Help Buster Beat Heartworm and Thrive

Meet Buster. We adopted Buster when he showed up in our backyard one day. He chose us. We weren't sure what to do with him. He appeared to be in good health. He wasn't emaciated. He had no collar and no tags. He was friendly. We brought him inside the house so he was out of the hot Louisiana heat and kept him separated from the other dogs. He was having none of that. I did my due diligence to see if I could find Buster's owners. I took him to the vet to see if he was microchipped. He wasn't. I posted his picture on Pawboost, and searched several lost dog Facebook pages and websites to see if any one reported this good boy missing. No one had. We began a slow introduction to our other dogs while we pondered what to do with him and something amazing happened. Our shelter rescue beagle Chilli bonded with him immediately. Our scared little baby that was basically living under his dad's desk and only coming out for food and to go outside blossomed. He had a new friend. We discovered Buster was very well trained. He knew commands and was crate and leash trained.

Still not sure if we were going to keep him, but knowing I couldn't surrender him to a shelter where he could possibly be euthanized, I took him to the vet and had a wellness check and his vaccinations. The vet also administered a heartworm preventative and performed a heartworm test. The test was negative, but we were warned that this didn't mean he wasn't heartworm positive, and he would need to have another preventative and check in 6 months.

Still searching for any possible person who had reported this goodest boy missing, we learned more about this baby. He's approximately 2 years old. He loves playing run the fence with our neighbor's dog Rosa, wrestling with his brother Chilli and chewing on his chew toys. He hates thunder and when Mom or Dad leave the house.

On Monday, our worries about Buster were confirmed and he tested high positive for heartworm. He is currently taking doxycycline for 30 days. In June, he will have his first fast-kill shot, which requires him to stay at the vet all day. 30 days after that, he will have to have two shots 24 hours apart, which will require two days and one night hospitalization. During this treatment time, he can't play chase with Rosa or wrestle with his brother because we have to keep his activity level very low.

I'm not sure if someone dumped this good boy because they knew or suspected that he was heartworm positive, but I have my suspicions. We are asking for help getting our baby healthy so he can do all the things he loves to do again.