# Prayers for Ellie



## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

We brought Ellie home on December 15th knowing she had heart worms. She's on prednisone and doxicycline (sp?) as pretreatment to help with some breathing problems and will hopefully have her first dose of immiticide on January 19th. I worry that she may not handle the treatment well because she is active like most Shelties. She and Daisy are best friends now and I'd hate to lose another dog to HW. We had tried to rescue a miniature poodle before we got Daisy but he had too many worms to treat and due to his hyper activity the vet didn't recommend immiticide. She could really use prayers for this.


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## Maglily (Feb 3, 2009)

Sending prayers for Ellie that she does well. That's a pretty cute photo by the way, looks like they are good pals.


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## Pooh's mommy (Aug 31, 2014)

Just now seeing this...
Praying for Ellie...how is she doing? 
Big hugs!!!


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

Pooh's mommy said:


> Just now seeing this...
> Praying for Ellie...how is she doing?
> Big hugs!!!


Thanks Cindy. She's doing well. The antibiotic and prednisone have seemed to help her labored/fast breathing which was the goal. The vet was worried about the stress of the heart worm treatment and how you circulatory/respiratory system would handle it if she still had breathing problems. Her first round of immiticide (the drug that actually kills the worms) is this Thursday and then she'll get another dose in a month I believe.


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Oh, Steph, I'm so sorry that you're ALL going through this. Praying all the meds work and that Ellie has a full recovery. She's a beauty! :wub: Keep us posted.


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## Pooh's mommy (Aug 31, 2014)

Stephanie, I will continue to pray for Ellie.
My son kept a dog at his home while she was treated for heartworm and she did really well.
She didn't have any problems at all and got a clean bill of health and has since found her forever home.:chili:
So I know that this treatment does work. 
I know each case is different...but the fact that your vet is doing the treatment makes me feel optimistic. 
I hope Ellie responds well. 
Keeping them less active during the two rounds of the "killing phase" of the treatment is very important. 
But, it does work and I'm sure Ellie will do fine.
Prayers and Big Hugs
XOXOXO


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## wkomorow (Aug 26, 2011)

Hope all turns out well.


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## Madison's Mom (Dec 26, 2007)

Oh my! Ellie is stunning! What a beauty! I pray her treatments go well.


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## kd1212 (Nov 5, 2013)

Hi Stephane,

Just seeing this. I hope that Ellie responds to the meds and recovers. So sorry that you and she are going through this. Sending love and positive thoughts.

xo
Kim


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

Ellie got her first injection today. She's currently in her crate waiting for the trazadone to kick in. She has 30 days of prednisone, a heart guard tablet to take in a few days, and 28 doses of trazadone (at 1/4 tablet, she can take 1/2). In total it cost us $98.02! I was so shocked since $80 is the vet visit fee so all the meds were just $18.02.


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

Sending loving thoughts for all the best for Ellie today---this is a great fear of mine since neither of my pups are on a preventative med. Lisi is so allergic that I am fearful of the consequences. So far our tests have been clear but when we move back to the US I will have to make a hard decision.


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

edelweiss said:


> Sending loving thoughts for all the best for Ellie today---this is a great fear of mine since neither of my pups are on a preventative med. Lisi is so allergic that I am fearful of the consequences. So far our tests have been clear but when we move back to the US I will have to make a hard decision.


I grew up in NH and my family never had dogs on preventatives and none of them have had heart worms. South Korea has horribly high rates of heart worms. The summers get hot and the air is humid. With all the rice paddies there are so many mosquitos. 

We're moving to NY this spring and I don't think I'll keep Daisy on heart worm and flea preventative. She doesn't go outside that much and never without me and I don't hang out outside when the mosquitos are out. I may go with an essential oil spray or something.


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

I do use the essential oils spray (home made) on them so have not been totally irresponsible, but in TX. (we spent 2 months there recently) the mosquitoes are also highly active & during the day as well. I don't think Lisi would live through the kind of treatment your Ellie is going through at the moment, but I am also afraid of the chemicals in heart worm meds.


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## sherry (Jan 4, 2013)

Bless her heart. I hope the meds work quickly. The trazadine threw me as I took that for years to sleep better. I guess it is to calm her.


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## Pooh's mommy (Aug 31, 2014)

Steph_L said:


> Ellie got her first injection today. She's currently in her crate waiting for the trazadone to kick in. She has 30 days of prednisone, a heart guard tablet to take in a few days, and 28 doses of trazadone (at 1/4 tablet, she can take 1/2). In total it cost us $98.02! I was so shocked since $80 is the vet visit fee so all the meds were just $18.02.


Prayers for Ellie:wub:
Please keep us updated on how she does.
I hope she does exceptionally well and all this is behind her quickly
So she can be up and running and playing.
Big hugs !
XOXOXO


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

sherry said:


> Bless her heart. I hope the meds work quickly. The trazadine threw me as I took that for years to sleep better. I guess it is to calm her.


I used to take Trazadone for sleep too. It is to calm her so that she doesn't get worked up over things because she needs to keep her heart rate down.


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## Dgauthier (Jun 3, 2016)

Sending lots of prayers and good thoughts. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

Sending prayers. She sure is a beauty.


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Oh gosh. I am glad she's got something she's on. That is a good deal for the drugs. I was just at the pharmacy and paid $90 for one of Tyler's antiseizure meds for the month and then I pay $108 for the other and $15 for another. Thank God for pet insurance. 
Do you know where in NY you'll be? Maybe we'll get to meet. :chili: BTW talking about Korea. We just took in two dogs at AMAR saved from the Korean Meat Trade. Some info came to us in Korea and since their foster mom doesn't read or know the language we were at a loss. One had an eye infection and they sent meds but the directions were in Korean. :blink::blink: One looks very Maltese with some poodle prob and the other looks poodle with barely a lick of Maltese. They're both so sweet. Unfortunately the Maltese-y one, Snowy broke his front leg yesterday so we're looking at surgery Monday morning. :smcryoor guy was just enjoying his freedom.


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

Snowbody said:


> Oh gosh. I am glad she's got something she's on. That is a good deal for the drugs. I was just at the pharmacy and paid $90 for one of Tyler's antiseizure meds for the month and then I pay $108 for the other and $15 for another. Thank God for pet insurance.
> Do you know where in NY you'll be? Maybe we'll get to meet. :chili: BTW talking about Korea. We just took in two dogs at AMAR saved from the Korean Meat Trade. Some info came to us in Korea and since their foster mom doesn't read or know the language we were at a loss. One had an eye infection and they sent meds but the directions were in Korean. :blink::blink: One looks very Maltese with some poodle prob and the other looks poodle with barely a lick of Maltese. They're both so sweet. Unfortunately the Maltese-y one, Snowy broke his front leg yesterday so we're looking at surgery Monday morning. :smcryoor guy was just enjoying his freedom.


If you have a smartphone you can use the Google translate app to take a picture of the prescription or paperwork and then translate it but it doesn't always work well. You may be able to at least find the product name and look it up online. Daisy's ear infection medicine that we got from our Korean vet was American so all the instructions were actually in English but I think a lot of the formulas for Korean medicine are the same as American ones. Finding the name of it in English could help find dosage directions online or you could seek the help of a vet.


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## petdoorgal (Dec 19, 2016)

Sending prayers and good thoughts her way! Wishing Ellie a speedy recovery <3


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

Ellie had her second injection today and gets a third and final injection tomorrow. She'll spend all day tomorrow at the vets under observation. She's home now laying on the balcony where it's cool but she's restless and uncomfortable, probably in pain. 

The rescue group said that they estimated her at being 2 or so years old. She's going to live the rest of her life with a compromised cardiovascular system because of this, all because her previous owner didn't give a heart worm preventative. She most likely won't reach a Sheltie's expected life span. 

I know with our little ones, we often think that they stay inside so much that heart worm preventative isn't necessary. Ellie had to have been infected as a puppy for it to have progressed this much by 2 years of age. The outcome for Ellie looks pretty good, considering everything. She's surviving the treatment and will live a relaxed life. For tiny dogs like Maltese the treatment is not so easy going as their hearts are so small and quickly become affected by the worms.


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

I'll keep sweet Ellie in my prayers.


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