Sick dogs, Upper Respitory Infection and Heartworm

[djc1285]

This week our lab developed a deep chest cough and his owner took him in to the vet and found out he had an upper respitory infection and also found out today that he has heartworm. This is the second time he has had heartworm while on preventitive medication. He has had problems due to being a rescue dog and was sick when we got him.

The next day my Brittany (the hunter of the group) developed a runny nose and snorting because of this. Our German Shepard (the hyper one of the group) has been acting very calm and lazy, does not look to well. Because of the work schedule I can't get the two into the vet till Saturday Morning for tests.

This has me pretty worried because the lab is going to start an expensive heartworm treatment that requires him to stay locked up for 6 weeks and is to be very restricted of physical activity. I'm not sure exactly what this treatment is because he is not my dog but he lives with us. If anyone can fill me in on this treatment? It would be devistating if my Brittany were to go through this because I have her in training for the upcoming season. Any suggestions on what is going on and what I can do till the vet appointment?

[jcbjr]

djc1285, sounds like you have and epidemic on your hands! I'm a vet in GA, and I have treated numerous cases of heart worm. The treatment is 2 injections (usually) of an organic arsenical drug called Immiticide (made by Merial). It can be rough on the dog, depending on his overall condition. It kills the adult worms, which then break up and their pieces are carried via the blood to the lungs, where the "worm crud" is slowly eliminated from the body. Rest is vital during the 5-6 weeks post treatment due to the effect these dead worm parts have on the lungs, and complications are possible even with rest. These days, we generally pre treat the dog with a few months of some monthly heartworm preventative and a course of an antibiotic called doxycycline; this pre treatment has markedly reduced the complications I have experienced. the dog needs to have a pre treatment work up of blood chemistry and X-rays to assess his overall condition to help the vet decide exactly how to treat him.
I'm surprised that he keeps getting heart worm even though he's taking preventative. Do you give it all year? where do you get it? there are some pretty unreliable sources out there in cyberspace.
AS for your other dogs, while they might have heart worm, they did not catch it directly from the lab. The parasite is transmitted by mosquito bites. It sounds like you have a contagious respiratory disease; one possibility, assuming your dogs are all vaccinated for distemper and the other common diseases, is the dog flu, or canine influenza.
Bottom line, get all the dogs on heart worm preventative, purchased from a reliable source, and get them checked out for their other respiratory ailment ASAP. Probably a good idea to have the other dogs checked for heart worm, too.

Good luck.................JB, DVM

[djc1285]

The Brit and German Shepard use Revolution year around. The Lab uses heartguard but not in the cold winter months. Just to be sure I am getting them tested for heartworm too on Saturday. As for the other shots they are up to date on all shots, the Brittany is only 9 months old and had all her shots taken care of back in October, As for the German Shepard he was taken in for his annual shots last Saturday, the day before all this started. As far as I know the lab was up to date on all his shots.

[jcbjr]

Might want to mention the canine flu to your vet, that. or Bordetella (kennel cough). Rule of thumb: give HW prev. starting 1 month before earliest possible mosquito exposure, and continue until 2 months after. there have been some cases reported of Heartgard not being chewed, but swallowed whole, esp. by large dogs, and being pooped out intact,i.e.medication not absorbed. Something to consider............JB

[kninebirddog]

Any time you have a few days of T shirt type weather mosquitoes can come out..I have personally swatted at Mosquitoes in Ohio a few days after it had snowed and then warmed back up in the month of Nov while deer hunting

This is the very reason I use the Ivermectin method year round for my bird dogs and my Silky I use the ivermectin 1% solution 1/10th cc per 10 pounds of body weight squirted on a treat..this is not suggested for collies and it is cheap enough to do a kennel full of dogs Heartguard is not cost effective when one has over 60 dogs to deal with.

Some of the newer treatment methods I have seen vets do is give the ivermectin for a month killing off the young worms then they go and treat for the adults so the body isn't inundated with a bunch of dead worms at different stages..then during the 4-6 week isolation time giving half a buffered aspirin a day

as from the Heartworm Society pages http://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-own ... tworm.html

Treatments

Most dogs infected with heartworm can be successfully treated. The goal of treatment is to kill all adult worms with an adulticide and all microfilariae with a microfilaricide. It is important to try to accomplish this goal with a minimum of harmful effects from drugs and a tolerable degree of complications created by the dying heartworms. Heartworm infected dogs showing no signs or mild signs have a high success rate with treatment. Patients with evidence of more severe heartworm disease can be successfully treated, but the possibility of complications and mortality is greater. The presence of severe heartworm disease within a patient in addition to the presence of other life-threatening diseases may prevent treatment for heartworm infection.
Adult Heartworm Therapy (Adulticide Therapy)

There is currently one drug approved by the FDA for use in dogs for the elimination of adult heartworms. This drug is an organic arsenical compound. Dogs receiving this drug therapy will typically have had a thorough pretreatment evaluation of its condition and will then be hospitalized during the administration of the drug.

Melarsomine dihydrochloride (Immiticide®, Merial) has demonstrated a higher level of effectiveness and safety than any other adult heartworm treatment previously available. It is administered by deep intramuscular injection into the lumbar muscles. For complete information on the classification and treatment for heartworm infected dogs using this product, consult your veterinarian.

Macrocyclic Lactone (ML)

Macrocyclic lactones are highly effective parasiticides used in preventing heartworm infections. Their primary benefits lie in their safety and ease of administration of once- monthly doses. Each of the macrocyclic lactones can have additional intestinal parasite or external parasite activity, which could be the determining factor that a veterinarian uses to recommend a particular product for a certain region or an individual situation.
Ivermectin

Ivermectin (Heartgard® & Heartgard® Plus by Merial, Iverhart® Plus & Iverhart MAX™ by Virbac and Tri-Heart® Plus by Schering-Plough) was the first in this family of drugs to be approved for preventing heartworm infection. An infection with larvae as long as two months prior to the initiation of ivermectin treatment will be blocked from development.