Jacob was a purebred English Redtick Coonhound about 5 years old. A typical coonhound, Jacob was friendly, sweet, and always in good spirits. When Jacob was rescued, he was a good 25 pounds underweight and we thought he would just have a bad case of internal parasites and that he'd be healthy and ready for his new home in a couple of months. Unfortunately, Jacob didn't have the type of parasites we had thought. Instead, Jacob was diagnosed with a fairly advanced stage of
heartworm disease.
Jacob would only be able to receive the intense heartworm treatment in 2 halves. Instead of having 2 days of 2 shots to the spine/muscle area, he would have 1 day, then wait 30 days and then the full treatment of 2 days.
After Jacob's first treatment, he came home with a great apetite and as always a great attitude. However, about a week after the treatment, he stopped eating. He went back to the vet where he was hospitalized and given medicine. Unfortunately, his heart had too much damage and after about 24 hours at the vet, it just gave out. Jacob died naturally, hopefully in his sleep on Good Friday 2005.
Even the vets commented on how happy Jacob was - always, always wagging his tail.
Seven dollars a month from Jacob's previous owner could have prevented this poor boys fate. If anyone ever wonder's how important the heartworm preventative pill is to give to a dog once a month, just look into Jacob's eyes and ask him.
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