My dog Tony went in for his second and third heartworm treatments on Monday. I was already discouraged. Tony was supposed to have his treatments last week but the vet went out of town! Normally this would be no big deal, but given the confinement required for dogs with heartworm a missed week IS a big deal.
Today I got even worse news. Besides the $380 bill, with $327 of that going for the heartworm medicine ("adulticide"), my dog Tony has to stay confined an additional four weeks! He has already been locked up for five weeks!
Maybe the vet is being overly cautious, but I guess I can't take any chances. He says if Tony makes it through the next few weeks then I can start letting him out for normal activity. Signs to watch for are breathing problems and coughing.
My advice is: if you own a dog, don't take any chances. Get your dog on a heartworm preventative. It wasn't my fault, I got Tony from a German Shepherd Rescue, he had been found wandering about by the river. So he probably already had heartworm when I got him. But I won't be taking any chances from now on. All of my dogs will be on heartworm preventative year round.
bittersweet
16 years ago
2 comments:
I share your pain. I adopted a shelter dog on 8-1. We finished his 1st month of heartworm treatment this past Wednesday & also were put off schedule by a week for the 2nd & 3rd shots because the hospital couldn't schedule the overnight stay until next week. It is very hard to keep a dog inactive for this long.
Reading your blog has helped me cope.
Holly & JoJoe in MI
Good luck. If you ask me, the treatment is insane. But what can you do? Unfortunately it has to be done and there isn't any better way right now. He gets awfully lonely being confined so I've been letting him sit with me (on leash) when I drink coffee in the mornings.
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