Heartworms

Hello, I live in Florida and I have 4 dogs. We went to begin updating their shots this week. We rescued our newest dog and he needed to be checked for heart worms so we could put him on preventative. So I went ahead and had that done as well. The three already on preventative were negative last test, but they are due to have them their yearly check on our next round of shots. But the puppy that we adopted tested positive. I was told that he either needed short-term or long-term treatment. We opted for long term because the vet stated he would need to stay combined to a kennel for a year while he went through the short term heartworm killing method and he is VERY energetic so we opted to have him go through long term. It takes a bit longer but he won't be miserable and cooped up. They said all that we needed to do was to put him on a preventative and it would begin to kill them. They did a check up with this test as well and that's all they told us before kicking us out of the room for what they called "basically an emergency" and we paid and left. No one would tells us anything else. It was a very negative experience and we will be finding a new vet needless to say. My question is, will this work? Is there a particular kind of heartworm medicine I should put him on? Does he need an antibiotic? Does he need anything else? I've read about heartworms in the past and I started reading about them to make sure I'm up to date. I want to support him and take the best care we can so that he is a happy and healthy boy. Can any of the vets on here give me some advice?

Hello - from everything you've said, I'm hearing that you were understandably upset because your vets cut an appointment short this week and you didn't get the information that you felt you needed.   Of course, it's fully possible that they might have been trying to get rid of you because they didnt value your pets' health or because they wanted to have some lunch that day; I don't know your vets.  However, I have worked in a lot of different vets and this doesn't strike me as likely.   I also don't know where you live, but in the UK where I live, vets are a bit like a GP, a Hospital and A & E rolled into one;  surgery going on in the back room, while consultations happen in the front room, with medical and surgical patients being cared for by nurses on wards, often with 'rounds' a couple of times a day to update the vets.   Now;  sometimes, through no fault of the doctors, several situations can be emerging at one time and the most urgent case has to take priority.  Whether they are present or absent at the time, nobody really wants that patient to be their animal.   Obviously, when faced with such time conflicts, vet staff would be unruffled and charming, but efficient; tell you enough that you understand that they're really not messing you around, yet little enough to respect the confidentiality of the other case as much as you'd want your case's confidentiality to be respected.  Unfortunately, today, it sounds though things may have been rather stressful and the mask might have slipped.   You have ended up going home frustrated, with things that you don't understand.  Again, ideally, the vet might remember this later on in the day and call you, or appoint a spare nurse, to call you and apoligise.  But it's also possible that the next cases were also complicated, and they are still playing catch-up.

I apologise; you have in fact told me that you live in Florida.  You will have to ask your vets what happened from their perspective as expectations might not bethe same as in a UK clinic, although (unlike human halthcare), our practises are almost all private here, too.  But enough about what might have happened at the vets;  back to the important bit for you:   your boy.  It sounds as though the upshot of all this was that you didn't get the clarity that you wanted about his Heartworm treatment.  It sounds as though you've opted for a chronic treatment; what has happened since then?  Do you have some treatment and a dose?  Were you shown how to use it?  This sounds to be your boys' priority now.   There are some things that you can do.  If there is any doubt in your mind as to whether this might be an emergency, you should use the number for an emergency or out of hours vet to advise you.   Failing that, the quickest way to get your boy the treatment he needs may be to call your vet when they're open (perhps back this up with an email for the record), explain the situation and ask whether someone could speak to you with the exact information or prescription that you need.   It might help to have any questions written in a bulleted list, so that that you are as organised as possible on the phone and miss none of the information that you need.  Finally, drug companies sometimes have a helpline and sometimes they an be surprisingly helpful when it comes to advising you about their products.  I hope that something there is useful to you and your newest dog.