Heartworm treatment

[connie]

Oh goody, I get to learn about heartworm treatment now! Cancer and ehrlichiosis weren't interesting enough, I guess. Crap, I am SO UPSET about this!

Rowley tested positive for heartworm on his annual exam, as you might have seen on FB. His vet was as stunned and upset as I was. I have not given chemical preventives since 2001, and have never had a positive result on a dog until now -- and that's a lot of dogs, more than a dozen.

I'm inclined to give my dogs the preventive now, and will for at least this year while I think things over. I'm not sure that natural methods are effective, anymore, against the virulence of pests in this climate-changed environment.

I also hope like hell that none of my other dogs test positive; they will have their tests next week. Fingers crossed. Also, fuck fuck fuckety fuck. I keep saying that ...

Rowley goes in on Monday for a chest x-ray to see how his lungs look, and to start on doxycycline for a month as the first step in the treatment. He has to stop agility (twice weekly classes for the last 8 years, that'll be hard on us) for the summer, until he gets a negative result on the recheck test, which is done 90 days after the treatment ends. He is also supposed to be on leash exercise only, and I'm grappling with that. The nature preserve is what keeps us sane. He could be on a long line out there, I suppose ... I dunno, I have to read more about HW treatment and what times are most dangerous in terms of the die-off.

The 'slow kill' method of treatment consists of letting the worms mature and die: we're not doing that. We're doing a month of doxy and preventive to kill the wolbachia bacteria and the immature worms. Then he'll have three shots of Immiticide and at that time, reduced activity is super important.

Still reading up on this. Fuck fuck fuckety fuck.

http://www.mypetsdoctor.com/slow-kill-a ... -treatment
http://www.mypetsdoctor.com/dog-and-cat ... rm-disease

[JudyL]

I'm so sorry about this and that Row will be going through the treatment. We all know he couldn't be in better hands as you treat this. I would want to get rid of the infestation sooner than later too, but don't know enough about slow kill vs more aggressive treatment.

[Trademarkbark]

Do you know what type of test they used? (In house or outside lab?). I’d probably want an outside lab retest just to be safe before treatment. Years ago, we did have one patient test positive on a Snap test but negative when tested at a lab. Just a thought ...

[Riddick]

I’m so sorry Connie. I’ve seen way too many cases of heartworm in this area come into our clinic. Most are adopted from down South and brought up here, but many have lived here for their lives and then all of a sudden come up with heartworm. I think our climate is changing too much and bugs are more resilient. I moved to Lockport March 1st and for the first time in my life one of MY dogs got FLEAS! I know fleas are nowhere near as bad as heartworm, but my reaction was just about the same as yours. MY DOG!? FLEAS!! So that meant my house and my carpeting and my furniture, omg I was so pissed.

But anyway, it was the end of February, super cold, still snowing intermittently and fleas were alive. I saw heartworm in December at my clinic last year. The bugs are surviving in colder temperatures. And for some reason heartworm is rampant in this area. I don’t mess with heartworm. My dogs have been on heartguard and vectra all their lives. Apollo lived to 16 and he was on chemical preventative since he was 8 weeks old.

We had a Border Collie come in with heartworm and she had it so bad she had to be on strict crate rest, and honestly, that’s about all she wanted to do. She was tired, and she didn’t even try to do much of anything. She pulled through just fine, but it was hard on her and she was mopey through her whole treatment.

[connie]

Do you know what type of test they used? (In house or outside lab?). I’d probably want an outside lab retest just to be safe before treatment. Years ago, we did have one patient test positive on a Snap test but negative when tested at a lab. Just a thought ...

Definitely want to be sure before any treatment is undertaken, I have been reading up on that.
https://www.heska.com/documents/soloste ... 721D5F16D0


1. If positive heartworm antigen results are obtained using an antigen test kit, check the animal’s blood for D. immitis microfilariae.
• Presence of Dirofilaria immitis microfilariae and a positive heartworm antigen test confirm the presence of D. immitis adult worms.
2. If no D. immitis microfilariae are detected, repeat with a test utilizing a different antigen detection method.

So either they use the blood sample they have, or they take a new one, and test for microfilarae. If they are present, the positive is confirmed, and we start treatment. If there are no microfilarae, we may have tripped a false positive on the antigen test, and we test again with a different test.

In my best world, the vet comes into the exam room next Monday and says 'we didn't see any microfilarae, this might be a false positive, we need to run another test to see what comes up.'

So yeah, the positive has to be confirmed, that's step one. Thanks for mentioning that, I had just hit that info in my reading!

[Trademarkbark]

I always remember the odd cases from when I was a tech.

Crossing fingers it’s false positive!

[connie]

Lyssa, I know, I was saying something similar to Alex's breeder today. She thinks that heartworm is so prevalent that pretty soon, every mosquito will be a carrier. I can't say she's wrong. She lives in TN, so for her heartworm is a year-round threat, but it's not something I thought was any significant risk in my area. The HW+ dogs I saw in rescue either came in from rural areas or had been seriously neglected, or both. But lots of things are changing ... remember when ticks were something that were only in 'wooded areas' and if an Illinois resident was taking their dog to Wisconsin, they might find ticks, but never HERE! Yeah, that's long past ...

My other dogs will all be on preventive this year, I'll decide later if I change my protocol permanently. I'm not ruling it out, that's for sure. And then I worry about the pests developing resistance to the preventives -- !!

[Riddick]

I KNOW! These stupid ticks are everywhere now. I had a dog come in that lives in downtown Naperville and he had a huge tick right in the middle of his head! From sniffing normal bushes in the middle of downtown Naperville! Insanity!

And I do believe the bugs are becoming resistant to the preventative too. Vectra is considered one of the best flea/tick preventatives on the market. So good that I usually give it every 45 days instead of every 30. Remus got fleas on day 35.

In the last few years we’ve had about 8 heartworm positive dogs. We use a outside lab to test for heartworm, we don’t use a Snap test. If the regular test comes back positive, then we do another test that I can’t remember the name of, but it tests for the immature worms in the blood. If they are there then we do a chest x-ray, and then a month of doxy, and then the Immiticide. So it sounds like you’re on the right track for everything. If he’s in the very early stages of the disease then you probably won’t have to be sooo strict with keeping him calm and quiet. We had a Scottie/Chi who we caught it very early and he did his doxy and his injections and he was IMPOSSIBLE to keep quiet. Like the owner had to sedate the dog after his injections to keep him quiet, and he was still fine.

[connie]

Yes, my vet was talking about how Frontline is pretty much useless now, it's so ineffective. The company still claims it works, he said, but the number of dogs who are found to have fleas and ticks while using Frontline is just crazy. I have ordered an essential oil blend for tick repellent this year, a friend says she has good success with it and she lives in WI.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007A ... UTF8&psc=1

Mother Nature's revenge: it won't be pretty.

[Amanda]

That is so crazy and such a bummer. I’m crossing fingers for false positive results today!!

[maxs_mommy]

I saw this on facebook and it sucks. I'm sorry you and Row are going through this. I think you're right with the pests becoming more resililliant. We had fleas last year on both the boys and they were a b*tch to get rid of. I've been doing interceptor on a 45 day schedule for years during the mosquito season but hate the combo drugs. I won't do them. Even my vet carries seresto collars for fleas now. It's crazy

[connie]

Well, it wasn't a false positive, but it is a Stage 1 infestation, so that's better than -- I dunno, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick? Alex tested negative; Dee and Beau test today. Rowley starts doxycycline (holy crap, $145 for a month's worth) today, with probiotics. I understand his treatment plan and it's not quite so terrifying now. The fact that it's not a heavy infestation (he had no microfilarae on the test, indicating immature adult worms and not a thriving community of the little fuckers) means that the die-off shouldn't be life-threatening for him, and leash walks and non-strenuous activities will be okay.

It does suck, and I almost lost it with one FB poster who chose to talk about how she hates to give her dogs chemicals BUT SHE DOES TO AVOID THIS, blah blah blah. My feeling now is: when you take in NINE senior dogs and give them time of great quality to the end of their lives, when you help a dog with cancer live for seven years with that cancer, when you help a dog with ehrlichiosis live four years with that infection -- THEN you can tell me what's wrong with my protocol and how your smug mug is so superior. And that, folks, is why FB is not a nice place: too much passive-aggressive shite.

On Sunday night I went online and applied for Care Credit, and got approved in about ten seconds, with a $4000 limit. Care Credit seems like a good thing, so long as you pay it all off in the 12-month promotional period; no interest is charged if you do that, but if you have a balance at the end of that time, they charge interest from day one. It, like most credit cards, traps people who don't pay off balances. I'll pay off the balance, I just don't want to do it the same month my taxes are due. The total cost of Rowley's vet visits and heartworm treatment will be around $1500. The shots are $773. The rest is labs, x-rays, drugs, etc. I figured it would be about that, so I'm okay there.

I have a question about HW preventive dosing, will make another thread.

BIG thanks to all ODO peeps and family for the support; it really means a lot.

[Sabine]

So glad you have a solid plan and don't have to stress about the financial aspect. Get well quickly, Row!

[Amanda]

Get better soon, dude! Sorry it wasn’t a false positive, but sounds like best case scenario for the situation you’re in... keep us posted! There are a couple of really good Facebook pages/groups for enrichment ideas. Canine enrichment Joy is one and I think the other is just called Canine enrichment.

[maxs_mommy]

Holy cow that's a lot for Doxy! Fwiw, I got 100 mg doxy for max at Costco for about $1 a pill. I've heard lots of different prices for it but searched goodrx for a better price when we did it on the regular.
I'm glad you have a plan and die-off won't be so severe and financing can dull the pain. As to the keyboard warriors, I take it with a grain of salt. It's easy to pontificate for likes.

[JudyL]

Definitely price shop for the doxycycline. ChiChi was on it during the time it was taken off the market a few years ago and the prices went crazy. Human pharmacies may or may not be less expensive. I see 100 mg tablets for $0.69 at Allivet, and either $19 or $24 for a bottle of 50 pills at Valley Vet depending on your comfort level with the generic and the brand. Even at a higher dose than I'm used to thinking of, it seems like you could save a lot by ordering online.

[connie]

He's got to take the 200 mg tabs. Sixty tabs = $145. It is what it is. My vet is excellent about sending me to pharmacies or even online when the price is significantly different, so I didn't check around. Looking now, online, I don't see any lower prices for the 200 mg tabs. He's on a massive dose of the stuff to kill the wolbachia bacteria.

[Sabine]

You might want to consider adding some saccharomyces boulardii to your probiotic regimen, since it's a yeast and not affected by abx. I would still give a potent multi-strain product as well, but the yeast can really make a difference.

[connie]

Thanks, I'll look into that. Right now he gets doxy with each meal, and a probiotic in the middle of the day.

When he has the Immiticide shots, he'll get CoQ10 and Hepaclenz for two months, and some other stuff I am blanking on right now. Roger at Marina's is sending supplements.

ETA: I just ordered some -- Jarrow makes saccharomyces boulardii and that's a brand I like a lot. Thanks again, Sabine.

[Sabine]

You are welcome!

Jarrow or NOW is what I typically use for Dax.

[JudyL]

He's got to take the 200 mg tabs. Sixty tabs = $145. It is what it is. My vet is excellent about sending me to pharmacies or even online when the price is significantly different, so I didn't check around. Looking now, online, I don't see any lower prices for the 200 mg tabs. He's on a massive dose of the stuff to kill the wolbachia bacteria.

Sorry Connie, I didn't look back to see that you've already purchased and started Row on the doxycycline. It's too bad that the Rx wasn't written for two 100 mg tablets at a time where you could have purchased 3 whole bottles of the drug at 1/2 the cost. Again, sorry, it's hard to shut off the accounting part of my brain.

[connie]

Dang, I didn't even think of giving 2 100-mg tabs! Now see, that's how upset by this I am -- the compliance part of MY brain was not present!

It's a drop in the bucket, anyway, but I'll remember for any future use of the drug. Beau has a Lyme Quant test out and if it comes back positive, it's doxy for him, so ...