Twenty-six dogs (52%) experienced minor complications, such as injection site reactions, gastrointestinal signs (vomiting, diarrhea, inappetance), and behavioral changes (lethargy, depression) during or after heartworm treatment.
Some dogs experience nausea and are lethargic. These symptoms will usually ease over a couple of days. Though some dogs do not experience the muscle soreness, it is important not to pick up the dog or put any pressure on the back for 2‐4 days after the injections.
Try a game of stationary catch or use a clicker to train him to follow quiet commands while he's in his crate. Keeping your treated dog calm and quiet is one of the most important responsibilities a pet owner has during heartworm treatment.
Your pet has undergone treatment for Heartworm Disease. There may be some muscle soreness in his/her lower back as a result of the injections administered in this area for the heartworm treatment. The soreness usually resolves within 3-7 days after the treatment.
“No running, jumping, playing or high-impact exercise as these activities may cause the worms to break loose and cause significant harm to the pet being treated.”
Do the heartworm treatment injections hurt? The injections are given within the muscle and can indeed be uncomfortable, but the inflammation that develops within the days following creates the most discomfort. Restlessness, panting, trembling and reduced appetite can all be signs that the dog is uncomfortable.
Dogs that have undergone heartworm treatment should be kept on strict rest. If the dog is calm while indoors, he/she can be allowed loose in the house to rest. However, if the dog is energetic and wants to run and play indoors, it should be crated to enforce exercise restriction.
The medicine in the treatment (Immiticide) can cause a lot of inflammation at the injection site. This can occur no matter how smoothly things go and how little it seems to bother the dog at the time. This can range from being absolutely undetectable to a dog that is crying constantly with pain.
How long after heartworm treatment can a dog be active? According to Dr. Marteney, your dog will have to wait about six months after his diagnosis before he can get back to all his favorite activities.
DURING TREATMENT
Short, slow leash walks (5-10 minutes) are appropriate for urinating and defecating, 3-4 times a day. Dogs who are allowed to run or play during this time can develop life-threatening problems similar to a massive stroke.
Strict rest is imperative for 6-8 weeks. This means that your pet can be leashed walked outside to urinate and defecated, but must come back inside to rest. Do not allow your pet to run, jump, climb stairs, or play rough with other dogs or children.
Heartworms can also cause nosebleeds, pneumonia, high blood pressure, seizures, blindness, and excessive sleeping.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
Prognosis: heartworm treatment success rates
With the three-dose adulticide protocol described above, in conjunction with doxycycline and macrocyclic lactones as recommended by the American Heartworm Society, 98% of dogs will be cleared of heartworm infection.
Approximately 6 months after treatment is completed, your veterinarian will perform a heartworm test to confirm that all heartworms have been eliminated. To avoid the possibility of your dog contracting heartworm disease again, you will want to administer heartworm prevention year-round for the rest of his life.
If exercise or excitement cause the treated dog's heart rate to rise, pieces of decomposing worms can be forced into the tiny blood vessels of the lungs, causing further complications. The more pronounced the clinical signs of heartworm disease are, the more restricted any activity or excitement need to be.
The adult worms die in a few days and start to decompose. As they break up, they are carried to the lungs where they lodge in the small blood vessels and are eventually reabsorbed by the body.
Additionally, you may see dead worms in your dog's stool for a few days following treatment, or your dog may have diarrhea as they digest the dead worms. Most of the time, regardless of what you see in their stool, recently dewormed dogs behave like normal.
The exercise restriction during melarsomine treatment is so important. As the heartworms die, they float around in the bloodstream and lodge in the walls of blood vessels. If your dog exercises too hard, the fragments can get shoved into narrowing blood vessels potentially causing a blockage/embolism and even death.
Rest for 60 days (ideally in a crate): Rest is the single most important factor to successful heartworm treatment. This means 4 weeks of strict rest for your dog after each melarsomine injection.
In a way, yes. Your dog can feel the discomfort that goes hand-in-hand with the heartworms hatching from larvae stages into adulthood. They can also feel them migrating from one spot to another inside their body, specifically if they're affecting your dog's lungs and breathing.
Dogs with heartworm disease, for example, require exercise restriction before and heartworm treatment, as well as for a short time after treatment. Physical activity increases the likelihood of adult worms causing a pulmonary thromboembolism, which may be fatal. Limiting a dog's physical activity decreases this risk.
Heartworm preventatives can cause serious side effects in some dogs, including depression, lethargy, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, dilation of the pupil, loss of balance, staggering, convulsions, and hy-persalivation.
Dogs can live for at least six to seven months after becoming infected with heartworms. This is because it takes that long for adult heartworms to grow.