With a heartworm positive dog, you must strictly avoid strenuous exercise (running, jumping, rough play) and minimize all excitement for several months, even after treatment injections, to prevent fatal blood vessel blockages from dying worms; keep them confined, on a leash for potty breaks, and manage boredom with calm activities like puzzle toys and cuddles.
Restrict exercise.
But your dog's normal physical activities must be restricted as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed, because physical exertion increases the rate at which the heartworms cause damage in the heart and lungs. The more severe the symptoms, the less activity your dog should have.
Keeping Your Heartworm Positive Dog Happy
During exercise restriction: Give several; short leash walks during the off-temperature times of the day. These are SHORT walks, 10 minutes max at a leisurely pace. Provide more exploration and sniffing activities than actual walking.
Caring for a Dog During Heartworm Treatment
For up to 6 weeks after receiving these injections, it will be absolutely essential to keep your dog calm. That means restricting all exercise and activity that would elevate your dog's heart rate or increase his blood pressure. That's because dead heartworms potentially lead to fatal blood clots. Kennel Rest!
The goal of heartworm treatment is to kill the worms—with a medication called melarsomine—so they can be gradually absorbed by the body. This takes time. If your dog's heart rate is elevated through exercise, dead and dying heartworms can be pushed into blood vessels where they form life-threatening blockages.
Heartworm-positive dogs pose a concern to other dogs in the environment, as they are reservoirs for propagating heartworms. Mosquitoes can transmit heartworm parasites from one dog to another. Dogs cannot directly transmit heartworm disease to each other.
Apples: Apples are great for dogs with heartworms due to their high levels of vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber. Apples in your dog's diet may help repair damaged tissue and blood vessels and support the health of their vital organs.
The microfilaria will be killed with an injection approximately 4-6 weeks after treatment to rid the dog of the adult heartworms. We have a very high degree of success in treating heartworm disease when we get an early diagnosis, before severe heart damage has taken place.
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.
If your dog loves to play throw the ball, don't do that for the couple months they're needing rest. If there are things that get your dog real excited around the house, jumping up and down on the couch, running around when the doorbell rings, try and limit those things.
However, Heartgard Plus Chewables cannot prevent the development of the adult stage. Use with caution for collies and other herding dog breeds. These breeds have been known to have adverse reactions to ivermectin at elevated dose levels.
It affects the dog's heart and lungs, which can cause long-term damage if left untreated. However, with early detection and appropriate care, heartworm-positive dogs can recover. While heartworm infection can be serious if left untreated, it is not a life-ending sentence.
Reduced Appetite and Weight Loss
Dogs infected with heartworms may lose their appetite or eat less than usual. If left unchecked, this can result in weight loss and malnutrition. The worms can cause inflammation and damage to the dog's digestive system, making it uncomfortable or painful to eat.
Heartgard is the safest heartworm prevention for heartworm positive dogs; it is important to remain on heartworm prevention throughout your dog's life. Your dog is on Heartgard for 2-3 months prior to initiating treatment because it kills some of the circulating larval forms before they become adult worms in the heart.
In dogs, heartworm disease has four stages:
Every year, more than 100,000 dogs in the United States test positive for heartworm. Dogs are the parasite's natural host, which means that heartworms mature and reproduce within the host. The life expectancy of a heartworm inside a dog is 5 to 7 years, and an average of 15 worms can be found in an infected dog.
The larvae then mature over a period of several months, eventually ending up in the right side of the heart and the pulmonary arteries. Once this occurs, they mature into adult heartworms in dogs, and can begin to reproduce about six months from the time of invasion.
How Can I Get Rid of Heartworms Once My Dog Has Them? Your pet should begin taking an antibiotic called Doxycycline as soon as heartworms are diagnosed. Doxycycline is an antibiotic used for 1 month to kill a bacteria that lives in the adult heartworm, which weakens it.
After diagnosis, the first order of business is to limit your pet's physical activity—and that means more than just skipping the dog park. Even moderate exercise increases the risk of serious complications as heartworms begin to die off and break apart during treatment.
Background: The American Heartworm Society currently recommends the use of a monthly macrocyclic lactone, a 28-day course of 10 mg/kg doxycycline BID, and the 3-dose protocol of melarsomine dihydrochloride for the treatment of canine heartworm disease.
If you can't afford heartworm treatment for your pet, here are some options to consider. You can contact local animal shelters or non-profit organizations that may offer financial assistance for veterinary care. Also, talk to your veterinarian about setting up a payment plan or negotiating the cost of treatment.
Life threatening complications may arise if your pet is not confined. Specifically, your dog should not be allowed to run loose, play with other dogs, or go for any long walks. Your pet should remain on a leash at all times when outside.
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. This resorption can take several weeks to months, and most post-treatment complications are caused by these fragments of dead heartworms.
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.