Dgos got hearworm need advice

[SMEGMA STENCH]

Took the mut to the vet to get him all checked out and tested for stuff . Came back clear of heartworm on the first test . Also got a heartworm prevention shot . Dog is a black lab about 1.5 yr old.

Well then the vet calls back . Says that the second te t has come back and it says he ahve heartworms . Says it will be 700 dollar total once all is said and done to get rid of em

BUT

He did say that the shot he gave will prevent heartworms from reproducing for 6 months . SO im like wtf . Is this vet trying to scam me?? If they cant reproduce wont the others just die eventually anyway ? 700 dollars is a lot of dam money

What would you do . Need help and adivse please .

[JC316]

Heart worms are nasty. I lost my first Rottweiler to them. The treatment is expensive, but it's worth it if he can be saved. Mine was already too far gone and the vet gave me false hope to get my money.

[Kyle]

Put the dog on Heartguard or a similar product. It won't kill the current ones, just stops new ones from growing. As the current live worms die off, the dog's body will pass them out. Once they all die off you should be fine, just be sure to keep him on the heartworm meds long term.

There are risk involved in whatever method you decide to go with. Either way he could die, but the treatment itself is really hard on the dog and I personally wouldn't go that route with one of ours.

[Frank]

People will bash me ,but I had a dog that was tested positive for heartworms when I was having her spade. It was at a time we just did not have the money to do anything about it. We were doing well to afford to have her spade. She was about 3-5 years old at the time. I thought I was going to have to put her down.

I did have to put her down last year...twelve years later. During most of those years she was spry and seemed perfectly healthy. I don't know if they were trying to scam me or if her case just wasn't that bad. I did sporadically have her on preventative even though she already had it thinking maybe it would "help". I have no idea if it did. I put her down because after a long life she was so arthritic, nearly blind, and it was just time.

I'm not giving advice, just sharing what happened in my case.

[jyro]

don't spend 700

check with vets out of the city, They feed the dog worm poison and monitor it for a week or 2 if their's problems. The last time i had it done was years ago and it was around 125.

People will bash me ,but I had a dog that was tested positive for heartworms when I was having her spade. It was at a time we just did not have the money to do anything about it. We were doing well to afford to have her spade. She was about 3-5 years old at the time. I thought I was going to have to put her down.

I did have to put her down last year...twelve years later. During most of those years she was spry and seemed perfectly healthy. I don't know if they were trying to scam me or if her case just wasn't that bad. I did sporadically have her on preventative even though she already had it thinking maybe it would "help". I have no idea if it did. I put her down because after a long life she was so arthritic, nearly blind, and it was just time.

I'm not giving advice, just sharing what happened in my case.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

Reading these replies im starting to think the vets a scammer. Might help to know the lifespan of a heartworm lol . He say they cant reproduce once the dog gets the shot . Shot is supposed to last 6 months according to him .

[stephen4785]

Friend of mine that deals with livestock said he just give his dogs Ivomec twice a year. He said on of his dogs tested positive for heartworms once so he gave the dog a shot of it. Took the dog back a couple months later and he tested negative. He didnt have any sort of formula for dosage though which is kind of scary. He just said "eh .5-1cc depending on how big the dog is". Ivomec is an injectable that is used on cows to kill off parasites.

[mikec]

Just keep it on preventative and it will be fine.

And yes, vets scam people every damned day. Farmersville Vet is on my list of "Do not patronize" establishments for this very reason. Fwiw.

[Shorty]

Just keep him on preventative and watch for any signs (coughing, etc). I had a similar situation with my dog. He was a rescue and tested negative at the shelter, tested negative when we first took him to the vet, but then tested positive about 6 months later. He had been on preventative since we adopted him. The vet said that he must have gotten them when he not on preventative at the shelter but it takes a few months for the worms to show up on the test. She thinks it's just a few worms and said the treatment would do more harm than good. Keeping him on preventative keeps new ones from hatching and the ones that are there will slowly die off.