We shared several weeks ago about our heartworm positive dogs from a cruelty case. There were several dogs left on a property – some chained, some running loose — all in need of support. They were covered in ticks, and we were all soon covered in ticks. We have never been to a property with that big of an infestation. They would crawl up our legs faster than we could knock them off. We can’t imagine the frustrations of the dogs chained and unable to escape. We knew based on the condition of the property that there was a high likelihood that all the adult dogs were heartworm and tick disease positive. We hoped for the best, but we knew going in that there was likely a tall medical hill we were going to have to climb. As we suspected, all four adult dogs had heartworm and tick disease. Within the first couple of weeks, we noticed one of the dogs — Tank— was moving slower than usual. We rushed him to the vet and discovered his heartworms had progressed into the fatal Caval Syndrome, the last stage of this horrible disease. His breathing was labored, he was slowly filling up with fluid, and through our tears the only solace we could find in that sad goodbye was to know he didn’t die alone at the end of a chain. We now have four dogs in need of heartworm treatment — three from the cruelty case and one who was dumped rurally. Louie, Guppy, Nikki and Goldie are hoping for support on this next leg of their journey. We had a wonderful donor come to visit who fell in love with little Guppy and sponsored his full heartworm treatment with a $2,000 gift. She hopes her commitment will inspire others to match and/or support these efforts!
You can help one of our heartworm dogs by giving online today at freetoliveok.org/donate or through your mail in gift.