Heartworm has only become a veterinary emergency since pharmaceutical companies have developed expensive treatments and preventatives.  In the past, and even today, dogs can live 8 - 10 years with heartworms.  In the early stages they are completely non life threatening.  In the later stages, sometimes aggressive treatment is warranted.  Regardless of the stage of infection, they do damage the pulmonary arteries and weaken the heart.  The dog needs to receive some kind of treatment.  I will discuss the options below.

Conventional Heartworm Treatment

There is only one treatment available that kills heartworms quickly.  The drug used is called Immiticide.  This drug is injected deeply into the muscle tissue of the back on either side of the spine.  It causes incredible pain to the dog and the injection sites cannot be touched for weeks.  Following injection the dog must remain crated for up to 8 weeks to avoid Pulmonary embolism.  An embolism is a blood clot.  As the heartworms die, the body breaks them down and transports them, via the bloodstream, out of the body.  When using immiticide, the massive die off of worms and then the body's need to clear them out increases the risk of embolism.  Although this treatment is very effective, it is incredibly hard on the dogs and some do die.  They die from not only emboli but also from  reactions to the drug itself.  Add to that the cost of the treatment, and somehow this just does not make sense sometimes.

How Much Does Immiticide Treatment Cost?

That is the $20,000 question of the hour.  It all depends upon how much money your vet wants to make.  My vet charges me $2.50 per pound of body weight, so for a 100 lb dog the cost would be $250.  Not so bad you say?  Well, some vets charge four times that much or more.  If you go to two different vets in the same town, the cost will vary hugely.  Some will require that you have all sorts of blood work and x-rays prior to treatment and some will not.  My vet said he normally does not do these test simply because they will only tell him that the dog has heartworms and needs treatment.  So what is the point?  Vets are getting rich off of heartworm treatment.  They scare people to death and convince them their dog is going to keel over if not treated for $1000 immediately.  This is so unfair to poor pet owners who do not know any better.  They become terrified for the pet they love and vets take advantage of this fear and extort money from them.

Not So Conventional Heartworm Treatment 

As a rescuer, even at a reduced cost, immiticide is often out of the budget.  After discussing this with my vet, he offered me an alternative.  Not only is it cost effective, it also does very little damage to the dog and has almost no side effects.

This treatment is appropriate for younger dogs or dogs with a low heartworm burden.  Dogs in the advanced stages of disease may need Immiticide treatment.  Discuss this with your vet.

Slow Kill Treatment

There are two ways of going about this.  One is to use a liquid medication twice a month or to use standard Heartguard chewable once a month.  We prefer the liquid.  It is far less expensive, works as well, and is readily available in most farm or feed stores.  The liquid is 1% Injectible Ivermectin.  Ivermectin is the active ingredient in Heartguard.

The protocol is as follows;

1CC of 1% Injectible Ivermectin per 110 lbs of body weight, given Orally every two weeks.  This can also be mixed with food.  To determine how much to give use this formula;

 1 divided by 110 = .009 , the dosage is .009 CC per pound of body weight

Multiply .009 times your dog's current weight