How to kill heartworms in a dog

The slow kill method which I think is antibiotic & monthly prevention
With the fast kill method (shot) just keep him leashed when going outside & no running around house

Good on y’all for giving him a chance

quote:

---

Wife found a dog a couple weeks ago. Great behaviorally, walks well on the leash etc. We think he may have been dumped. He was not snipped so we took him yesterday and they tested for heartworms. Long story short he has them. One option they said was to give him a shot, but he has to be confined for a month plus. Are there any other options y’all may know of to kill heartworms. We do not know the severity as apparently they don’t save that info at the non profit we took him too. Thanks fellas.

---

We adopted a Great Dane that had heart worms and elected to go the quick route vs the slow preventative. There’s a major price difference between the two from what I remember.

Our vet recommend the fast kill because he was young and the worms weren’t too bad. I think if he was older and more progressed we would have went the preventative. I think the quick kill can be harder on an older dog.

Had the same with a border collie/ Siberian husky mix. Basically kept him inside in a kennel and took him out on a leash to go to the bathroom. I would do it again if I had to. You will have a friend for life. Doctor said he cannot get exerted as the worms are dying and the body is breaking them down and could get in the bloodstream and lead to a heart attack or a stroke. He had a terrible cough as the worms were breaking down and going into the lungs. He’s been healthy ever since.

Appreciate all of the guidance gentlemen. He’s a good young pup and we’re going to do our best to help him out.

Just buy ivermectin and put a dose in their food every month. The life span of the adult heartworm is short. If you kill the filaria in the blood with regularity you can slow kill

I have had two dogs test positive. First dog we did fast kill. Second dog was slow kill. I would definitely recommend slow kill. The dog that did slow kill was completely fine a few months later and hunted hard until he was 13.

Nowadays, the yearly heartworm shot is much more effective for prevention than the chews, etc. that everyone used to use.

quote:

---

Isn't this many hundred dollars?

---

I think it’s 3 or 4 stages and it’s between 1k to 2k from what I remember. My Dane was abused and in very poor shape when we got him but he was young.

I’m around 10k in on this fricker so far but he’s been worth it.

Slow Kill + monthly heartworm treatment or ivermectin.

Slow kill is doxycycline, antibiotic that does nothing to heartworm, but disrupts the gut microbiome of the heartworm and digestion in heartworm so they die. This will slowly take care of adult heartworms, keep giving preventative to kill new heartworms. Had 2 dogs test pos that were on heartguard, both survived with slow kill method. Now I use cattle ivermectin as preventative and no more problems.

quote:

---

I think it’s 3 or 4 stages and it’s between 1k to 2k from what I remember

---

Good Lord that is high. When my oldest, who is currently 7 had them when I found her as a young pup, it was only $450 to $500 if not less if I remember correctly for the fast kill method.

Of course, my vet is an old country vet so they don't charge sky high prices. I followed their instructions and kept her from running about for a month and she was fine.

“Had 2 dogs test pos that were on Heartguard”.

Heartguard was/is a scam.I’ve heard so many stories of dogs on it and getting heartworms.
I had a pack of beagles and a Lab. I used the liquid ivermectin 1/10 cc/ 10 lbs and never had a dog get heartworms and I had quite a few beagles over 20 years.I took my Lab to the vet every years and he never had any kind of worms except tapeworms(ivermectin doesn’t kill tapeworms).He lived to be 14 y.o.

I calculated the dose I was giving vs.,Heartguard and what I was giving was 150x stronger than the Heartguard.The smaller dose of HG allowed dogs to get other worms-roundworms and hookworms so the vet could sell wormer for other worms.

I got a infant feeding tube and gave my puppies 1/10 cc when they were a week old which was a very large dose considering they only weighed 1-2 lbs.,Never had a problem.
I had very good success raising puppies and beagle puppies were considered hard to raise.It’s because they all had worms and people were afraid to worm them before they were 5-6 weeks old and sometimes it was tool late.