Heart to Heart

We knew April was heartworm positive when we adopted her, and we didn't mind. Heartworm treatment, we were told, involved two injections of medication that kills the adult worms, then a month later, an oral medication to kill the babies. We could do that, we thought. No problem.

The problem we didn't quite grasp was that during the month plus of treatment, the dog needs to be kept quiet: leash walking only, no exercise, no excitement, nothing that would make the dog's heart rate go up for long. Apparently, the little dissolving bits can make clogs, like an embolism, and can even kill the dog. The issue is that trying to keep a lab quiet is, as they said in Harry Potter, like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. Labs don't keep quiet! They are maniacs, needing to run and jump and play for most of their waking moments. It's one of the qualities that makes labs so enjoyable and fun, but in this instance, it's a royal pain.

We have another three weeks or so before the oral medication appointment. It may not sound like much, but boy it seems like months!