I need to talk to a vet now!!! Please if there is one out there. - Page 3

First off as others have said get a second opinion.  Now on the side - there have been documented problems with Revolution, if the dogs weight is right on the high end of the dosage - say the cut off is 50 lb and our dog weighs 49 lb) you should use the next higher dosage.  There are cases where using the lower dosage has resulted in heartworm being found.  If indeed your dog has HW Revolution will cover the cost of treatment if you can document purchase of the preventative. 

Doing rescue I have treated several dogs for HW and all have done remarkably well.

We are going to retest Tagan tomarrow and test Baily as well. If they are positive, I will have to make the ultimate decision. Do I try the "slow kill" treatment (heart gaurd) or the "fast kill" (injections)? It is so hard to decide.

The vet is going to call revolution for me. She has heard of the company paying for the treatment too. She actually was the one who brought it up. I will pay for if they don't. I am just worried that I am not going to be able to keep him calm. I have a 6 by 10 foot kennel to keep them in, but I know when I walk up to it to the kennel to feed them and take them to the bathroom they are going to get excited and jump up on the kennel, pace, and bark. I'm afraid that is going to cause problems for them.
 
Another thing is I worry treating them at the same time  If I leave them in that kennel together four too long they will fight. Baily is supose to go into heat any time soon. She is crazy when she goes into heat and hates him more than ever. She is not a breeding type of dog and doesn't want anything to do with a male during her heat cycle.

I think they would do better in the house. They are alway calm in the house and don't get stressed out.  The only thing with that is that the doctor says they will be really sore. I'm worried they may be in so much pain that they may bit one of the kids.

I too would be a wreck if I were in your situation but from the outside looking in I would treat with heartgard for 1 year and retest.

Many years ago, I had my male, Murphy treated and he recoverd very well.  He stayed at the vet for both treatments.  In your situation, if they both turn up positive, perhaps take one home and leave one at the vet.  You would know who should stay and who should come home.  it is imperative that you follow the vet's instructions to the letter and you will do fine.  It is a huge decision, but in my case, i did the treatment and did well.  I would not want those adult worms around the heart or pulmonary vasculature, but that is me.  I wish you and your dogs well.

Yeah but we have to keep them confined for at least a month. If they get excited the dead worms could float into there lungs and ultimatley kill them.

The vet said we will retest Tagan, but the test is probably right. It is very rare for them to come up with a false positive.

Ok, I am a vet tech , the vet is my husband. Definitely have the heartworm test verified by a laboratory. The Idexx  SNAP tests are the best in-house tests on the market, but verify the results. 

If your dog is truly positive, the dog is young, the damage is small at this time. Allowing the heartworms to "live out their lives" in your dogs heart for 2-3 years would be a poor choice. You get 2-3 years of damage and the probability of shortened life span.

We (at least here in the USA) DO NOT use arsenic to treat heartworms anymore. We use Immiticide, a product manufactured by Merial. It is right now only being approved for order by veterinary hospitals who have a positive patient to treat. Here in NC we see a lot of heartworm positive dogs, we used to just keep a supply on the shelf, because one or two would come along every month and we would treat them if the owner wished. Treatment for a GSD size dog will run $800 - $1000 depending on the weight of the dog.

We recommend Interceptor or for clients who are concerned about cost Iver-Hart Plus or Tri Heart Plus. We have never carried Revolution as a heartworm prevention for dogs, so I cannot comment on a personal level with the product. We have had a few dogs who were supposed to be on Interceptor over the years turn up positive and after careful investigation, there has been lapse of compliance or failure of the dog to swallow the pill. One case, the owner eventually found a pile of pills behind the couch, so habitual spitting out the pill was the cause.

The Immiticide treatment for a young dog, with a mild positive would be considered to be very safe and would be my recommendation for the best outcome for your dog.

I'm sure your best judgement will prevail.
Good luck.

Thanks for this post...back when Murphy was treated, it was arsenic x 2 treatments.  Thankfully, I have never had another to know the new treatment modalities.  I wish the OP all the best!

I found a German Shepherd on the street and he tested postive for stage 3 HW's. I did the slow kill option which is one shot wait a month and then do two shots in one day. If a dog has stage 3 and you do straight Ivomec you will kill the dog. It breaks down the HW's too quickly and then they get clots. My advice is to fist go and get another test done. Ask for a snap test. Which is cheaper then a full blood test. Allthough if you do the snap test you can't tell what stage your dog has. The larva is called microfilaria. It takes 6 months for the microfilaria to mature into adult heartworms. And for the test to even show positive. Best of luck to you. BTW my shepherd is happy and healthy and still kicking and he is 7 1/2 now and when I got him he was about 2-3. Also one more thing is when treating a dog with heartworms and you do heartgard the dog will have HW's much longer then if you were to go to the vet and get it treated. The longer they have them the more damage they do to your dogs heart.

I would say if your concerned about the dogs biting the children in the house you would purchase 2 crates to keep them confined in the home where they can be comfortable,contained and the children safe during their healing. You could leash walk them to prevent exercise. I would not leave them to run around out in a kennel during heartworm treatment. One of my old dogs had it when we got him at 1 year, we had him treated and he was kept in a crate and taken out to walk for potty breaks and then put back in. He made a full recovery and lived to be 16 years old. Crating during the heat cycle would also prevent a pregnancy from occuring while your dogs are getting treatment, after which you could safely spay the female.