My dog's shallow breathing after heartworm treatment: should I worry?

hThanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Heartworm treatment can be rough on your pets body. This involves injections given by your vet on 3 separate occasionas. The main concern after the treatment is creating a pulmonary embolism, or clot in the airway, which lead s to shortness of breath, lethargy, and inappetance. A bloated abdomen cannot be determined in this postiion and often requires a physical examination. A bloated abdomen from a heart condition if often not seen unless the heart is very far gone. This would have been likely detected in the work-up for your fur baby to determine if your pet is in congestive heart failure via a chest x-ray. Right sided congestive heart failure is what leads to a bloated abdomen. I hope that this helps and if you still have concerns about your pets health after starting heartworm treatment, then the next best step is a proper physical exam to determine if any heart murmurs exist and potentially repeat x-rays of the chest and abdomen if the physical exam warrants these. Best of luck with your fur baby Ayla moving forward. Take care. : )

Coughing can occur from the damage the worms are doing to the lungs. It could also be caused by the worms dying off and causing inflammation, although I'm not sure how likely that is with the slow kill method. I would recommend keeping him crated and resting (no walks, no running, no excitement -- basically no getting his heart rate up) until he can get to the vet for evaluation, which will likely include chest x-rays and a discussion of if he needs anti-inflammatory medication and cage rest to get through this treatment. Wishing you and Bug (love his name!) the best of luck.

This treatment could cause lethargy, it's quite common and this is one of the reason restriction is a must. if she becomes too lethargic you might need to take her to the ER, especially if you notice abnormal breathing.

I would be concerned about these signs even if they are related to heartworm disease, and would not consider this type of coughing as typical for a dog recovering from heartworm. If she seems to be having trouble breathing you should seek emergency veterinary care. A chest x-ray might be recommended depending on how Tess's chest sounds on physical exam.

What you are describing sounds like a reverse sneeze. Typically, we are concerned with patients developing respiratory distress associated with heartworm treatment secondary to worm die off and blood clot formation. It does not sound like a that is the case here. Nonetheless, contact your veterinarian and let them know. He may need to be evaluated if the sneezing and gagging continue.

These signs are compatible with the heartworm infection which can cause dyspnoea and respiratory signs. I would strongly advice to contact your local veterinarian as these signs might be compatible with respiratory/cardiovascular complications during heartworm treatment.

This can be normal after the first round of heart worm treatment. As the adult heartworms die, they cause an inflammatory reaction in the lungs. It is VITAL to keep Charlie under strict confinement during this time. This means he needs to stay in a confined area or crate and then only to be taken outside on a least to go to the bathroom a few days per day. If they are too active the cough will only get worse. You can try to give him some Benadryl twice a day to help with the sniffles/sneezes. See link below. I would also contact your vet just to tell them what is going on to make sure they don't want to add any meds or change any meds for him. Of course, if he stops eating, the cough gets worse, you notice labored breathing, or he is coughing up blood then I would have your vet take a look at him immediately. I hope this helps! https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/#!