My boxer is bloated post-heartworm. Need aggressive vet treatment?

hThanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Heartworm treatment can be rough on your pets body. This involves injections given by your vet on 3 separate occasionas. The main concern after the treatment is creating a pulmonary embolism, or clot in the airway, which lead s to shortness of breath, lethargy, and inappetance. A bloated abdomen cannot be determined in this postiion and often requires a physical examination. A bloated abdomen from a heart condition if often not seen unless the heart is very far gone. This would have been likely detected in the work-up for your fur baby to determine if your pet is in congestive heart failure via a chest x-ray. Right sided congestive heart failure is what leads to a bloated abdomen. I hope that this helps and if you still have concerns about your pets health after starting heartworm treatment, then the next best step is a proper physical exam to determine if any heart murmurs exist and potentially repeat x-rays of the chest and abdomen if the physical exam warrants these. Best of luck with your fur baby Ayla moving forward. Take care. : )

He is very under weight. While parasites may be compromising things, it is unlikely the source of his problems. His belly may be getting larger from accumulating fluid. Heart worms are common in the south and cause heart failure and liver congestion in severe cases. The fluid build up may be from an infection or tumor or an disease with his intestines. I am afraid he is to the point where he needs to be taken to a vet for further testing to find out the problem.

I hate to hear that about Winner. I’m not sure but it sounds like he may have had a seizure or other neurological episode. It could also be possible that his heart developed an arrhythmia and was responsible for that behavior. Seizures are not expected due to treatment for heartworms but a lot of worms dying at once could interfere with the heart potentially but it generally affects the lungs more. I recommend to get him back into the vet and likely expect to repeat some blood work and run an EKG. This may or may not give you the answer but it will at least let you know if there is some sort organ damage. Epilepsy does not have a test and some of the arrhythmias need 24hours worth of monitoring to diagnose. It’s best though to at least get your baselines and go from there. Best of luck. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Poor guy. I would suggest getting the x-rays looked at by a board certified radiologist to determine what some possible causes are for the fluid in the belly. Also there is a huge difference between free standing fluid in the belly (heart related) and fluid in the intestines (GI related) If the heart is enlarged and there is fluid in the belly, this could inicate an underlying heart failure situation, in which case getting Sarge started on heart medication right away would be the next best step. A high white blood cell count with no fever does not indicate infection, but instead inflammation, so I would double check with the doctor here to ensure the antibiotics are needed at this time. It would be helpful if we could see a copy of your pets radiogrpahs and full bloodwork findings through a consultation if possible. This can also ensure we get all the information needed to make any additional recommendations on Sarge's care moving forward. I hope this helps and I sure hope Sarge gets better soon. Best wishes and take care.

You do need more testing to find out what is going on. It can be fluid build up but you need blood work and an ultrasound to see if the fluid is leaking from the intestines or liver congestion secondary from heart disease. sometimes a diet change can help or the fluid may need to be drained to have it evaluated for cells. Without a diagnosis and more testing it is hard to help you further

I'm sorry to hear that Bodhi is having this problem. The lab work you have posted here looks pretty good - no anemia or significant thrombocytopenia, so I'm unsure why you say he seems to be regressing? If he hasn't been able to keep his medications down, this could certainly be a reason for the disease to relapse - so I would recommend discussing this with your veterinarian to see what he/she suggests. Using an anti-nausea medication such as Cerenia can help to prevent vomiting if this is the main problem. If the current meds simply don't seem to be working well, then a different immunosuppressive medication like cyclosporine or azathioprine could potentially be added. Fluid in his belly is definitely concerning, so I would want to find out what this is. Your veterinarian may be able to aspirate some of it to determine if it's blood, clear fluid, or something else. If he's bleeding into his abdomen, I would be concerned about a clotting disorder of some kind, or possibly a mass on his liver or spleen that may be bleeding - these are not always visible on ultrasound. If the fluid is clear, then it's more likely to be related to cancer or heart disease. So all in all, I would recommend talking with your veterinarian about what he/she recommends as the next step from here. You can ask about the options I've mentioned above, if you wish.

I'm sorry Aria has heartworms! The fact that she is lethargic and has a decrease in appetite is concerning, and this can be due to the sudden death of a large number of worms from the treatment. When a dog becomes lethargic as well as has a significant decrease in appetite, it's recommended to have them seen by a vet right away. I would take her into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. She needs to be checked out by a vet to make sure everything is ok. I hope this helps and that she feels better soon!