Heart Worm Treatments for Senior Dogs

[questomatic]

Hey guys,

I posted a few weeks ago about the Doxies I rescue and foster and since then have picked up a few more. Surprise! Roxy and Roscoe were listed on Craigslist by their owner who wanted $50 for them before she dumped them at the shelter because “her son was allergic”. I of course offered to take them that very minute (no payment of course) and she turned me down. Flash forward one week and I see a post about a Doxie pair that a woman found tied behind a thrift store (Oh rural South Carolina, how I do love thee!) The guy who owned the store said he’d picked them up a week ago and was taking them to the pound because they were chasing his cats. Really!?! Those small hunting hounds were chasing your cats? Imagine! Anyway, nice Craigslist lady took them home with her and was feeding them and loving on them but had just found out she was suffering from a degenerative bone disease and needed extensive surgery. She wanted someone to take them so I went to pick them up. Both were decent weight. Roxy is spayed but poor Roscoe is intact and heart worm positive :no:

The vet I use regularly is a great old -fashioned no-nonsense kind of guy and I love him dearly, but he wanted to treat little Roscoe’s heart worms the same way he does all the younger dogs. We always do the three separate treatment route over 4 months and I’ve seen how hard it is even the youngest and strongest dogs. Roxy and Roscoe have to be at least 12, maybe older. They are both black and tans but all of their tan is white now.

Basically, I’m just scared that the treatment will kill my sweet old man. I have appointment with a specialist next week to really look into the condition of his heart and talk about options but I thought here would be a good place to start.

What treatments have you used for senior dogs with heartworms? What were the results?

[Lynnwood]

I"ll be honest one of our rescue / dumped farm dogs was 10+ and tested positive for HW’s and the vet took chest x-rays to make sure his heart was not enlarged and advised us that the treatment might be very hard on him. To instead treat him with Ivermectin each month and forgo the other treatment. Retest at 6 months and a year. At a year out he tested negative and lived to be 14 with no outward signs of heart disease from his situation.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

I’m a rural South Carolinian, but I’ll try real hard to make myself understood

Don’t you dare put those poor old dogs through immiticide!

Do the slow kill method. Prophylactic dose of ivermectin religiously every month. Maybe doxycyclin. If your vet won’t cooperate, seek a second or third opinion.

I had a 94 year old cousin pass away recently. You know what killed her? Complications from the anesthetic used for her freakin’ colonoscopy. I ask you. There should be a special chamber of hell for vets and doctors who upsell to the detriment of their elderly clients.

Anyway. We’ve had HW here for 50 years. It’s a poor parasite that kills its host quickly. I hear tell there’s some new-fangled theory of evolution that supports this - not that we read science here in rural South Carolina - but anyway. Trust me. HW’s aren’t going to kill your teenage doxies, but immiticide likely will.

[TXnGA]

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/

[HydroPHILE]

I’d venture to guess that the majority of other Veterinarians with experience treating older pets for heartworms (we’ll assume that these Veterinarians have drawn blood and had X-rays performed to check out the heart and lungs, and they were okay) would say “slow kill method” by using the Ivermectin and Doxycyclin.

[Grataan]

The slow kill method is no longer recommended due to its propensity for leaving only resistant worms behind and leading to transmission of resistant HW to other pets.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Grataan;5643757]
The slow kill method is no longer recommended due to its propensity for leaving only resistant worms behind and leading to transmission of resistant HW to other pets.[/QUOTE]

Does that mean ivermectin is no longer recommended as a preventative?

[dalpal]

I’d like to read articles/research supporting the thumbs down to slow kill.

I would only use slow kill. Did it for one rescue dog and my equine vet (who also had a small animal practice at the time) agreed with me. I just put her on heartgard. She’s been Heartworm free for four years now.

[Blu]

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/veterinary-resources/Guidelines-Can-HW-Disease.pdf

page 11

Having seen dogs die of heartworms, yes, they can kill a dog. It is a very common scenario for a yard dog who spends a lot of time tied to a tree in the backyard (yes, yes these exist in surprisingly large proportions) to get loose and drop dead because of a parasitic emboli (from the heartworms).

Not saying your dog is going to drop dead, but just wanted to squash the notion that heartworms don’t kill dogs.

I would discuss these options with your vet and your concerns and come up with a plan. Your vet knows the patient, its clinical signs and its radiographic stage and can better make recommendations that are in the best interest of the dog.

[questomatic]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your answers. He has been on Doxycycline since his positive test and will stay on it through the course of the treatment (whichever one that may be). I really do think that ivermectin/doxycycline is the way to go.

The Heart Worm Society said this:

In cases where arsenicals are contraindicated and the animal’s
overall condition makes standard adulticidal therapy impractical,
the use of a monthly ivermectin-based heartworm preventive
along with doxycycline could be considered. It has been reported that ivermectin and doxycycline administered periodically over
36 weeks resulted in a 78% reduction in adult worm numbers.
Moreover, microfilariae from dogs treated with doxycycline that
were ingested by mosquitoes developed into third-stage larvae
that appeared to be normal in appearance and motility, but these larvae were not able to develop into adult worms, thus negating the risk of selecting for resistant strains. The administration of doxycycline at 10 mg/kg BID for a 4 week period every three to four months should eliminate most Wolbachia organisms and not allow them to repopulate.

So it looks like it would kill the majority of them fairly quickly, possibly eradicate them in the long-term, and not produce resistant strains. And I do know that heart worms can kill. I am in SC and we end up with about 10% of our dogs coming in with heart worms and we always worry about them dying before they finish the treatment. Most of our adoptions occur up north and my vet is so cheap that all the healthy dogs get transported up the road and its just me and the HW dogs walking slowly and not being allowed to get very excited. I told my vet I wanted a Christmas card from him thanking my rescue for paying off his Lexus.

[HydroPHILE]

[QUOTE=Grataan;5643757]
and leading to transmission of resistant HW to other pets.[/QUOTE]

How is HW transmitted to other pets when HW is only transmitted by infected mosquito to another animal? The HW Society still recommends “slow kill” for dogs that can’t handle Immiticide, etc., but they recommend “fast kill” for every other animal.

Also, I don’t recal anyone having said HWs don’t kill. However, heartworm treatment can also kill. Embolisms can occur during treatment as well. There’s a 50/50 chance of a dog making it, but I’ll take that chance anyday (in a healthy animal.)

[Blu]

Hydrophile, it was a response to this post (and not meant to be argumentative)

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;5642886]
Don’t you dare put those poor old dogs through immiticide!

Do the slow kill method. Prophylactic dose of ivermectin religiously every month. Maybe doxycyclin. If your vet won’t cooperate, seek a second or third opinion.

I had a 94 year old cousin pass away recently. You know what killed her? Complications from the anesthetic used for her freakin’ colonoscopy. I ask you. There should be a special chamber of hell for vets and doctors who upsell to the detriment of their elderly clients.

Anyway. We’ve had HW here for 50 years. It’s a poor parasite that kills its host quickly. I hear tell there’s some new-fangled theory of evolution that supports this - not that we read science here in rural South Carolina - but anyway. Trust me. HW’s aren’t going to kill your teenage doxies, but immiticide likely will.[/QUOTE]

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

I never said HW don’t kill. I said they don’t kill quickly. If she goes pouring arsenic into an elderly dog, the HWs aren’t what will kill it.

[mustangtrailrider]

I have rescued two elderly bassetts in the past year and a half. One died of some sort of neurological episode. The second one passed of complications of a multitude of things…one being heartworm and the treatment there of…

I have had a rescued doxie treated with immiticide…was cruel and unusual punishment…the worst thing I have ever seen. He hated life for two months.

My dear elderly basset was seen by the vet and he recommended an alternative to immiticide but different than the “slow” kill method. Needless to say, after we started her on the alternative treament, I would never, ever treat an elderly dog for HW again. I would choose to let the preventative do what it does and enjoy the last days that I have with my dog.

Let the dog enjoy what life it has left…My dear elderly basset had few good days after we started her on her alternative treatment. She had complications from the medications themselves. We could never get her back afterward! It is heartbreaking.

Preventative only for my dogs, if I should ever have one test positive again.

[Blu]

Like I said, not trying to be argumentative. Just clarifying since there are many people who read this BB for advice.

Maybe you don’t realize that I agree with you, which is why I simply provided material and a page number which the OP was able to use and make a decision off of (which was to not use immiticide).

I did not alter your post in any way, simply bolded your statement which said “HWs won’t kill your doxies, but immiticide likely will”. I’m sure you meant to say the immiticide would kill them faster, but came out otherwise. This was my only disagreement, and just stating the facts.

OP, good luck with the doxies, HW’s are no fun. Thank you for taking these kids in and trying to do right by them. It’s been a really bad HW year this year for us in the deep south!

[SquishTheBunny]

Lots of advice here…but I’ll give you the best advice

Talk with the cardiologist/specialist you are seeing - specialists will give you the most up to date information, based on your dogs test results. Not all geriatric HW+ dogs are treated the same.

Good luck and keep us posted…gotta love those weiner dogs!!