[CindyTyler]

This is a rescue dog (2 weeks with us) and vet says he has stage 1 heartworms. Going to start the treatment this week and once the injections are given the vet says 30 days of keeping him calm, which may mean 30 days in a kennel. Can anyone give me some advice on how to keep a terrier (not too hyper but energetic) calm for 30 days, especially with another dog in the house? Your tips, etc., would be appreciated, especially any advice or experience you may have had with heartworm treatment.

 

[JessiJ]

This is a rescue dog (2 weeks with us) and vet says he has stage 1 heartworms. Going to start the treatment this week and once the injections are given the vet says 30 days of keeping him calm, which may mean 30 days in a kennel. Can anyone give me some advice on how to keep a terrier (not too hyper but energetic) calm for 30 days, especially with another dog in the house? Your tips, etc., would be appreciated, especially any advice or experience you may have had with heartworm treatment.

Hi
When we got our Jack Russell who was also a rescue from a friend of mine we found out that she was high positive with heart worms. It broke my heart to know that this sweet girl has something so bad wrong with her. We also did the treatment, 3 days at the vet for the injections and then 30 days of being calm. We also had our other dog in the house. We had to keep her in her crate in order for her to be calm, so she wouldnt jump or start to play. After about 4 days she had so much engery i was worried that she was getting to hyper and happy. We couldnt bring her out of her crate except for her to use the bathroom(this broke my heart too). That is the only way i know that you can keep one calm enough. I know the vet can give you some medicine to keep them calm. We had to make sure that when our other dog went to her he wasnt trying to get her to play. Im sorry im not much help on how to keep your baby calm, but for us as i said the crate worked wonders. We did let her out and loved on her a lot until she started wanting to jump down or play and then we had to put her back up. After the 30 days you will have to take your baby back to the vet for the final injection, and then they recommend to keep them calm atleast another 30 days, but usually they can get a little more active than when they got the first injections. We started trixie on the heart worm pills that our other dog Bandit was on as soon as her injections were done. We make sure that they take the pills every month. I hope that your baby makes a speedy recovery.
Give lots of love and hugs while having to crate them to show them you do love them and are only doing it to help them.

 

[CindyTyler]

Hi
When we got our Jack Russell who was also a rescue from a friend of mine we found out that she was high positive with heart worms. It broke my heart to know that this sweet girl has something so bad wrong with her. We also did the treatment, 3 days at the vet for the injections and then 30 days of being calm. We also had our other dog in the house. We had to keep her in her crate in order for her to be calm, so she wouldnt jump or start to play. After about 4 days she had so much engery i was worried that she was getting to hyper and happy. We couldnt bring her out of her crate except for her to use the bathroom(this broke my heart too). That is the only way i know that you can keep one calm enough. I know the vet can give you some medicine to keep them calm. We had to make sure that when our other dog went to her he wasnt trying to get her to play. Im sorry im not much help on how to keep your baby calm, but for us as i said the crate worked wonders. We did let her out and loved on her a lot until she started wanting to jump down or play and then we had to put her back up. After the 30 days you will have to take your baby back to the vet for the final injection, and then they recommend to keep them calm atleast another 30 days, but usually they can get a little more active than when they got the first injections. We started trixie on the heart worm pills that our other dog Bandit was on as soon as her injections were done. We make sure that they take the pills every month. I hope that your baby makes a speedy recovery.
Give lots of love and hugs while having to crate them to show them you do love them and are only doing it to help them.

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[CindyTyler]

Thanks for the advice. Nice to know others have gone through this and come out okay. It's going to be hard to not want him out to walk and play. I asked the vet "do they forgive you (for keeping them crated up)? How did you handle walking her - by herself? With out the other dog? Sleep in the crate at nite? Did you pay attention to her away from the other dog? Any tips would be appreciated.
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[JessiJ]

We walked her on a leash with out other dogs around(this helps to keep them from wanting to play). We have one of those leashes that extends to about 16feet, and when she acted like she wanted to run we would lock it to where she couldnt go to far from us. When we came back in we would pick her up before entering the house (to keep our other dog from running at her) and would love on her and give her a treat for using the bathroom and tell her she's a good girl.
She stayed in her crate at all times(except to lay on the couch with us as long as she didnt act like she wanted to play). Especially at night, i didnt want to take the risk of her jumping up and down off the bed or for her and our other dog to start playing and us not knowing it. We did bring the crate in the bedroom and turned her to where she could see us, if she started whinning we got up and opened and loved on her a few min and put her back. We also, got her a bed and a "baby" to put in the crate with her so she was comfy.
When she was out of the crate, we would love her and pet her and let her lay alone as long as she was still. We let her eat and drink water out side of the crate so we could make sure she wasnt getting to much and would have to use the bathroom while we were able to take her out.
also, You will be forgiven, I promise. i worried about that also. I just made sure that she knew why she was in the crate and made sure that she got the same amount of attention as our other dog. It will break your heart to see them in the crate and all you have to do is tell your self why you are making them stay in the crate.
Now, My jack russell was very hyper after her injections, You may not have to crate yours as often as i had to, but it is safer to crate them because of their heart rate going up. This causes the heart worms to move more and it makes the medicine do something, and it can harm them.
They will tell you to wait 4-6 months to get the heart worm test done again after the injections, i recommend doing it 30 days after the final injection. I did this and the vet said that if the medicine worked then it will show neg after 30 days.

 

[CindyTyler]

I really do appreciate all of your advice. This will be the first time we've gone through something like this. This is our 4th Jack Russell, 3d male. His name is Buster, and he's 4. His older sister, Honey, is 9. She is rather laid back and we'll try to go back to "life before Buster" as far as how we treat her. She has enjoyed playing with him these past couple of weeks and it'll probably kind of a "Huh?" moment for her. You've given me hope that this is doable and hopefully the 30 days will pass quickly. I appreciated too the advice about night time. I'm not the only one who has dogs in the bed. I'm thinking it's going to be harder for me than him. I'm going to keep your contact info close; hope you don't mind the "Help!" email during this time.

 

[JessiJ]

Feel free to contact me with any question Ill help as much as i can. Trixie was the first for us to have heart worms and we had to learn our selves how to deal with it. I dont feel right when my babies arent in bed with me either, they are both scared of thunderstorms, and trixie is worse than bandit so she sometimes has to stay in her crate because of that i dont want her to hurt herself. But Youll do fine and so will he, he will know you love him and did it to save him and he will give you kisses for it!!!

 

[JessiJ]

how is your baby doing? How are you doing?

 

[CindyTyler]

how is your baby doing? How are you doing?

Got him home last night. Happy to be home and his sister was happy to see him. Doc says only walk outside to do business and then back in kennel. Did last nite and this am but he wants to play. He's not fussing so all is okay so far. How did you handle feeding the 2? Mine usually ate together though separate bowls. Feed them in separate rooms? Doc said that there is no more medicine available (he tried to get for another dog) so I am glad I went ahead. Just concerned about doing it right.
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[JessiJ]

Im glad he is doing good. We mainly fed her in her crate also gave water in the crate, even though she would turn it over so we'd bring her out and take her to bowl and let her drink then put her back up. But she didnt drink to much, but she knew she had to be in the crate, at least until the 3 week mark then we let her eat like normal but kept a close eye on her to make sure they werent playing, then would put her back up(except for the times we let her lay with us, but we didnt do that until after 2 weeks). Sounds like you are doing great job!!! Apparently Jack Russell's like to try to make it hard on us and want to play when they shouldnt but that is why we love them !!!