New dog has heart worms :(

[KittKat]

Originally Posted by foxywench

that's pretty much it.
slow kill was always the choice for dogs with SERIOUS infestations as its much safer to have them die off slowly placing much less strain on the body than to have them all die in a short period.

Fast kill is the only currently "approved" method, however many vets are now choosing to go with the slow kill method

the slow kill method relies on preventing further reproduction of the heartworm parasite, the adults cannot produce new larve to grow the infestation and thus it maintains a low manageable level of the parasite, as the heartworms age (they don't have a super long lifespan) they die off one by one, allowing the body to easily shed the worms in much smaller numbers, less stress on the heart, less strain on the body...but...obviously it takes a long time for any young worms that were hatched before treatment to "age out" and die off...
you do still have to restrict serious excersize, no marathon running lol, and will often have some coughing after hard running...
in cases of low parasitic load theres also typically no lasting damage.
in advanced cases there can be lasting heart damage simply due to the heavy worm load (this can also happen with fast kill)
generally with serious worm loads vets may use a combination using 1 dose of regular fast kill" method to kill all the adults it can in a big swoop, then using slow kill to maintain and rid the body of the rest in a gentler way.

its definatly something to research as an option, again the "slow kill" method is not approved, however many ves are switching to this as their choice method.

Thanks for this info!! It's nice to see a summary that outlines both, without bias (like pretty much every website you go to, lol)!