As if I didn't have enough going on in my life right now (see sig link), I just learned yesterday that my dog Blitz has stage 3 heartworms. Stage 3, for those of you too lazy to google, is technically not the WORST kind of heartworms a dog can have, because someone decided to make a whole category for "animal is in the physical act of actually dying right this second from heartworms." That's stage 4. Stage 3 is when there's so many worms tunneling around in the animal's body that it causes serious health problems, such as coughing up blood, exhaustion, fainting and strokes.
Okay, so boo-hoo, mdk's dog has problems. That's not the point here. The point is this: I take care of my dogs. A year ago when I took Blitz to the vet, I asked about his regular cough and whether or not I should worry about worms. They said they'd do some tests, and I pretty much believed them. Afterwards they said he was fine, tests were all negative but I should put him on a heartworm prevention plan "just to be safe." Again, I pretty much just believed them, and shelled out the requisite cash for the tests I thought they did and the drugs I thought he needed. What I know now, after visiting a *good* vet, is that they were either incompetent or lying -- based on the level of infestation, Blitz has had this problem since before I even got him two years ago.
So, a few lessons learned for all you pet-havers out there, that I figured I'd share.
1. PREVENTIVE TREATMENT WORKS, but it ONLY works on immature worms. That means it does exactly what it says it will do on the box, and nothing more. If your vet tells you to give your dog heartguard and that'll take care of his worms, they're wrong. It won't. But what it CAN and WILL do is keep your pet from EVER GETTING WORMS IN THE FIRST PLACE, which, obviously, is the preferred answer. It's not that expensive. You can afford it. Do it. I'm not saying there's NO excuse for not giving your pet preventive treatment but, well, there aren't many GOOD excuses.
2. WORMS ARE EVERYWHERE, and even if they aren't they can travel. New Mexico is *not* worm country, but if they can turn up here they can turn up anywhere. What this means for you is that preventive treatment should not be "optional." Get it, and give it to your pets. You might think $50 for glorified scooby snacks is a bit much, but trust me (because I know), it's a cheaper alternative than treating a developed infestation and it hurts your pet a whole lot less.
3. VETS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. Some of them are developmentally retarded. Some of them might be scamming you. You are not equipped to deal with them unless you go out of your way to educate yourself. I could've avoided a lot of pain and suffering (Yes, and money for you heartless scrooges out there) if I'd taken the time to learn about worms and coughing on Google, rather than accepting the vet's explanation of "He's got a lot of hair, it's probably just hair or something."
4. BE PROACTIVE. No, not the acne treatment. Be aggressive about taking care of the things you care about -- that's why they call it "TAKING" care, and not "HAVING" care. Like most problems in life, your pet's health issues aren't going to go away if you try to just wait it out, and "Oh he always does that" is (apparently) not the way to go either. Pet care might take some effort but it's not rocket science. You can handle it, so handle it.
5. DON'T PANIC either. Even for as serious as Blitz's problems are, there's as much hope as you bring. Since I've been talking heartworms specifically, there are treatments (involving cyanide, awesome) that can kill off the entire population of worms and leave your dog happy and healthy (other than the residual damage, which for the most part can heal because dogs are awesome). In fact it's so effective at killing worms, they have to spread out the treatment over time so that they don't literally clog the animal's arteries with the dead corpses of its enemies. That's metal. Anyway regardless of what's wrong with your pet, it's not over until the fat lady sings, so don't lose your head. And yeah, sometimes the fat lady IS singing, and you'll have to be an adult about it and handle that. But in the meantime don't cry over spilled milk, and remember -- if you can do nothing else, you can make your pet happy with whatever time you can get it, and know that you did your best. Animals aren't people, and no matter how much you think it sucks right now, at the end of the day, you really CAN get another one. Callous? Yes. But that's the truth.
So, that's my PSA for tonight. Take care of your pets, and don't skimp on the HeartGuard even if "you probably don't NEEEEED to buy it if you don't WANT to." Finding out you could've done more to help a hurting pet sucks WAY more than shelling out a few starbucks' worth for medicine.
Oh the subject of heartworms, it's weird because I never heard of such a condition before until I started watching some US vet shows. It's definitely contagious, right? Heartworms is a condition that doesn't exist in the UK, like rabies. I did kind of have to check on google to see what exactly they were, but it's annoying to hear of vets that just don't know what they are when, judging by a map of the US, they're incredibly common in some areas.
Also check zee poop!
No, really. Check the poop. Worms, though a different type of worms, are expelled out the rear of your animal. People think I'm weird when I'm eyeballing Lady Dog's poo, but it's because I'm making sure she's healthy.
Also, Also: Get second opinions. If your vet says something stupid, go to a different vet JUST like you would if your doctor said something stupid.
Another Thing: If you live in an area like mine (Florida) JUST because the trucks spray, that doesn't mean all the mosquitoes are dead. Why does that matter? Mosquitoes are the things that give your dogs worms. Fkn' mosquitoes give everyone everything. o.O "Inside Dogs," by the way, are not excluded from this either.
Watch those ears, too! Ear mites are nasty beasties that, while technically not doing much more than causing an ear infection, make your dog susceptible to far nastier things (like Heartworms). However they can cause deafness if allowed to get to a certain point. There is nothing worse than a dog who can not hear it's master. The problem with ear mites is that you have to treat every animal in the house that can possibly catch them... so it's a full on thing if any animal in the house gets them. (Unless you are like me and live with stupid people who don't believe scientific fact, in which case your dog will keep catching them and it'll piss you off and you'll wanna murder everyone who's a dumb-ass-mother-fucker.)
That's all I've to add, I think.
I've had more dogs than family members, I all of them strays abandoned on the road or in the woods that we take in, see if their family is looking for them, and if not, we now have a new 'free' dog. We take them to the vet, find out all that's wrong / what we can do to keep the dog happy and healthy, are proactive in their health, and have more than once spent thousands of dollars on ER bills cause they got bit by a copperhead snake ( scariest moment in my life )
I have to agree with MDK though. As much as I love my dogs, and how much I care for them, sometimes there's nothing you can do but make them as comfortable as you can before they die. Butch Cassidy had a heart defect, and when we found out about it ( routine vet stuff didn't notice it somehow ) it was a horrible couple days, because the conditions were so sudden and so bad, it was just to put him down. And now Sundance Kid ( who we assume is his brother ) has been dealing with seizures... but, even though we miss Butch, we got new dogs ( same way we got him ). We also do a realistic level of prevention, at a very regular basis.
Free dogs, you may love them, but they probably cost more than buying a dog elsewhere... and gonna stop the post here before I think more on my old dogs. They're the easiest way to get me to cry...
That said : TAKE CARE OF YOUR ANIMALS, IF YOU HAVE THEM.
I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU "LOVE" YOUR PET. IF YOU DON'T FEED / TAKE PROPER MEDICAL CARE OF THE ANIMAL, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE IT.
Having an animal isn't a right, and you have no right to be a dick to them.
... okay, now stopping my post, I think I got a bit too off topic..... pet care just ranges so much >_<
Heartworms are contagious, but only by vector. What that means is that a dog can't spread heartworms to another dog, basically no matter what. Worms reproduce and go through several larval stages, some of which have to happen inside a mosquito. Some resources even say that a mosquito can't transmit heartworms to a new host until several days/weeks have passed -- in other words it can bite Blitz, who has worms, and then buzz over and bite Kaiser Socei, who doesn't, and Kaiser will not contract the parasite. The mosquito would have to buzz off until the worms inside it reached larval stage 2 or 3 (I forget which), THEN bite Kaiser.Originally Posted by Mogtaki
That said, a symptomatic heartworm-having dog will cough a lot, and make other dog owners reasonably concerned about their animals catching something that IS contagious. Which is fair, because hey, coughing DOES transmit contagious illnesses. So isolating a dog with heartworms is NOT necessarily required, but still is probably a good idea (also, at some stages of treatment, you need to limit the infested dog's exercise to prevent surging blood from dislodging dead worms all at once and causing a blockage; this, too, might mean isolating the animal).
---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------
Probably 100% true. Of course there's a certain reward that comes from rescuing dogs (or cats, probably), and abandoned animals are a pretty big issue in the US (assuming you care about such things). I don't hate on people who want pretty animals, but I also appreciate the extra effort put in by adopters and rescuers. Both my dogs came from a kill shelter, fwiw, and they're both way too awesome to get put down.
---------- Post added at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------
Gross advice. I mean good advice. I mean..... no, I think I mean gross advice more. But yeah, both I guess.
Haven't had to deal with earmites yet, thank god, but with my luck lately that's probably next.
Preach it.
Too many people are unaware of the problems a pet can face, nor think to continually check to make sure they are healthy.
Check your animal's stools on a regular basis.
Check your animal's urine on a regular basis.
Animals will grow used to a schedule. If they start needing urinate or defecate more frequently than usual, check the waste. Check it now.
Again, cautionary tale: Our dog Phantom had a severe bladder infection, to the point she was growing CRYSTALS in her bladder. Had we paid more attention to the fact that she was taking frequent, but small pee stops instead of her usual long drains, we could have prevented having surgery done.
Outwardly she was as happy and hyper as ever, so we just wrote it off as some random change.
Don't. If your animal's behavior changes suddenly? There is almost always a reason for it. Get it checked out. ASAP.
I fell for the same trick. Blitz has never stopped wagging his tail, even while he's hacking up half a lung's worth of bloody mucus. They don't know they're hurt -- you have to be the human and figure it out for them!
To be more accurate, I could just say 'There's no such thing as a free pet'.
That's likely almost always accurate.
Free pets are more expensive....
Stupid fat, black monster of a cat.
Was he content that we got him for free? Nooooo! He has to go out nightly, getting into fights that must have been of epic proportions, thus we have to take him to the vet, for his abscesses at least twice, other minor infections, plus everything else...
Stupid fat bastard, but may he live long in the halls of Kitty Valhalla.
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