Cleveland, OH
We at Secondhand Mutts never shy away from the hard cases. We respect the dog. We welcome dogs with everything from basic house training issues to mange cases, heartworm positive dogs to those sick and quarantined with pneumonia, dogs with broken legs and occasionally those who need focused and more intense behavior modification. We go The Extra Mile.
We’ve made no exceptions for Stella.
Stella came to us from South Carolina underweight, with a progressed case of heartworm Disease, at the young age of two. Stella’s heartworm case is one of the worst our veterinarian team has seen. She is riddled with worms and started taking antibiotics and steroids leading up to her first treatment she received in late May. After her first injection Stella had a severely painful response and hard time with her recovery. Over the two weeks following the injection her cough continued (allowing the worms to move out and about) and had one incident when she briefly collapsed and regained her composure. Due to concerns about her ability to survive the next round of treatments, Dr. Liz at Gateway Animal Clinic recommended Stella receive an echo cardiogram to evaluate the health of her heart.
Last week our Director, Becca, accompanied Stella’s foster provider, Julie, for her appointment with Dr. Boddy, a cardiologist at MedVet Emergency Clinic, and determined that Stella’s heart should be strong enough to undergo the last two rounds of treatment for Heartworm disease. Due to the severity of the progression of her disease, Stella will most likely again have adverse reactions to the treatment, which she will undergo two days in a row. We will are hoping for a smooth a speedy recovery.
Stella will be receiving her injections this Thursday and Friday under the care of Dr. Liz and her team at Gateway Animal Clinic.
Please send this happy-go-lucky, goofy girl all of your positive and healing thoughts. With her sweet spirit, Stella is truly a lover of life. We can’t wait until she is free of disease, so she can run and play as she would so desperately like to do.
Support our cause and donate to The Extra Mile fund to help Stella and other dogs like Stella who arrive at our doorstep in need of heartworm treatment.
Heart of Gold Sponsor: Sponsorship helps alleviate the very high cost of treatment for a heartworm positive dog. The overall cost to alleviate heartworms in one dog, including hospitalization, medications, x-rays, blood work and office visits office visits most often exceeds $700…for just one dog.
$25: Four months of Heartgard treatment for a heartworm positive dog
$50: Average cost of one heart x-ray
$100: Covers one heart x-ray and the average cost of oral antibiotics taken (usually for at least one month) along with one month of Heartgard
$150: 1 CBC and one month Heartgard
$250: Cost of one average-sized dose of Immiticide, two months of Heartgard treatment, anesthetic, pain meds and one night of hospitalization
Make your donation today!
