Dog Training, Health and Products By Zoey Dog!!

Heartworms

Zoey Dog

              Oh the things that can live inside my body! I never knew such atrocities existed.    One day I was running and playing in the yard, and I had to stop to catch my breath.    I huffed, puffed, and inhaled as much fresh air as I could.    My owner ran to my side.    “Are you okay, Zoey,” she inquired.     I looked up at her with my big brown eyes, and I think she could sense something wasn’t right. 

              We went right away to a special kind of doctor I had never seen before.    The big letters on the building said some kind of emergencies happened in here.    They whisked me right away into the back, and I heard whispers about my heart.    My heart! Nothing could be wrong with that.    I was a young, strong dog!

              After having the vet listen to my heart a couple of times and a trip through the x-ray machine, which was pretty neat, I was taken into a small room where my owner sat quietly huddled.    “I have some bad news, “ he started.     “I’m afraid that Zoey has heartworms.”    “How could that be?” my owner exclaimed.

              The vet got out this weird looking piece of sculpture.    I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was large, really large, and it had spaghetti all inside it.    He pointed out to her the different parts of what turned out to be a model of a dog heart.    We were looking at a heart full of worms, appropriately called heartworms.    All those pieces of super-long looking spaghetti were really lots and lots of living worms that had fully filled and consumed the heart. 

                  The vet explained that as the worms invade the heart, there is little room left for blood to pump and flow like it should.    Dogs have harder times breathing, just like I had earlier in the day.    Coughing, labored breathing, and fatigue could all be signs. 

              “What can we do, doctor? “ my owner asked, as stunned as I was.    She thought in her head of all the medicine she had given me throughout my life.    Why had it not done its job and prevented it? It turns out that the month she was late giving me the medicine might have been the culprit.    Or, maybe it was the two or three months each winter she thought she was safe not giving it to me.    After all, mosquitoes were dead, right?    But, she had forgotten about the unseasonably warm late winter days when just a few of the little buggers had been able to fly about.    I guess one of those got me when I wasn’t looking.    I always tried to snap at them or swat them off, but it seems I missed one. 

              The next few weeks I underwent special treatment to kill all of those worms hidden inside of me.    It was terrible medicine, and I felt so weak, but it was all necessary.    The hardest part was the keeping me quiet part of the treatment.     The kids had a hard time understanding that I couldn’t play for a few weeks.    My owner had to explain that the medicine was killing the worms, and they couldn’t risk any complications to my health. 

              The good news: I am all better now! The doctor said the worms are fully dead and gone, and my heart has reduced to its normal size.    I received a clean bill of health just a few days ago, and I heard the vet tell my owner one very important thing: Never, ever skip any heartworm medication doses.    Don’t think the mosquitoes aren’t out there to spread the disease just because it is cold.

              My owner told me later how sorry she was this happened to me.    I nodded and licked her face to show I understood and forgave her.    I was very happy to see her put all of the heartworm reminder stickers on the calendar and make a note of it in her organizer.    Now I know she won’t forget to do it, and I will remain worm free!  

Below is a great guide to your dogs health - if you need more information about many of the most common dog problems click on the picture below.