Meet Ally McBeagle: Week 3 in Foster Care

Friday, July 9, 2010

Week 3 in Foster Care

Ally McBeagle is making very good progress. It took her two baths just to get the "outside life" off of her. Her foster mom is still working with her on potty training. Now that she lives with her foster sisters, Ally no longer pees like a boy but like a lady! She is still having accidents but she is making progress since her foster mom is trying to break her of a 3-5 yr habit of going potty whenever she likes. But Ally can now make it through the night if you place her in her kennel or if she sleeps in a human bed.

After her first week, Ally had a set back. She seemed depressed and in pain. Ally began too whimper for no reason. This broke Brooke's heart (foster mom). She couldn't figure it out but when she went to pet Ally's ears to cheer her up, Ally yelped! Turns out, Ally's first run with antibiotics didn't work. She had a horrible bacterial ear infection in both ears. Ally immediately went to the Vet that evening and was given a Rx for ear drops with steroids. After a few days, Ally showed a side of her no one had ever seen, her puppy side! She began to bounce around the house, running up and down the stairs, hiding things from her foster mom's, and pouncing on her foster sisters! Someone is feeling MUCH better.

Ally has gained 3 lbs and loves to eat! She will take anything out of your hand but won't always eat it. She still isn't sure of "people food". But she LOVES cheese, sandwich meat, and cereal! She is now sleeping through the night. Ally would be a great addition to a family that already has dogs. Ally is connected at the hip with her foster sister Maybel (beagle). She will not eat or sleep without Maybel right next to her. She will actually cry when she can't find Maybel. She does well by herself for an hour or so but after wards always looks for her best friend. Ally doesn't show any separation anxiety when her foster mom's go to work. One day Maybel went to doggie daycare and her foster moms went to work and Ally did just great! Just as long as we come back, which she now trusts that we will. All in all, Ally is doing great and she will make a wonderful pet to any loving family!

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What is heartworm and how is it treated?

Heartworms, Dirofilaria immitis, belong to the same class of worms as roundworms. In fact, they look a bit like roundworms, but that is where the similarity ends. Heartworms spend their adult life in the right side of the heart and the large blood vessels connecting the heart to the lungs.

Adult heartworms in the heart lay very tiny larvae called microfilariae, which then live in the bloodstream. These microfilariae enter a mosquito when it sucks blood from an infected animal. In 2-3 weeks, the microfilariae develop into larger larvae in the mosquito and migrate to the mosquito's mouth.

When the mosquito bites another animal, the larvae enter the animal's skin. The larvae grow and after about three months finish their migration to the heart, where they grow into adults, sometimes reaching a length of 14 inches. The time from when an animal was bitten by an infected mosquito until adult heartworms develop, mate, and lay microfilariae is about 6-7 months in dogs and 8 months in cats.

Severely infected dogs can have up to several hundred heartworms in their hearts and vessels. Adult worms in dogs usually live up to 5-7 years. Thirty to eighty percent of infected dogs have microfilariae, and the microfilariae can live up to 2 years. Microfilariae cannot mature into adult heartworms unless they pass through a mosquito.

In dogs, the adult worms can obstruct the various large blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs. Worms may also enter smaller vessels in the lung and obstruct those vessels, as well. In severe cases, called "caval syndrome" worms start to fill the right ventricle of the heart.

When the adult heartworms die as a result of treatment, they can obstruct blood vessels to the lungs (these are called pulmonary embolisms). If only a small part of the lung is involved, there may be no clinical signs. However, if the vessels to a large portion of the lung, or a small area of an already diseased lung are blocked, severe signs may result. These include fever, cough, coughing up blood, and even heart failure. Because of the risk of these embolisms, any dog being treated with an adulticide must be kept very quiet during treatment and for at least 4 weeks thereafter.