The New Year was met with our first dog who unfortunately tested positive for Heartworm Disease. Ol’ Yeller is a handsome 4 year old, intact male, lab mix that was brought to the shelter via County Animal Control in December. He belonged to someone, yet he was never reclaimed, so now it is our duty to treat his disease, have him neutered and wait until he is ready to join the list of adoptable dogs. 

It takes about 6-7 months for the infective larvae to mature to adult heartworms. They are called heartworms because they live in the heart of a dog. They look like cooked spaghetti. The female heartworms can grow up to 12” in length. Heartworms can range in number from
1 - 250. The severity of the disease depends on the number of heart- worms living inside the dog and how long its been infected. Left untreated the dog can die. Since we don’t have any medical information on Ol’ Yeller we think it’s likely he has never had any type of heartworm prevention. His blood work will determine approximately how long he has been infected. 

Treatment can take 4 months or longer. It’s a costly treatment and is not administered without some suffering from injections and sickness while ridding himself of the heartworms. He won’t be available for adoption until he has fully recovered and given a clean bill of health. 

It troubles us when we know heartworm is a preventable disease, yet so many animals are denied prevention because owners don’t know the risk or won’t spend the money to avoid this medical issue. This doesn’t make for a happy start of a new year for the shelter and it’s certainly not a happy 2020 for Ol’ Yeller either. 

This only serves as an opportunity to remind everyone to please protect your pet from needless suffering. An ounce of prevention is far better and less expensive than a pound of cure. Love your dog, do what’s right!