What preventative treatment do you have? It can be very dangerous and deadly if you give prevention to a heartworm positive dog.
Ask your vet about financing. I know it's expensive and it really does suck, but treatment IS expensive. They aren't trying to gouge you, it's actually very expensive even at cost.
Edit: Sorry, just looked it up in my book. If your vet thinks that your dog has no baby heartworm, then the preventative will do nothing. The preventative kills off the baby heartworms, but does not touch the adults. Therefore it will be totally ineffective.
Life expectancy depends on how bad the infestation is, and it is NOT a good way to die. You're looking at congestive heart failure, trouble breathing, etc etc. It's a bad and painful way to go.
Also, if you keep a heartworm positive dog, you are risking the lives of other dogs, as the parasite is transmitted through mosquitoes.

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

I really don't know about the prevention treating a dog when it already was the worms.
Heartguard say that all dogs must be tested for heartworms before preventative medicine is started so my guess is the answer is no you can't.

Heartworm Treatment: Heartgard Plus and other Dog Heartworm Medicine

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Thank you for all the comments, I'm using them to make a decision & help understand. What are your thoughts on a generic heartguard heartworm preventive medicine, for his other dog. Do you think its possible that his 2nd dog (which that one stays inside) that she may have the heartworms too?

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Originally Posted by bentree

Thank you for all the comments, I'm using them to make a decision & help understand. What are your thoughts on a generic heartguard heartworm preventive medicine, for his other dog. Do you think its possible that his 2nd dog (which that one stays inside) that she may have the heartworms too?

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Because it is spread through mosquitoes, it is very possible. Get the other dog tested before starting a prevention.

Every one has there limits on how far they will go to save a pet,I don't think its fair to impose you'r limits on someone else.you shouldn't feel bad if you decide to not go through with this and have the dog put to sleep.I have always said that as much as I love mine I wouldn't allow a vet bill to get out of hand either.However this turns out for you,you can learn a lesson from it,monthly heartgard treatment is a lot cheaper than getting rid of heartworms.Again though don't let ones view make you feel bad because your hands are tied financially

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Originally Posted by zippit

every one has there limits on how far they will go to save a pet,i dont think its fair to impose you'r limits on someone else.you shouldnt feel bad if you decide to not go through with this and have the dog put to sleep.I have always said that as much as i love mine i wouldnt allow a vet bill to get out of hand either.However this turns out for you,you can learn a lesson from it,monthly heartgard treatment is alot cheaper than getting rid of heartworms.Again though dont let ones view make you feel bad because your hands are tied financially

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Thank you for understanding, it is actually my young adult son's dog & trust me he has learned a valuable lesson. I tried to explain the upkeep of animals when he wanted to get one, then another- of course he didn't listen. He is living on his own & lost his job & is now working odd & end jobs just to keep afloat. It's a tough call to make, I have loaned him 300.00 already just for the vet exam, I would have to go in debt & chg the treatment if that's the route we go. I just want to know how long can they live with heartworms before they start going down & their life takes a turn for the worse.

Has a decision been made?

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