I have seen a handful of dogs that have tested positive for heart worms. It is sad to see the severity of the symptoms, and even more heart breaking to watch them go through the treatment & 6-8 weeks of recovery. This can be prevented. It baffles me why pet owners still don't provide these preventatives for their dogs.
The symptoms are congestive heart failure, dull coat, lack of energy, coughing, difficulty breathing, perhaps fainting spells and an enlarged abdomen. Adult heartworms are killed by giving injections of Immiticide, a drug containing arsenic.
I don't know about you, but I would much rather have my dog chew a pill (which he thinks is a treat) once a month, than have him subjected to these symptoms & risk him having to go through treatment only because I didn't administer the medicines. Yes, the preventatives are somewhat expensive, however, compared to the cost of the treatment for heart worm it's nothing. Preventatives can be purchased through your Vet for the best price available.
PLEASE keep your dogs healthy & happy!
Yeah! I can comment now!! Thank you for changing that :-)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let you know that Delta had run out of her Heartguard after last months dose and I had forgotten to refill it over the last 4 weeks. After reading your post I called the vet, got the refill and she had her monthly dose. So thank you for this. As disgusting as that picture is up there, it forced me to go refill the meds. Now if you could post this every 1st of the month to help me remember that would be great. LOL!