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Focus On: Heartworm
April 2024
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Focus On: Heartworm
I knew very little about heartworm prior to getting involved in shelter and rescue work, except
that my vet insisted I give my dog an expensive preventative every month. I’d never heard of
anyone having a heartworm positive dog, so to be honest, it felt a little like a scam.
Fast forward ten years and now heartworm is something I think about almost daily. I just finished
fostering a heartworm positive dog, Krimpet, who did well in treatment and now has a wonderful
forever home. Krimpet was a stray right here in my county (Shenandoah County, Virginia).
Heartworm has come much closer now.
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As heartworm positive dogs move north through rescue, it is no longer a Southern problem. Left
untreated, heartworm kills dogs in a slow, agonizing way. The treatment itself can be brutal on a
dog (and can kill them). But more than that, heartworm can be a death sentence in many
Southern shelters where there are no resources to treat it, and few rescues will pull heartworm
positive dogs.
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I don’t know enough to speak to it, but I do have questions about why the treatment is so
expensive. At a private veterinarian, it could be $1500, but some shelters are able to treat
heartworm for just $300. And at least one rescue I know pays $500 to treat heartworm.
I also wonder why the preventatives cost so much. It can cost as much as $10-$25/month for
preventatives, a price much too prohibitive for most shelters.
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Which leads me to another question a shelter director in Georgia asked me – why bother paying
to test dogs if you cannot afford to give preventatives? In a Southern shelter without
preventatives, a dog could contract heartworm the day after it tested negative.
We must come up with a better alternative when it comes to heartworm. The expense of
preventatives is keeping shelters from giving preventatives and is too prohibitive for many pet
owners. Heartworm is not a hard battle to win. One little pill versus a gazillion mosquitoes.
The cost doesn’t add up. Ivermectin (found in heartworm preventative) is not expensive. I used
to buy it for my horses at $3/tube. (These days it’s about $6/tube.) So I’m having a hard time
understanding why a heartworm preventative pill for a dog costs an average of $12/pill. Dogs
are a lot smaller than horses.
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Do the math. If you have a shelter with 100 dogs, that’s $1200/month for heartworm
preventative, far outside the budget of most municipal shelters.
There is so much in the world of sheltering that feels impossible, but this doesn’t. To me, this
seems like a simple fix. We need to demand it with our wallets.
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You can order heartworm preventative from Australia for just $3.50/dose. Click Here.
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Heartworm preventatives are not something anyone should be doing without – no matter where
you live. And shelter dogs deserve nothing less.
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Until Each One Has A Home,
Cara Achterberg
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Happening Now: Our April Tour!
We are just three days into this shelter tour and have met incredible heroes and seriously
beautiful dogs. One thing that stands out already is…PUPPIES.
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There are puppies everywhere, like nothing we’ve seen on previous tours. If this is puppy
season just beginning, we better all brace ourselves for this one.
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Most likely this is more pandemic fall out. An overabundance of dogs (and puppies) adopted out
without an abundance of veterinary access or responsible follow up, plus shelters not accepting
owner surrenders leading to an increase in stray dogs, combined with the crazy demand for
pandemic puppies that led to backyard breeders multiplying in numbers (and litters) resulting in
a perfect storm of puppies.
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We hope you’ll follow along as we have nine more shelters to visit! You can see everything on
Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. More in-depth coverage will come in future blog posts (so be
sure you’re subscribed!)
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Brighter Days for Dogs in Grenada Mississippi
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We spotted three stray dogs on our drive from our hotel in Alabama to Grenada Animal Shelter in Mississippi. We’d seen the challenges in the shelters we visited, but it was further evidence that times are tough for unwanted dogs in Mississippi, like everywhere else these days. The aging municipal shelter is right next to the small airport. The place …
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WWLDO Volunteer Corner & Tips for Shelter Partners
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Tip of The Month
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We love the way they organized this as a fundraiser and hope it can inspire similar programs at your local shelter!
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Virtual Volunteer Shelter Liaison Opportunity
Would you like to help raise awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who champion their cause? As a Shelter Liaison you can make a difference from the comfort of your own home. Shelter Liaisons play a crucial role in virtually supporting our shelter partners. As a Shelter Liaison, you will be monitoring our shelter partners' posts on social media and sharing their news, ideas, and needs.
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If you're ready to be part of our team, click the “Get Involved” link below or visit our website to take the first step!
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From the Resource Guide
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Highlight from the Resource Guide on Heartworm
Bissell Pet Foundation Helps Heartworm-Positive Shelter Dogs
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According to the American Heartworm Society, heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the U.S. Sadly, due to the high cost of heartworm treatment, many heartworm-positive dogs in Southern shelters are overlooked by adopters and are not chosen by rescues for transport to receiving shelters elsewhere in the country.
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In 2021, the Bissell Pet Foundation (BPF) launched the Healing Heartworm program to save the lives of pets infected with heartworm and to help prevent more dogs from contracting the disease. The Healing Heartworm program is helping combat this disease by:
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- Providing funding to treat heartworm-positive dogs to destination shelters taking in pets from BPF’s transport operations.
- Awarding Healing Heartworm grants to support shelters committed to transporting and treating heartworm-positive dogs from southern shelter partners in need.
- Distributing thousands of doses of heartworm-preventative medicine to help protect pets against contracting the disease.
- According to the foundation, the Healing Heartworm program has granted $421,290 to help dogs in 66 organizations. To be eligible for funding, shelters must be approved members of BPF’s Partners for Pets program and can apply to join online.
Free Shelter Educational Brochures
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Recognizing that not all animal shelters have the financial resources to test and treat heartworm disease in dogs and cats, the American Heartworm Society (AHS) and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians produced a series of shelter educational brochures. The brochures explain the disease and what adopters can expect if their dog or cat tests positive for heartworm disease. The brochures can be downloaded directly from the AHS website.
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Life-Saving Airlifts for Heartworm-Positive Dogs
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The Good Flights program, an initiative of Greater Good Charities, conducts life-saving airlifts and supports ground transport for at-risk and vulnerable pet populations with a special focus on asymptomatic heartworm-positive shelter dogs. Good Flights is currently committed to the transport of heartworm-positive dogs from shelter partners in Louisiana, which has one of the highest heartworm infection rates in the country. The dogs are sent to receiving shelters where they are treated and placed into loving homes. Shelters can apply online for financial help and support from Greater Good Charities.
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Grant Opportunites:
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Heartworm & General Health Treatment Grants for
Individual Pet Owners
While the majority of grants listed in the WWLDO Resource Guide’s Grants section are funding opportunities intended to help rescues and shelters at the organizational level, there are also grants available for individual pet owners.
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Heartworm can debilitate an animal to the point that a family may not be able to afford the cost of heartworm treatment. In such cases, it’s important to share opportunities like these:
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RedRover Relief – Urgent Care Grants
The RedRover Relief Urgent Care grant program provides assistance, resources, and emotional support for pet guardians struggling with economic hardship when pets are in life-threatening situations. The average grant is around $250 and is intended to fill a small gap in funding that is keeping an animal from care.
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The Onyx & Breezy Foundation
This foundation (highlighted in earlier newsletters) also offers funds to families in need of financial assistance to cover veterinarian bills for a sick pet. More information about how to submit a grant request is included here.
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If you know of any families who might benefit from grants such as these and need some
guidance in filling out a grant application, please reach out to the WWLDO grants advisor, Nicole Sandler at nicolemiasandler@gmail.com.
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From The Blog:
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Everyone Can Do Something
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The Story of One Woman's Mission to Save Heartworm-Positive Dogs.
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I believe that everyone can do something.
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Often I hear from people who thank me for fostering and traveling to shelters. They say they could never do what I do.
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And that’s okay. Because they don’t need to.
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Fostering multiple animals, writing about rescue, and traveling to shelters are things I can do. Now. I couldn’t have done those things back when I was in the thick of running our little farm, raising three kids, and working on a novel.
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In a recent post, I mentioned Linda Taylor, a woman I much admire. She isn’t wealthy; she works hard running her own landscaping business and dotes on her elderly dog who struggles with arthritis and cancer. She doesn’t foster or write about rescue or travel to shelters, but she is saving lives every day.
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