When Immiticide begins to cause adult heartworms to die, the healthy way for them to be disposed of is for white blood cells (WBCs) to munch away at them like little Pac Men. We want microscopic pieces of the heartworms to be disposed of.
Embolism is defined as “the sudden blocking of an artery by a clot or foreign material which has been brought to the site of lodgement by the blood current.” Embolism is a noun form, as is embolus, which refers to the actual object blocking the artery. The plural form of embolus is emboli.
Patients undergoing “slow kill” heartworm treatment need activity restriction only if there are complications or preexisting heart disease. Follow the advice of your veterinarian.
During vigorous activity, blood flow through the heart is increased. That increase in “washing action” over the dying adult heartworms can cause large pieces of decomposing heartworm bodies to be freed into circulation. If an artery becomes occluded by this floating log, embolism occurs.
Even larger emboli can cause death of an entire lobe of the lung, requiring thoracic surgery to remove the damaged lobe. Sometimes the inflammatory reaction is so great and so sudden that fluid pours into the lungs and the patient dies within minutes.
Nowadays, you can find him taking his morning nap with his big brothers in the sunny spot on the bed. Or in our daughters room when shes playing barbies and drawing pictures together, hes such a good listener and is always there to comfort her. Or hes on a road trip waiting for his puppercino. Or geocaching in the park with us. Or walking amongst the chickens to give them a sniff. Hes still unsure of our cat, professor Jingles….. he likes to keep his good eye on him and steers clear lol.
Bears story starts back in early 2018 when he wandered into our yard and our hearts. Literally, came right up to me and sat down next to me on my porch, as if hed always known this place. Such a sweet boy, surely we thought someone was missing him somewhere nearby . But over the next few days/weeks and upon further inspection, it was more and more apparent that no one was in fact looking for poor olBear . He had one completely blind eye, completely filthy, skinny(75lbs), and coughing up a storm . We contacted the Lab Rescue almost immediately, wanting to make sure he got the best possible chance.
One of the most important aspects of treatment for heartworm disease is to keep the dog calm after the injections for at least 30 days or longer, depending on each dogs case. It sounds a little intimidating and you wonder, how are we going to do this? Labs are pretty active and our Buck was no exception. For us though, it actually turned out better than we expected. Any time Buck needed to go outside we put him on the leash and walked him out. We did have to put all his toys out of sight so he wouldnt be tempted to want to play and chase the ball, which is his absolute favorite thing to do. Buck was pretty accepting of the fact that he was on the leash and we frequently told him he wouldnt have to be on the leash very long and could play ball and chase squirrels again very soon. To keep Buck from being bored during this down time, we did a lot of basic training and bought Kong toys that kept him busy.
Rest and exercise restriction is extremely important after heartworm treatment in order to lessen the possibility of complications. Dogs should only go out for potty breaks while on a leash. There should be no physical activity for 6 weeks or until cleared by the veterinarian. No play, no running. Active dogs that have a hard time resting after treatment, may be prescribed calming meds during recovery. The recovery period is a great time to train the brain. Working on basic training is a great way to stimulate the dog without high activity.
Before fostering and later adopting our 10 year old Heartworm positive dog, Deacon, whenever I thought about a dog having Heartworms I always thought it meant a certain death. After a few tears of fear shed for him, I spent weeks researching this condition and talking to others who had been through the treatment process with their animals only to find nothing but positive stories which calmed my mind. Deacon went through two rounds of treatment shots with lots of daily antibiotics, steroids and pain meds while staying on bed rest throughout the process. Since then, our sweet old man has been on two trips, and each time he has gotten to walk through the woods which he loves. Deacon has also gotten to resume his favorite activity, playing fetch. Our boy goes crazy over a tennis ball. Sometimes I stop and think to myself that he cant be the same dog that we rescued because Deacon has become such a happy dog and even jumps around like a little puppy now. The heartworm treatment process not only saved his life, but it gave him a second chance at a happy life and a loving home.
When should my dog start heartworm exercise restrictions?
Exercise restriction is encouraged as soon as a dog is given the first heartworm preventive dose (and hopefully, doxycycline, too) followed by, if melarsomine treatment is used, the injection phase. Protocol usually specifies that the dog is to be restricted to crate rest for the remainder of treatment, usually around 60 days.
Vets specify crate rest during the injection phase because most dogs will keep a steady, normal heart rate in a crate. The heart needs to stay at rest.
Slow kill protocols also specify restricted activity, based on the dog’s clinical symptoms of the disease.
[As presented by the American Heartworm Society’s Guidelines.]