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Lillie Anne

Heart worm not sure if she really has it

ok so does this make sence to anyone the other dog we live with "has heartworm" but when she went to the vet for it they said the test was a false positive but that she had heartworm and they put her on heartgaurd which i thought was bad to do when they had heartworm but the real thing here is that we dont really know if she has heartworm or if the vet is not a very good vet and there just tryin to make money cuz they said they didnt want to treat it till they had enough to pay for it so does that make any sence to anyone


Asked by Lillie Anne on Dec 17th 2009 in Worms & Parasites
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Sadie

No, to me that doesn't make any sence at all. Try going to another vet, and good luck!


Sadie answered on 12/17/09. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 0 Report this answer


Isy

If you have doubts, get a 2nd opinion. There's no rule that says you can only have 1 vet. I have 2. That way if I ever do need a 2nd opinion, the other one already knows my dog. Find a new one and start over.


Isy answered on 12/17/09. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 0 Report this answer


Beanster, CD, RN, CGC

False positives are possible, but are normally immediately followed up with a different kind of test to find out for sure if the dog has heartworm.
If the dog was positive, giving heartguard or another preventative will kill the circulating microfilia and therefore make the dog not contagious to other dogs, however, the adult worms will still remain in the dogs heart. I suppose a vet could chose this option if the owner needed to save up the money for the treatment for the adult worms, however, if it were my dog, I would want that treatment done ASAP to prevent permanent damage to my dog's heart and lungs. There is also a risk that the heartguard will kill an adult worm (or one will die for other reasons), and cause it to break down and create a blockage or stroke in the dog, which would be very serious, if not life-threatening. I would also expect that if the owner could afford the heartguard, they could also afford the second blood test to confirm if it is a false positive or not


Beanster, CD, RN, CGC answered on 12/17/09. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 0 Report this answer


Aster

Been some discussion of this on another forum. You really need to verify anything you read on the net. too many people buy what sounds likely to them.

I though the one explanation made a lot of sense. Remember, Heartgard and the rest of them don't prevent heartworm, it just kills off the immature ones before they get big enough to hurt anything. So at some point, they get too big to let the Heartgard kill them off. Then you have to go to the conventional treatment. They mentioned a third stage where it requires surgery. I never heard of that either.

So you could be looking at an early stage case where Heartgard can be used.

I have to agree with the second opinion suggestion.


Aster answered on 12/17/09. Helpful? Yes/Helpful: No 0 Report this answer


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