Heartworm Treatment Experience?

We did slow kill for a one year old rescue shepherd. Luckily it worked. Good luck with the treatment.

That doesn’t help with the issue at hand

We've done it three times with two dogs. One dog had them twice. They were all on preventative, BTW. The worms are developing resistance.

It went fine, just try to keep them as calm as possible. We never crated ours, just let them chill around the house. They can give you sedatives to give them if your dog is hyper. You don't have to freak out if they hop on furniture or get excited at mealtime. Just don't let their heart rate get elevated.

I just finished doing the fast kill in my dog. We did a few weeks of antibiotics and steroid pills, heartguard and then the 2 shots that kill them. He seems to fine and healthy.

Excellent advice, though fortunately (or unfortunately really) the treatment sufficiently kicks their asses to the point where hyperactivity is not usually a problem (you're essentially poisoning them to the point where the parasites die but not the dog). The size and age of the dog are highly indicative of success, but not necessarily. Like people, some dogs have more fight in them than others.

When I was young, I worked as kind of combined kennel boy / vet tech guy on nights and weekends, everything from cleaning cages to gloving in on emergency surgeries.

It was a high end place and people were willing and able to pay for their pet care.

One night, this couple came in with their dog in the back of the car who had, from their perspective, simply died.

They requested an autopsy, which proved death by heart worm infestation had caused serious malformations in the heart chambers.

In other words, the dog died of a lack of oxygenation bc the heart was no longer functioning correctly.

Anyway, I bring all this up to say it was the first time I ever viewed this situation personally and I was absolutely horrified. I literally couldn't believe the volume - more than a grown man's handful - of these frickers that fully mature from microfilariae into quite large, disgustingly parasitic, adult heart worms. It was really a wake up call for me.

Did fast kill with my dog 13 years ago. She was a very active dog. We just kept her as calm as possible. She’s 15 now. It’ll be fine

I did slow kill with a rescue dog I had back in the 80s-90s. He made a full recovery from heartworm but developed a rare form of cancer later in his life.

I lost a dog on the last day of the last treatment. Apparently a worm broke off and traveled to the brain and he died. Happened overnight at the vet’s office.. It is fairly rare but it does happen. I had a good experience with my rescue Chihuahua.

It is very expensive but I guess I would do it again.

Our vet recommended fast kill (3 months) for our latest rescue/rehome. It was pretty rough on him, he was in obvious pain for after each treatment. but he's been worm free since.

It literally took 4 years of 6 month checkups for him to forgive her! He wouldn't accept treats or much of anything from her..... LOL

It’s a pretty awful treatment. We did it for a rescue dog as well. After treatment you have to keep them calm for 30 days. No running etc. Our instructions said keep her crated as much as possible . She was in a lot of pain after the treatment, The second and third treatments were given over a 2 day period. We brought her in one afternoon and they gave her the second shot, the third shot was the next day. Again, we had to keep her quiet for 30 days. After that it was 6 months for a retest. If they are positive, you repeat. I would recommend you get the vet to prescribe pain meds. Good luck! Ours has been negative for almost 8 years.