Jinny's Journey: A Brief Overview of Heartworms and HW Treatment

Miss J resting more comfortably

I want to update everyone on how Jinny's doing since beginning her heartworm treatment this past weekend. As I wrote in my previous post, she had a hard time Saturday after her second Immiticide injection. She's since doing much better: she has her appetite back, she's not nearly as sore from the injections, and she's stopped panting all the time. This is great news. Of the three dogs we've seen through heartworm treatment (Oliver, Cowboy, and now Jinny), Jinny's initial reaction to the Immiticide was the worst of the bunch. We are very relieved to see her improvement since Saturday.

I also want to explain heartworms a little bit better than I thought I had in past posts. For those

who are not very familiar with heartworms and what the treatment entails, I'm sorry this blog has gone on for so long without breaking it down. Heartworms are just what they sound: worms that grow in a dog's heart, lungs, and blood vessels. The disease is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes and is rampant in the southern part of our country. These nasty worms are like angel hair spaghetti noodles and can grow as long as 14 inches. You can google a picture of an infested heart...it's disgusting. You may never eat spaghetti again (unless you're me, then that's just simply an impossible thought). If left untreated, heartworms will ultimately cause heart failure. See why it's SO critically important to give your dog heartworm preventative each month?

Going through treatment to get rid of a heartworm infestation is not a walk in the park. Just ask

Oliver keeping Jinny company while she rests

Jinny, Cowboy, Oliver, or any of the lucky dogs from DeKalb County Animal Services who beat heartworms thanks to the sponsorship of rescue groups like Perfect Pets / See Spot Rescued / Friends of DeKalb Animals. It sucks. I told Jinny as I dropped her off at the vet on Friday: "Last time we brought you here, you walked out the door feeling much better. This time isn't going to be the same, but I promise you it will be so worth it very soon!". I wasn't lying. The fast kill method that Jinny, Oliver, and Cowboy endured involves two shots of a drug called Immiticide. Immiticide is an arsenic-based drug (yes, arsenic) that is injected very deeply into the dog's lower back muscles to kill the adult heartworms. The infected dog gets the first shot on day one and a second shot on day two. Drew thinks of it as being injected with liquid fire. I think that must be accurate. The worms slowly break down and are absorbed by the body. The dog must stay VERY calm during this time because the dying worms clog the arteries until they're absorbed. If the dog exerts itself during this phase of treatment (whether through exercise, excitement, stress, or anything that gets the heart/breathing rate up), the dead worms are more liable to break away, clog the lungs' main artery, and cause death. After 30 days, the dog gets an oral dose of ivermectin to finish the process. Ivermectin is the same drug that's in your regular old monthly heartgard. It kills off the remaining heartworm eggs. At this point, the dog can gradually return to normal activity level. Slowly but surely is key here. At the six month mark, a blood test is done to be sure the treatment worked. After this long and painful treatment process, the dog should now test heartworm negative. And that's how it works! Yikes, right?

I'll never forget the day Oliver tested negative and I am so excited for Cowboy and Jinny to get to that point. We like fostering dogs through heartworm treatment. It's super rewarding to help a dog get rid of what's likely his/her greatest obstacle standing in the way of adoption. We have a very structured routine around our house and it seems to work well for keeping dogs calm during their treatments. We've also been so fortunate that Oliver, Cowboy, and Jinny have all been so incredibly mellow. That makes our job WAY easier. I'm so thankful that there are awesome rescue groups willing to take HW+ dogs out of the shelter and into their programs, despite the high cost of HW treatment. Thanks, Perfect Pets Rescue, for helping Jinny and so many others like her! To help Perfect Pets Rescue cover this summer's medical costs for Jinny and her rescued friends, please follow this fundrazr link: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/4Yqqf