Average Cost of Treatment. The average cost of heartworm treatment for dogs is often around $1,000. However, it can range from $500 to $1,100 or even more depending mainly on the size of your dog, veterinary bills, and the stage of the disease.
At Low Cost Pet Vet, our affordable heartworm treatment runs from about $600 – $1200 (with no complications). Treatment consists of a three-dose regimen of melarsomine to kill off the adult heartworms. The exact cost will depend on your dog's current condition, size and treatment plan.
Proheart SR12 heartworm prevention yearly injection:
Up to 20kg – $141.00. Up to 35kg – $186.75. Up to 50kg – $232.50. Heartworm test – $67.50.
Heartworm treatment is undoubtedly expensive. It is also uncomfortable for the dog, has significant side effects, and requires prolonged activity restriction. Melarsomine treatment must be preceded by a series of diagnostic tests and treatments that may cost anywhere from an additional $100 to over $1,000.
What happens if my dog tests positive for heartworms? No one wants to hear that their dog has heartworm, but the good news is that most infected dogs can be successfully treated.
Dogs with heartworm disease can live high-quality lives as long as they are given appropriate care. After completing treatment and following your veterinarian's recommenda- tions on heartworm disease testing and prevention, the chances of any long-term effects are very low.
Some dogs live with heartworms for a long time with little to no outside indicators of infection, especially if they don't have many heartworms. That said, heartworms have a lifespan of five to seven years, so unfortunately they have plenty of time to wreak havoc on your dog's system.
Not every aspiring pet owner is equipped to provide the extra care a special-needs pet requires; however, with proper treatment, heartworm-positive pets can be excellent candidates for adoption.
After treatment, the adult worms die and are carried by the blood to the lungs where they lodge in small blood vessels. There they decompose and are absorbed by the body over a period of several months. Reactions to the drugs are not uncommon, and there is always some risk involved in treating a dog for heartworms.
Is heartworm painful? - Animal Hospital of Statesville. It's not painful, per se, but they feel sick, uncomfortable, and they're likely having difficulty breathing. They're not perfusing very well, so they don't feel well.
Many factors affect the cost associated with treating heartworm infection, including diagnostic testing, hospitalization, medication, and office visits. The current drug of choice is Immiticide, and due to manufacturing issues, is difficult to obtain and as a result is expensive.
They can be controlled naturally with citrus oils, cedar oils, and diatomaceous earth. Dogs needing conventional treatment may benefit from herbs such as milk thistle and homeopathics such as berberis; these minimize toxicity from the medications and dying heartworms.
Many people believe that thanks to advances in heartworm prevention in the past decade, heartworm is rarely found in Australia. However, vet clinics across South East Queensland have recently reported a spike in heartworm cases in dogs.
If owners can't afford treatment at the time of diagnosis, Dr. Herrin recommended delaying melarsomine therapy but still initiating treatment with both a preventive and doxycycline. This will prevent further infection and remove the dog as a heartworm reservoir.
Melarsomine dihydrochloride (available under the trade names Immiticide and Diroban) is an arsenic-containing drug that is FDA-approved to kill adult heartworms in dogs. It's given by deep injection into the back muscles to treat dogs with stabilized class 1, 2, and 3 heartworm disease.
Treatment Requires a Vet's Help
Once a positive test is confirmed, our veterinarians (in alignment with the American Heartworm Society) recommend treating adult heartworm infections with 3 treatments (injections) of a drug called melarsomine.
Usually, your dog can slowly resume activity at this time. Remember that every dog living in an area where heartworms exist needs to receive regular heartworm preventative (usually once monthly, given orally at home).
Heartworm disease causes lasting damage to the heart, lungs and arteries, and can affect the dog's health and quality of life long after the parasites are gone.
Once mature, heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years in dogs and up to 2 or 3 years in cats. Because of the longevity of these worms, each mosquito season can lead to an increasing number of worms in an infected pet.
Walking outside to use the restroom or to sit outside with you to enjoy the weather is ok, but no walks (short or long) for exercise. Be advised that the severity of heartworm disease is directly related to the activity level of the dog.
Myth: Heartworm disease is contagious for pets.
Truth: You should be concerned if we diagnose one of your pets with heartworm disease, but you do not need to quarantine your infected pet. Heartworms must go through a mosquito to develop into adults, so heartworm-positive pets are safe to be around.
There is some risk involved in treating dogs with heartworms, although fatalities are rare. "A new drug is available that does not have as many side effects, allowing successful treatment of more than 95% of dogs with heartworms."
After a dog receives a positive result on the heartworm antigen screening test, further testing is required to confirm actual heartworm infection. These tests include additional blood collection with the samples subjected to any of the following analyses: A different manufacturer's heartworm antigen test.
Myth #3: If my pet has heartworms, I will see them in her feces. Although many worm types, such as roundworms and tiny hookworms, are shed in your pet's feces, heartworms do not live in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and are not found in feces.
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