Dog update

I just read over my blogs for the last few weeks and realized that I never gave an update on Sam. I know, two posts in one day after weeks of silence, but here's a brief overview for anyone who's been wondering.

First, Sam still has heartworm, and he's still living with me. I called the vet the day after my last post in November, and he told me that he had done some research and there was a new treatment regimen for heartworm that has had 80-90% success. This treatment process takes ten months:

1. In the first month, the dog takes one preventive heartworm pill, and is dosed with antibiotics every day. This is supposed to weaken the existing heartworm. The dog should be kept inside and not walked during this time.

2. In the second month, the dog has a preventive heartworm pill, with no walking again.

3. In the third month, the dog gets an injection of immiticide, which kills the adult heartworm. The dog then has to be kept very quiet for four weeks, to prevent a clot of worms from moving into the lungs--for which there is no cure.

4. In the fourth month, the dog has another injection of immiticide and is kept quiet.

5-10. In the fifth through tenth months, the dog is on restricted activity indoors.

The vet told me all this, and at first I was elated because his odds had improved, but then I began to think about how a year is a long time in a seven-year-old dog's life. And the vet said I had to keep him inside except for bathroom breaks outside. Sam began to get restless, and wouldn't pee when I took him out for a few minutes at a time, as instructed. I wondered about his quality of life if he couldn't go for walks, and was confined to the house. I couldn't very well explain it to him.

I knew I needed to make a decision for his sake. What was fair to him? What was fair to me? I spent two agonizing days crying and talking about it. My parents felt terrible, but couldn't do anything magical to fix it. Two of my coworkers, who had been through animal-related situations in the last year, told me that whatever decision I made would be the right one. I read about heartworm online. I considered calling the humane society and giving them a piece of my mind, but that wouldn't have done any good. And finally I called my counselor and had him meet me for an emergency lunchtime session. He listened kindly as I sobbed through our hour together about how I wished there was a third option, and he very gently helped me see that I had already made up my mind. I called my parents, who offered to take him in for me if I couldn't do it myself.

So I called the vet, and told him I was thinking that perhaps it would be kinder not to treat my dog, but to have him euthanized. Only I couldn't even say the word. The vet got very agitated when he finally understood me, and immediately said that there was only a very small risk associated with half-hour walks at this stage of treatment. He told me that Sam could continue to go for walks and go out in the car with me, as long as he wasn't running beside a bike or chasing a ball in a field, anything that would get his heart pumping too hard.

There it was: my miraculous third option! My tears stopped right at that moment. He said that Sam will still have to be kept pretty quiet for two months of immiticide, when there is greater danger, but I could see the end of eight weeks of confinement.

It was like the clouds broke open and the sun came out. I put my shoes on right then, got the leash, and asked Sam if he wanted to go for a walk. (He did.) We walked up the hill to the vet's office, where I picked up his antibiotics and Heartgard. And finally, as we walked home, Sam stopped outside the catering place on the corner, in full view of the food prep tables through the plate glass window, lifted his leg against a column, and let loose an enormous stream of urine that cascaded down the pillar in a yellow fountain, and pooled at our feet. Happily, he lowered his leg, looked at me with immense relief, and trotted off toward home.

We're now halfway through the second month of treatment. He'll have his first immiticide injection in January, and then he has to be kept inside most of the time for the next two months, but who wants to go out in the cold rain in January and February, anyway? I feel much more confident that he's going to be okay. He even seems to be feeling better already.

In spite of the vet bills and the roller-coaster of potential heartache, in spite of the idea that we might not have very long together, I do not regret getting him. I feel completely safe when we're out together, and he has the sweetest nature. He never barks, even when he's home all day by himself, except to alert me to something potentially dangerous walking by. If he would just stop getting so excited when one of my cats walks by, things would be perfect. I feel safer at night, too, with an 85-pound German Shepherd patrolling on my behalf.

He's asleep right now on the couch in my office, dreaming with his legs stretched out. Lucky dog.

PS--Not to get on a soapbox about this, but if your dog (or cat that goes outside) is not on preventive heartworm medication right now, please call your vet immediately. It costs about $75 a year and is painless for your dog to take. On the other hand, if your dog develops heartworm, it will cost you hundreds of dollars and be potentially deadly to your pet. Please tell your friends and family to put their animals on heartworm medication, even if the vet says it's not common in your area. It's not common in Portland, either, and my dog still has it. You don't want to go through what Sam and I are experiencing right now.