Bad News, Bear

Mama Bear (my affectionate nickname for Clover) received some bad news recently.  She is heartworm positive.

In case you are not aware… it is my self-made mission in life to educate all pet owners about heartworms (whether they want me to or not).  Heartworms are awful little buggers and Vets don’t always do a great job of explaining how important it is to protect pets from them.

Side note to self:  It actually surprises me that this is my first post about Heartworms, as I talk about them pretty much every day.  (I sure have an exciting life!)

The few people that actually read this blog, probably know me.  And, if you know me, you know heartworms… because I never shut up about them.  But, on the slim chance that someone else might actually read this… here is a quick education, in my barely-passed-science-class, non-doctor explanation:

Heartworms are carried by mosquitoes.  A mosquito bites a heartworm positive dog.  It picks up the larvae and then bites a heartworm negative dog, transferring them to that dog.  If that dog is not on heartworm prevention; the worms (larvae at that point), travel to the heart and lungs.  There, they live and grow up to ten inches long.  The dog suffers for years, as the worms develop and eventually cause a slow, painful death as they choke off the heart and lungs.  I would like to point out here that this presents a “chicken and the egg situation” – how did the the first heartworm positive dog get infected… if there were no other positive dogs to catch it from?

Fortunately, there are little pills, many of which are meat-flavored, that contain a medication to prevent heartworms from ever taking hold of our precious babies.  A few of the most common are Heartgard, Interceptor and Trifexis.  They MUST be given monthly whenever mosquitoes are around.  In Wisconsin, we only needed to use the prevention six months a year.  In North Carolina, we use it all twelve months.

A few quick tips, based on questions I have been asked in the past:

• Being an “inside” dog does not mean that prevention isn’t needed…. as mosquitos come inside too.
• Flea and tick preventatives do not protect a dog from heartworms (unless it is an all-in-one pill)… they prevent fleas and ticks – quite the concept.
• Purchasing heartworm prevention can only be done with a prescription from a veterinarian.
• Dogs cannot “catch” heartworms by being around a positive dog.  However, it does increase the need for prevention, as it increases their likelihood of being bitten by a mosquito that just bit the positive dog.
• There are additional de-worming medications in most heartworm prevention meds that keep dogs from catching intestinal worms and parasites as well.  This is just another added bonus to using them.
• Clover’s puppies are safe.  Puppies under six months of age are safe from heartworms and anything they could have picked up from her will be destroyed with their first prevention.

There is a treatment for heartworms.  However, it is VERY expensive, painful and it requires that the dog be on crate-rest for an extended period of time.  The medication actually contains a form of arsenic…. just to give you an idea of how yucky it really is.  The cost of preventing heartworms is around $10 a month, the cost to treat it can run into the thousands.

Because of this huge expense, AARF and most rescue groups try very hard to avoid taking dogs into their programs until they have tested negative.  But, staying true to form, Clover lucked out.  Somehow, Animal Control forgot to test her and she made it into the program and raised her puppies before she was tested.  She slipped right through the cracks.  Now that she is here, we will be getting her treatment and we have started raising funds to pay for it.  (hint, hint)

This means that Clover will be residing with me for approximately four to six more months as we get her treated.  I wish she was our first dog to go through this, but heartworms are very prevalent and we have been down this road several times.  It won’t be a fun journey, but I am looking forward to spending more time with this little girl!