Hi - An additional question I have regarding my pups heartworm positive test results is that she was transferred from Michigan Humane Society to a shelter on 5/23 - before MHS transferred her she had a heartworm test on 4/27, which was negative AND a dose of heartguard on 5/2. She would have been due again on 6/2. When we adopted her on 6/29, we were told by the shelter that she ahd been there for 5 days, and that she was healthy.
But I just learned she was transferred there on 5/23, so she was at the shelter between 5/23-6/29 and the shelter did not administer her heartguard. This means Shadow's heartguard was a month late - and now she is HW+. MHS has paperwork of this transfer, so what should I do? Should the shelter be somewhat responsible for her treatment?


This is what we signed when adopted her -

Most shelters have a disclaimer on their paperwork somewhere that they aren't responsible for most medical issues with their animals. Now, if they state that all their dogs come current on their vaccinations and are on preventative then you can at least call and give them what for, but since rescues are non for profit and run on charity they may not have the funds to assist you. Though I would definitely contact them and make them aware of the situation. They could have many other dogs that they are discontinuing heartworm treatment on and admin may not know.

I'm answering the two part question you didn't ask, so bear with me.

First:  The actual question - the chances of the shelter taking any responsibility are slim to none.

Then:  If I'm reading this right you have paperwork from MHS saying she was HW- on 4/27?  Heartgard and related *should* have covered her for the month after it was administered (through 5/27), it should also have had residual effect through the next month through mid June.

Take a look at this article from which I take:

Quote :

It takes about three months for microfilaria (baby worms) to grow inside your dog to a larval stage, and even longer for these larva to mature into adult heartworms. If your dog is dosed with a simple Ivermectin treatment at any time during this period before adult worms are present (a period that lasts about three months long), the larvae will never develop into adult worms, and will die. Read that statement again: a single dose of Ivermectin will stop heartworm dead up to 3 months after your dog is first infected.

A couple of comments, the author seems to have a grudge against heartworm medications but they also say things that I tend to agree with.

If your pup was HW- in April and HW+ in June then I would think that you're dealing with a juvenile infestation that you should be able to kill with nothing more than a normal monthly dosage.

ETA: I hate the type of paperwork you signed. What it amounts to is you're agreeing to keep their dog for them ...

"AH makes no warranty to their health" aka they will be no help to you financially.

I did some reading and saw that the ELISA test said to have come back positive in the other thread tests for adult heartworms. There is a chance that she was already infected before coming into the care of the rescue but since adult worms don't show up on some tests she was probably in the juvenile stage of HW at that time. Unfortunately the amount of Ivermec found in over the counter HW drugs like heartguard isn't very much and sometimes already present babies won't all be killed by it, especially if it isn't religiously given. Since she has other issues beside just HW it is an uncommon case that you will have to rely upon your vet's knowledge a lot for as to what issues to tackle in which order. Finding out what stage the worms are at will be key in figuring out what will work for your case.

http://heartworm.com/testing/dogs/

The only thing I will add is that I do my monthly heartgard every 45 days, I have had a pharmacist acknowledge that the efficacy of heartgard is clearly at least 45 days. You would have to do the counting backwards, but 45 days is still another half month, and will kill whatever is there. I also know at the early stages of HW testing can show up as negative for HW and the dog has it. I strongly encourage you to make an appointment with a vet and get some answers as far as how far along your dog is with HW, from what I have read, the dog must be exposed 7 months before a test will actually show positive, and by that time the worms are adults.

Her second heartworm test just came back negative! What a whirlwind - she still has bradycardia, so we are taking her to the cardiologist for an ultrasound and the doc says hopefully the specialist can further evaluate. Trying to stay calm

That's great! False positives are not uncommon. Fingers crossed she stays negative and the cardiologist visit goes well.