ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

Male 5 years

Male 10 years

VictorHeartworm, Hookworm, Lyme Disease    ADOPTED!!

Victor was left at a veterinary hospital in Wisconsin by his owner with Boomer who is also Heartworm Disease Positive.

Victor is a neutered 5 year old sable boy - very sweet!.  He was neutered and has all his shots. He has had no accidents inside the house.  He gets along with his foster sisters and brother. Victor is curious about the cats, but leaves them alone. He loves to go for walks.  With more practice he will stop weaving and stopping at every single tree.  He had a lot of fun at the dog park yesterday.  He behaved himself.  He is very polite and acts younger then his 5 years of age.  He seems to have lots of energy and is always up and interested in what you are doing.  He tries to communicate by a growling sound that he does.  He likes to go outside in our fenced in yard and race cars that drive by.  So we will try to work on that.

He doesn't like slippery floors, so there are now lots of rugs down so he can walk fast rug to rug.  He only weighs 55 lbs and so he needs to put on at least 20 lbs. so he is on a eat what you want diet. He doesn't chew on anything, nor does he seem interested in raw hides.  He is pretty quiet and doesn't bark tomuch compared to are others.  He is we found out, heart worm positive. We have been going back and forth to the vets for various tests for his health and will soon be starting on medication for the heartworm treatment.   He has been treated for his hookworm and is on antibiotics for the Lyme Disease.  He is very good in the car no matter were we go. He just need to work on sitting down in the car.  He is a very good boy and needs to gain his strength to fight off all of the parasites!

Victor is being fostered in Minneapolis, MN.

BoomerHeartworm, Hookworm

Lukas is a sable & white male Collie that was recently surrendered to MWCR.   He will be 7 years old in August, 2003.   Lukas weighs 54 pounds and for a Collie of his size and structure, his ideal weight will be 60 pounds.  He was kept outside but this is one very sweet Collie boy who just wants to be with people.  Lukas has an all white chest and forelegs.

 Lukas has tested positive for heartworm so he is currently undergoing treatment.  This will be about a 4 month program.   Throughout all of the testing, poking, and prodding, Lukas remained calm,  gentle, and trusting.  He can not be neutered until he tests negative for heartworm at the end of the treatment period.

 The little  heart next to his name means that Lukas has Special Needs.  Due to the fact that Lukas is being treated for heartworm he must be kept very quiet and get plenty of rest.  Even after treatment is completed and the heartworms are gone, Lukas may not have the stamina to be as active as other Collies his age. 

Lukas is very social, loves to be with people all the time, enjoys being an inside Collie boy, and is finding out that cats are well, cats!  He hasn’t quite figured out what to do about them.  He gets along well with our other 2 Collie girls but doesn’t know how to play.  This may be a good thing, because he needs to be kept quiet, calm, and get plenty of rest during his heartworm treatment.

 We find Lukas so irresistibly sweet in nature and disposition.  For being so owner neglected, he immediately relished being walked on lead, responds to recall, sit, and stay commands with just a few practice sessions.  He is not food, toy, or treat aggressive.

 Our Vet office & Staff just think Lukas is marvelous.  He just seems to understand that finally there are many humans who care about him and are trying to heal his broken body, soul, and spirit.  And there are!

Update on Lukas - 8/03:

He lives with 2 cats and is very cat friendly. Nothing seems to instigate a reaction of concern (no problem with the vacuum, lawn tractor, visitors, doorbells, vet visits, etc). He does not bark! Isn't that amazing?! He is one sweet, docile, social and very lovable Collie boy. Almost too good to be true! We keep looking for
negatives and to date, he is just too awesome for words! How can he be so sweet when he led his first 7 years, alone, outside and
neglected? He is eating like a horse now and this is a far cry from when he first came and would eat hardly anything. His owner stated
on her Owner Surrender sheet that asks what he was fed - "whatever".
Well, he is eating a great deal of "whatever" now and it ain't "whatever"! Loves to go for rides in our trucks . . .doing well on lead & understands basic commands,is crate & house trained,no counter surfing or jumping on people, no real prey drive and yet a "personality" of pleasure.

He is wanting to play and run like a Collie boy should be able to do. But he still must be curtailed in his activity until we are
cleared by the vet. He has a re-check on 9/16 and another blood draw for HW and T4 (thyroid panel). Lukas has been an absolute trooper
thru his HW treatment and should be named Braveheart! He is quite a remarkable Collie to say the least - so loving, very soft-mouth,
kind & gentle. He would do well in any home - with or without children, with or without a canine companion, with or without cats,
with or without a fenced in yard . . . . 

9/19/03 update - good news!

Lukas had his 2 week check up from his "double whammy" Immiticide HW treatment this past Tuesday. His blood was drawn for microfilaria and
thyroid.
    Results: Negative for Microfilaria
        Normal - thyroid

Lukas goes back at the end of this month for a final post HW check up. If all is still going well, he will get the go ahead to begin to "run with the
BIG boys". But, that will be halted as he will then be scheduled for his "snip-snip" and teeth cleaning.

A huge thank you to the Animal Hospital of Chetek veterinarians and staff who have professionally, expertly, compassionately and with much TLC have
treated Lukas (and gotten us) through his heartworm treatments. AHC has educated us through Lukas' ordeal regarding HW.

Thank you MWCR for being there when Lukas needed to be saved and did not have too much time left without being treated. He has just been a trooper
through all of this and a real dandy Collie boy! Is this great news or what!?

One happy foster Mom here!
Lukas is being fostered in Chetek, WI.

We need your help!

We were surrendered by our owners and have tested positive for

Heartworm Disease which is potentially fatal.

What heartworm disease means for our immediate future:

Treatment

If a blood test or the onset of symptoms alert owner and veterinarian to the presence of this devastating parasite, treatment is possible and successful if the disease has not progressed too far. The first step is to evaluate the dog and treat any secondary problems of heart failure or liver or kidney insufficiency so that he can withstand the treatment. The next step is to kill the adult worms with an arsenic compound. Veterinarians now have access to a Immiticide(3), a new compound that has fewer side effects than the previous drug and is safer for dogs with more severe infestations.

The treatment is administered in two doses each day for two days, followed by several weeks of inactivity to give the dog’s system a chance to absorb the dead worms. Exertion can cause the dead worms to dislodge, travel to the lungs, and cause death.

At least three-to-four weeks after the administration of the drug to kill the adult worms, further treatment to kill the microfilariae is needed. The dog is dosed daily for a week, then the blood test is repeated. If microfilariae are still present, the dose can be increased. Follow-up studies should be done in a year.               

The parasite

Parasites go through several life stages before emergence as adults and often need at least two hosts to complete the cycle. In heartworms, a mosquito serves as the intermediate host for the larval stage of the worm, also known as the microfilariae. The mosquito ingests the larva when it bites an infected dog and deposits its cargo in an uninfected dog when seeking another blood meal. The microfilariae burrow into the dog and undergo several changes to reach adult form. They then travel to the right side of the heart through a vein and await the opportunity to reproduce. Adult heartworms can reach 12 inches in length and can remain in the dog’s heart for several years.

The time lag between the initial infestation of microfilariae and reproduction by adult worms living in the heart is six-seven months in dogs.

Female heartworms bear live young – thousands of them in a day. These young – the microfilariae – circulate in the bloodstream for as long as three years, waiting to hitch a ride in a bloodsucking mosquito. They undergo changes in the mosquito that prepare them to infect a dog, and they transfer back to the original host species the next time the mosquito bites. The process of change in the mosquito takes about 10 days in warm climates, but can take six weeks in colder temperatures.

The worms grow and multiply, infesting the chambers on the right side of the heart and the arteries in the lungs. They can also lodge in the veins of the liver and the veins entering the heart. The first sign of heartworm infestation may not manifest for a year after infection, and even then the soft cough that increases with exercise may be dismissed as unimportant by the owner. But the cough worsens and the dog may actually faint from exertion; he tires easily, is weak and listless, loses weight and condition, and may cough up blood. Breathing becomes more difficult as the disease progresses. The progression is traumatic: the dog’s quality of life diminishes drastically and he can no longer retrieve a Frisbee or take a long walk in the park without respiratory distress. Congestive heart failure ensues, and the once-active, outgoing pet is in grave danger.

Testing

Heartworms can be detected by blood test. The filtration test finds microfilariae in the blood; the occult test locates adult worms in the heart. Many veterinarians prefer to do both tests as the absence of microfilariae in the blood does not necessarily mean that there are no adult worms in the heart. Both tests are done with a single blood draw.

Radiographs (X-rays) can also detect the presence of adult heartworms in the heart and lungs.
 

Please test yearly for heartworm and give your dog monthly heartworm preventative.

Remember that some Collies are genetically predisposed to react to the drug Ivermectin so we prefer to use Interceptor.