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Suwanee Animal Hospital
85 Buford Hwy, Suwanee, GA 30024
Tel: (770) 271-8716
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| Heartworm Treatment Stages
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Heartworms are serious. If your pet is diagnosed as having heartworms, the following steps will be taken by the
Suwanee Animal Hospital to cure your pet.
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Phase One - Clearance of Adult Heartworms
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• Preliminary bloodwork, chests radiographs and a urinalysis to determine the extent of the heartworm infection.
• If these lab results indicate an otherwise healthy animal or a mild case of heartworm disease, we will treat your dog over a course of 2 days, with one injection on the first day, and a second injection 24 hours later. We will monitor your dog here in the hospital for 4 to 5 days post treatment, watching for any reactions limiting his/her activity.
• If the lab results indicate advanced heartworm infection with moderate to severe damage to the lungs or organs, we will need to separate the injections in order to minimize a reaction to the dying heartworms. We will give the first injection on the first day, wait 30 days, then give 2more injections 24 hours apart. These dogs are much more likely to have an adverse reaction to the dying heartworms and exercising restriction is essential.
• It is very important that for the first 30 days following treatment that you restrict your dog’s activity, either in a crate or small room, and allow leash walks only.
• One month after Phase One is completed, we will need to see your pet back to complete Phase Two.
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Phase Two - Clearance of Microfilaria (immature heartworms)
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Four weeks after completing Phase One, schedule a drop off appointment for the next phase of treatment.
This procedure involves giving your dog an oral medication to eliminate any micorfilaria from the blood. Some dogs may experience an anaphylactic reaction to the rapid destruction of these immature heartworms after treatment, so it is mandatory that we observe them for the day.
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Filter Heartworm Test
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One to two weeks after Phase Two, schedule an appointment for a filter heartworm test. This is a simple blood test to make sure that we were successful in removing the microfilaria. A small number of dogs will need a second dose of the medication given in Phase Two.
We will also start your dog back on heartworm preventative at this time.
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Occult Heartworm Test
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Four to six months after heartworm treatment, we will run another simple blood test to verify that the adult heartworms have been removed. We will then test on an annual basis with your dog’s yearly vaccines.
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The above is an estimate of how treatment usually follows at the Suwanee Animal Hospital for a dog tested positive for heartworms. We may need to make slight variations to this schedule for individual cases.
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