Española Humane

At our shelter, about 10% of the adult dogs we test for heartworm disease come up positive. This disease is completely preventable through a once-a-month chewable pill, but cost, lack of education and the persisting myth that heartworm does not exist in our area, all mean that heartworm disease will continue to show up in our adoptable dogs. However, we make every effort to still try to find homes for these dogs, without placing the burden of treatment on the adopters.

Three of our current cases are Zoom, Megan, and Terry Jack.

Zoom, a St Bernard, has been adopted, but due to his enormous size, is going to be quite expensive for us to treat. He was purchased from a breeder, but his owner did not realize the amount of time and work a 120-pound puppy would entail, so he surrendered him to our shelter, heartworm positive.

Megan, a golden retriever mix, has also been adopted, and has begun the first stage of treatment (four weeks of oral medication before the treatment injections). Megan came to us as a very shy stray, but she had sutures from a procedure that had never been removed. We checked with local vets, but Megan either wandered a very long way, or had been missing for a very long time, because she was not reclaimed and tested positive for heartworm.

Terry Jack is a little fella who came in as a stray this week hanging out with some big dogs around town. We are guessing he is a rat terrier/jack russell mix and he is about 15 pounds full grown. We do not typically begin heartworm treatment until a dog is adopted (because they need a home that is willing to supervise them through the post-treatment period), so Terry Jack is waiting for a family to come along, so he can get healthy and make a full recovery.

Heartworm disease is non-contagious and fully treatable if caught early enough. All three of these dogs were lucky to have come into our shelter where we were able to diagnose them and begin treatment before the disease was too advanced. However, the costs are prohibitive. If you can help by donating towards curing Zoom, Megan and Terry Jack, we would truly appreciate it. And if you can't give today, please share so that we can raise the needed funds and find Terry Jack a home. Thank you for your help.