a vet tech said are golden may have heart worms.. if he does what is there a treatment. for him.. he is only 2 years old.. and we only have had him for about 4 months.. and in this time he has lost lots of weight but eats a LOT. and when we frist got him he had the runss really bad.. but he eats about 50 lbs of dog food in about 2 in a half weeks. but is up to date with his shots and wormers.. any help would be great.. thanks
Answers:
The first adulticide (drug to kill the adults) for dogs that was developed was thiacetarsamide sodium (Caparsolate庐), which contains arsenic. It has to be given in the vein through a catheter. If any drug gets outside of the vein, severe tissue damage could occur. Some animals become quite ill from this drug, and therapy sometimes has to be stopped. Almost all animals have to be hospitalized for the several days of treatment.
Melarsomine (Immiticide庐) is a medication that also contains arsenic. It is given by injection deep in the muscles of the back instead of intravenously. It is less likely to cause side effects than thiacetarsamide and is more effective.
The treatment protocol depends on the severity of infection. In less severe cases, the dog is treated for four months with a heartworm preventive to kill any migrating heartworm larvae and to decrease the size of the female worms. Then an infection of melarsomine is given to kill the adult heartworms. Five weeks later, the dog is treated with two more injections of the adulticide. Four months after the treatment, the dog should be tested for heartworms using the antigen test. Some animals may need to undergo a second round of injections at that time. It is recommended that dogs remain on a monthly heartworm preventive during the treatment. In severe cases, it may be necessary to use the adulticide before the four months of heartworm preventive are given.
Regardless of which drug is used, when the adult heartworms die, they can obstruct blood vessels to the lungs (these are called pulmonary embolisms). If only a small part of the lung is involved, there may be no clinical signs. However, if the vessels to a large portion of the lung, or a small area of an already diseased lung are blocked, severe signs may result. These include fever, cough, coughing up blood, and even heart failure. Because of the risk of these embolisms, any dog being treated with an adulticide must be kept very quiet during treatment and for 2-4 weeks thereafter.
In very severe infestations, adult worms are removed from the heart surgically.
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/hartworm.h.
This will give you all the information.
Anything else, speak to your veterinarian..
I would get your dog into the vet for a proper diagnosis of heartworms. If you've had him on the monthly meds, it seems unlikely he would have them and the meds take care of others like round worms too.
If he does have it, I hear it can be cured, but costly to do so.
him eating a lot and then not gaining weight is a sign that the worm is eating some of the food that is supposed to be the dogs. yes he has heartworm or somekind of worm. i dont know if the treatment wll kill him so i dont know what 2 say but..do what u think is best.
there is treatment but its a long process. a friend of mine had a black lab with heartworms and he used arsenic. i dont recommend that but it did work. check with your vet. asking the masses isn't going to save your pooch.
go to your vet and get a test done and if it confirms that it does have heartworms you want to start its treatment ASAP. your dog can die from heartworms so it is important to get it taken care of quickly but it is not cheap. actually its very expensive but it is well worth it for a 2 year old to live out its life. good luck
I have worked for vet before. It does sound like he has heartworms and that is very serious in his health. There are treatments for it and I can tell you this they are not cheap at all. first treatment is like around $300 hundred dollars. They keep him for about 13 days and then he comes home. it about another week and a half before the second treatment is given. My advise to you is get him to a vet right away. Heartworms can be fatal if not treated properly. Yes the treatments are exp[ensive but most vets will set up a payment plan and work it out for you. best of luck to you and your canin companion!
You can only tell from blood work. Its a simple snap test my 14 yr old daughter has been doing it for 3 years.
If you got him from a rescue or shelter check with them they should have tested him. If they did test him take a stool sample to your vet. A dog could pick up worms anywhere that a dog has left feces. I had a dog get a horrible case of whip from being boarded. Tape and round worms are visable but there are other parasites that can be found in a fecal float.
Take the dog to the vet and have him do a heartworm blood test. That will tell you if he has them or not. There is a treatment for them but it is expensive and well worth it. If the dog has them, get him treated or he will eventually die. Some of the preventatives may be given before the treatment by some vets to rid the dog of the worm larva in the blood. Some vets won't do this. If the dog is a strong positive, he should have one shot followed by back to back shots 30 days later. They MUST be kept quiet during the treatment no running, going for walks, playing etc or the dog could die. I have one Boxer that came through the treatment very well and was negative when retested after the treatment (30-60 days later)
Good luck.
The stray Beagle I found last year had heartworm disease. She underwent the treatment..Can be painful for a time that's why the vets like to keep them and observe. However, I brought her home. She had several of these treatments and they are scheduled sometimes months apart but after each injection you go through the same proceedure of watching waiting and little if any real excercise. Minka pulled through. She is fine, free of heartworm.Loss of appetite was never one of her symptoms. but during the treatment stage she sometimes lost interest in food so she kind of got spoiled , but she ate and recovered. Good luck. I know it is alot to ask of your dog as well as the family but the treatments are successful.
There is a test a vet tech or vet can do which is easy and quick to determine if your dog has heartworms by taking a small blood sample. Vets are not supposed to give heartworm preventative to dogs that have not first been tested for heartworms because the preventative can kill them if they take it when they have heartworms. A vet will not tell you the dog "may" have heartworms without telling you to get it TESTED. After testing they will tell you and if it doesn't you can get your dog started on prevention, or they will tell you it DOES have heartworms and they will tell you if treatment is an option for your dog which it sounds like it is. The treatment is pretty hard on a dog but will rid the dog of heartworms. Then he can be started on the heartworm prevention tablets which some brands can be scheduled to take once a month and are like a small treat.
The only way to know if your pet has heartworm is to take him to his vet and have him tested for it, it is a simple blood test and you should have the results in 24 hours or less. If he has lost alot of weight I would recommend that you discuss that with your vet when you are there, he/she may have some recommendations for you. Good Luck.
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