Vet Lab Clinic
Vet Lab Clinic My dog was just diagnosed with heart worms..I was just wondering how…? much an x-ray at a vet hospital or clinic usually costs. I took my 5 yr old yellow lab, Chassy, to a coun...
Vet Lab Clinic
My dog was just diagnosed with heart worms..I was just wondering how…?
much an x-ray at a vet hospital or clinic usually costs. I took my 5 yr old yellow lab, Chassy, to a county vet and he took a blood test and gave my husband and I the news that she has heart worms. He gave us two treatment options. Arsenic poisoning to kill both the adults and the larvae but risky in that it could kill her too during the arsenic injection or while she is recuperating. The other option is giving her a shot once a month for 3 months to kill the larvae ONLY and let the adults die on their own (which could take 2 years, depending how old the worms are, which could leave her with heart damage). I wanted to get a chest/ heart x-ray done but he didn’t recommend one but I was wanting to know how advanced it is. She is only coughing and throwing up phlegm and some digested food and usually coughs when she is excited. She is eating and seems like she is okay other than the coughing. What would you suggest…have you ever had to go through this with your dog?
Jen is right, x-rays are a good way to determine how far along the disease has progressed, but if you are going to treat one way or the other they aren’t that necessary.
I would very much recommend the first treatment. This is the only approved method of treatment by the american heartworm society. The drug Immiticide (melarsomine dihydrochloride) is an adulticide and only kills the adults worms in the pulmonary arteries and the worms in the larval stage 5 (L5 stage) which is the stage right before the worms are fully mature and can reproduce. The recommended course of treatment is: your dog goes into the vet on day 1 and gets 1 injection of immiticide, your dog will stay the day and sometimes night (depending on the vet) for observation. Your dog goes home and is on strict bed rest (no running around or strenous activity). 2 weeks later you take your dog back to the vet where she will spend the day and get an oral treatment to kill the microfilaria (juvenile states), this is usually oral ivermectin. Again your dog will stay the day and go home with you that night. 2 weeks after the oral dose (and at least 4 weeks from day 1 treatment) your dog will go back to the vet for her last treatment. This time she will stay 3 days and will get 2 injections, the vets like to keep them for 3 days to observe and make sure there won’t be any immediate reactions. After her last treatment, your dog will be released to go home and again will have to be kept as calm as possible, not allowed to run around and be goofy, leash walked outside to go to the bathroom, etc. Restricting the activity is the most important thing you can do in her treatment. 6 months after the last treatment, you will take her back to the vet for a heartworm test and will get started on heartworm preventive once monthly for rest of your dog’s life. This method is usually pretty safe for dogs in early stages of the disease as long as all directions are followed.
As for the second way your vet told you about, I would stay away from since it takes such a long time to kill off the worm burden. The drug that would be used is most likely ivermectin and while can make the adult worms sickly, won’t kill them, and they will still be in your dog’s system causing disease. Usually this method consists of giving your dog a heartworm preventive daily for a year of two and not just getting 3 injections over a 3 month time. All the while you will still have to keep your dog calm and confined for an even longer time period. Not only is this way pretty hard long term on your dog, it also keeps an infected dog in the general population and she will be a source of infection to other dogs nearby.
Your dog sounds like she is in probably stage 2 of heartworm disease since she only coughs when excited. Stage 1 is where there are no visible symptoms of disease, and stage 2 is just a little more progressed, so I would say she is in an early enough stage and she is young enough that treatment should be no problem (but there are always exceptions). Maybe get another vet’s opinion, and before starting treatment I would recommend getting blood work done on your dog to make sure everthing is working right! The treatment plan I described above is good because treatment is spread out over a month, though some vets will just give one injection of the immiticide.
I hope some of this helped and I wish you and your dog luck, I’m sure everyting will turn out fine! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email and I’ll try to help best I can!
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Pet Hospital
Those who love their pets love them as they would love their own babies. Hence, when it comes to taking care of their pet’s needs, they always believe in the best of what is available nearby. There are several pet care centers in the fair state of California but only few are capable of providing a wholesome care and support service for pets. These hospitals have state of the art equipment, highly trained and experienced personnel. The doctors are caring, gentle and know exactly what to do and when to do it. These only a few of all the things that make these pet care centers the best in the business.
When it comes to great pet care, many pet owners trust Aborn Pet Hospital in Fremont, CA for giving proper care and treatment to their pets. Aborn Pet Hospital is convenient located in Fremont, CA close to Newark, CA, Union City CA, Milpitas, CA and also Pleasanton CA. They are absolute veterans when it comes to pet care and have a lot of experience in all different types of pet care. Supported by a highly competent staff, plethora of in-house facilities, the Aborn Pet Hospital is one of the best places to treat your pet at.
No matter what your pet needs, Aborn Pet Hospital will be able to give it to them. Be it regular checkups, preventive treatment, vaccination, surgery or even emergency services, they have it all. They have separate departments for administering the different kinds of treatment that animals need. Just like a hospital for human beings, the hospital has dentistry units where your pet can go through regular checkups. Root canals, braces and extractions are also preformed here. Aborn Pet Hospital in Fremont, CA has automated machinery, high-speed drills and all the modern equipments to make sure that your pet gets only the best of treatments.
There are separate, dedicated x-ray units that are completely equipped to handle all different kinds of animals. The staff here is trained to handle animals gently and properly, so your pet has an anxiety free time at the vets. When there are tests needed to be done, the hospital has standard on-site laboratories to perform full-scale lab tests within a very short period of time. In most cases, you will have the results in your hands in around 30 minutes. This is very important for knowing how your pet’s body is behaving. When medicines are required, you can make sure that the prescription is filled by the time you leave the hospital with the on-site pharmacy at these places.
There are also dedicated OT’s for surgeries and also a humane euthanasia department. If your pet is terminally ill or extremely old and suffering a lot, you can bring them in for being put to sleep. The staff is trained in gentle restraint while euthanasia is being administered and your pet will be gently and painlessly put to sleep. You can choose to drop them off if you can’t bear the sight of it or you can choose to stay by his or her side. Euthanasia at home is also available. So Aborn Pet hospitals really provide a 360-degree care system for pets of every kind.
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