (thank god), but pos.+ for HW. I am devastated. I just have to do whats best for her -hope she forgives me for allowing strangers to restrain and poke her! I just need to hold my breath and get this treatment started. -I am NOT familiar with HW Disease..so any suggs/or facts would be helpful. Any clue how long after treatment do you have to wait, or can you innoculate/start HW prevention for this? And - anyone have an estimate of the success rate under treatment? I had a rescue poodle who had Parvo when she came to me (extremely bad, acute onset of it) but she survived with flying prances! That gives some hope - anyhow. I checked with the vet for a "ballpark" price range. $600 for the first start of treatment, $100 or more for the "boarding", and $75 for treatment thereafter. Vets are ridiculous these days - I am complaining! But it doesn't matter. $100 or $100,000,000, she's getting through this!! Wish her luck. (And me...)
It will really help answer your questions about it. I bugged my vet a LOT during Mr. Blue's recovery the most important thing is to keep her calm; only take her out for short potty breaks, on leash. We couldn't let Mr. Blue sleep on his couch or our bed, because we didn't want him jumping. At one point, he coughed a little blood, which was the most frightening thing I've ever seen. He was put on cough suppressants, and a steroid for the inflammation. He came through just fine, though, and had a lot more energy after it was all over.
We have had several rescue dogs go through heartworm treatment. Many were elderly with other problems. So far we have not lost a single one to the treatment.
Eight year old Sheba was the first and she never had any complications from the treatment. We only had her for four years before Osteosarcoma took her away from us.
Dottie was 12 when she was treated. She, like your little girl, had a heart murmmer plus her heart was slightly enlarged. That was 3 years ago and though she coughs when she gets excited too much, she is happy and doing well for a 15 year old Dalmatian. That is pretty good for a dog that they had little hope would survive the treatment.
Freckles came out of her treatment without any noticeable after affects.
Sweet Pea, like Dottie, coughs a lot, but she also has CHF and is grossly overweight. (A stiff diet would be more dangerous than the fat. We are slowly bringing her weight down. I feel she will die of old age before we are successful there.)
One of my just- rescued rescue dogs was diagnosed with heartworm disease. She's 8 yrs old, and a bit overweight. (terrier/chi X) She also has a heart murmur. I'm attached to this girl and having her treated. She gets nervous, frightened and worked up easily. I heard treatment can be painful ( the injections,etc) and leave them sore. She doesnt like being with people she doesn't know either. How can I make her more comfortable during treatment? With a bad heart, i am nervous about her being restrained and getting worked up, wheezing, etc. I am so nervous. I am definately treating her, I love her and am so attached - but is it likely that the treatment is way too traumatic for a dog like her? I am confused and upset. I want her cured, but comfortable. 
Any ideas?? Thanks so much!
the most important thing is to keep her calm; only take her out for short potty breaks, on leash. We couldn't let Mr. Blue sleep on his couch or our bed, because we didn't want him jumping. At one point, he coughed a little blood, which was the most frightening thing I've ever seen. He was put on cough suppressants, and a steroid for the inflammation. He came through just fine, though, and had a lot more energy after it was all over.