melarsomine
Moderator: chowadmin
melarsomine
My one year 7 month old puppy was diagnosed with heart worm. She received her first dose of melarsomine on a friday and on Tuesday of the following week she began throwing up and having diarrhea. Her vet never told me what to do in case she got sick all I received was a phone call on Saturday asking if she had a fever. She did not. I was told on Friday she had a slight fever and was given fluids. I figured since the vet said nothing else there would be nothing to worry about. I took her to the emergency room and I was asked if she ate poison? I said of course not I have another puppy and he is more playful than her so to just have candy eat poison was crazy. They said it couldn't be the melarsomine, but they also couldn't tell me why she was so violently ill. I was told she had a growth on her liver and her intestines were necropsied. On her records I saw they wrote HGH. I had to put her to sleep on 11/4/2015 and I am so heartbroken, both my puppy and I miss her terribly. She was on the small side. She was 29lbs. I feel like I failed her because I was suppose to look out for her and I didn't. Has anyone else had this outcome from treating their chow chow from heart worm. I did give her heart worm medication ever since I got her. I did take her to a second vet to make sure she was heart worm positive and she was. Silly me I took her back to the first vet. I'm so angry at her for not being available on the day my puppy got sick. My question is has anyone had this type of experience with heart worm protocol?
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Rory's Dad
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Re: melarsomine
No personal experience with melarsomine, but so sorry to hear about your experience.
From what I have read, the drug is basically a poison geared toward treating the heartworms. It is a high risk approach, but it more successful than just letting the heartworm infection run its course. Treatment is very specific and is sensitive to weight of the dog. It shouldn't be used in stage 4 infections.
The vomiting is a normal side effect as the worms are being killed off and ejected from the body. The temperature is a sign that something is amiss. Kidney issues are another side effect. I read nothing about liver or intestines, but wouldn't be surprised if those organs would be effected.
Sad, but it sounds like multiple issues here. The ER Vets don't appear to be very knowledgeable on the heartworm treatment or the side effects. Not sure they could have done a lot at that point if they were, but that's not the point. Not sure if the 1st vet did anything wrong, it may have been just too advanced, but the dosage and application is so critical.
From what I have read, the drug is basically a poison geared toward treating the heartworms. It is a high risk approach, but it more successful than just letting the heartworm infection run its course. Treatment is very specific and is sensitive to weight of the dog. It shouldn't be used in stage 4 infections.
The vomiting is a normal side effect as the worms are being killed off and ejected from the body. The temperature is a sign that something is amiss. Kidney issues are another side effect. I read nothing about liver or intestines, but wouldn't be surprised if those organs would be effected.
Sad, but it sounds like multiple issues here. The ER Vets don't appear to be very knowledgeable on the heartworm treatment or the side effects. Not sure they could have done a lot at that point if they were, but that's not the point. Not sure if the 1st vet did anything wrong, it may have been just too advanced, but the dosage and application is so critical.
Re: melarsomine
Thanks for your response.