Heartworm

Question:

My name is Ronnie and I will be adopting a 2 year old, heartworm positive Great Dane in a few weeks. She is a rescue from a very neglectful situation and was extremely underweight when surrendered. Because of this, the vet chose to treat her heartworm condition using monthly doses of Heartguard, rather than an injection since she was so fragile.

While I planned to continue treatment as irected with Heartguard, I was wondering if there would be any benefit (or detriment) to including Petalive Parasite Dr. along with the monthly Heartguard? She also will need to be spayed, but I believe they were also waiting on her to gain more weight & strength prior to putting her through that procedure.
Thanks in advance for any info. Have a great day!
Ronnie

Answer:

Thank you for your inquiry to Holistic Pet Info. It is wonderful to hear you have rescued this magnificent dog. There are some excellent supplements that you can give her to help her body handle this incredible burden. Yes, the Petalive Parasite Dr. is a good supplement to help her immune system eliminate the parasite. Also, Immunity and Liver Support by Petalive is an important supplement during this recovery period. Her immune system has to work very hard as well as her liver to detoxify and produce those immune proteins.

I would highly recommend once she is much healthier to consider the heartworm treatment also. It will take years for her body to eliminate the worms on its own because heartgard only kills the larva. Her blood vessels will go through a lot of trauma due to the adult worms and the inflammation they cause. It will be a tough decision for you considering the shorter lifespan of a giant breed dog. Best of luck.

Sincerely,
Colleen Smith, DVM, CVA