Adopting a 3yr old German Shepherd.. Good idea?

[tony]

Beautiful dogs guys!

I just found out mine has a mild case of heartworms. But, I don't have any details becuase I'm not the official owner yet due to the situation. The vet won't tell us anything. Since when do dogs care about patient confidentiality.

[tony]

Good news, the vet informed us that the best approach would be to give the dog preventative meds for the next two years. This is something I would do anyway. That should defeat a mild case of worms in a young healthy dog. That's good because the other option was multiple $800 injections with higher risk of death.

I still haven't even seen this dog. I hope he appreciates me.

[gkim4107]

Trust me when I say, he is a shelter dog, once bonded with you he will be your new shadow. He will deffinately appreciate the hell out of you lol.

Congratulations on getting him, and sorry to hear about the mild case of heartworms, luckily they caught it early, and as of now you can avoid the high risk treatment. Even if the case develops, you should be able (money allowing) to put him through the procedure of a full blown heartworm injections. Since he is a young dog, he should do ok, but there is ALWAYS a risk. Good luck, and deffinately post some pictures.

[KY_Longrifle]

For future prevention, if you have one locally get with a Livestock vet, and ask them about Ivromectin dosages. It is the active ingredient in all heartworm medicines, & is also used on pigs and cattle. The best part is, it's usable on more than just heartworms. Everything from flea infestations, ear mites, hookworm, and almost all internal parasites can be controled with it.

The dangerous part is getting the dosage correct. I believe it is .1cc for every 15 lbs of dog weight, I will have to confirm this with my wife before I can tell you with certanity.

It is also a lot cheaper a small vial that cost 30 dollars, and will last you for well over a year if kept refrigated.

[tony]

For future prevention, if you have one locally get with a Livestock vet, and ask them about Ivromectin dosages. It is the active ingredient in all heartworm medicines, & is also used on pigs and cattle. The best part is, it's usable on more than just heartworms. Everything from flea infestations, ear mites, hookworm, and almost all internal parasites can be controled with it.

The dangerous part is getting the dosage correct. I believe it is .1cc for every 15 lbs of dog weight, I will have to confirm this with my wife before I can tell you with certanity.

It is also a lot cheaper a small vial that cost 30 dollars, and will last you for well over a year if kept refrigated.

Good to know, I'll read up on it. Thanks

[tony]

The dog arrived at 1200 on Friday and I took a half day off to start working with him. Nobody knows his real name so now it's Rocket. We spent about 12hrs together, ran a few miles and walked many more this weekend. We are establishing a good relationship with one another. He is still staying at my parents house due to not immediately getting along with my other pooch. That situation is coming along nicely though. I can see that he wants to please me so training is going quite well considering an apparent lack of any previously. I was told he was 2-3 years old but he looks more like a young 2.

Rocket is a little on the skinny side, I think he weighed 64 lbs. So I'm feeding him multiple times a day to fatten him up before we take care of the heart worm situation. Any advice would be appreciated.

Tony

[KY_Longrifle]

Handsome dog there tony, it's good to see you are bonding well with him and all those idiots butt heads the first few days with each other so no worries there.

When we got our dog she was 50 lbs, and within the year had almost doubled her weight, put him on a high protein food, SAMS club sells a great deal on a high quality dog food for 26 dollars for a 50 lb bag.

Congrats on the dog and good luck.

[KY_Longrifle]

Also another thing, I would check with your vet on running or exercising him too much before the heartworm treatment. When their heart gets going very quickly it could cause some of the existing parasites to release and that causes even more complications. I know usually they just want them to lie around and to keep exertion to a minimum.

I'm no vet though, so I would check with one of the ones that get paid the big bucks.

[tony]

I thought I should give a long term update, so here it is:


We have two happy dogs and two happy owners. The first introduction didn't go very well. I spent a week letting them get to know each other before finally letting go of the leash. Rocket is at the vet this week having is heartworm situation taken care of. I miss him already.

Tony

[cbprice797]

Dog days ahead?

The fact that the GS is a shelter dog should not discourage you in any way unless when you go to see it the dog seems to be vicious or generally just mean. I know several people that have gotten great dogs from shelters. Sometimes though if the dog was abused it is always a bit skittish, but that is perfectly understandable.
Good luck and remember that the dog just wants to be loved, though sometimes it doesn't know it.