Shorter and less expensive treatment protocols can increase lifesaving capacity and improve quality of life for shelter dogs by reducing the duration of exercise restriction and length of stay. This study provided support for initiating melarsomine after 14 days of doxycycline and for a lower doxycycline dose. Forty-four follow-up antigen test results were available all tests performed > 3 months after the third melarsomine injection were negative. GI signs prior to M1 were recorded for 40/109 (36.7%) dogs receiving SID doxycycline and 25/48 (52.1%) receiving BID doxycycline ( P = 0.08). New respiratory signs post-melarsomine occurred in 10/109 (9.2%) dogs receiving SID doxycycline and 4/48 (8.3%) dogs receiving BID doxycycline ( P > 0.999). Respiratory complications post-melarsomine were uncommon. The time to M1 for 14 dogs that developed new respiratory signs was a median of 19 days, compared with 22 days for 143 dogs without new respiratory signs ( P = 0.2). There was no statistically significant difference between Groups A ( n = 79) and C ( n = 27) for new respiratory signs post-melarsomine ( P = 0.73).

One hundred fifty-seven dogs with asymptomatic or mild heartworm disease at presentation were included. New respiratory signs and gastrointestinal (GI) signs were compared between dogs receiving SID or BID doxycycline. Respiratory complications were defined as respiratory signs requiring additional treatment, and were statistically compared for Groups A and C. Treatments that fell outside these ranges formed two additional treatment groups (Groups B and D). Dogs were retrospectively grouped based on the shelter’s current protocol (M1 on day 14 Group A) and the AHS protocol (M1 on day 60 Group C), allowing a week on either side of the target M1 day. MethodsĪs compared with the AHS protocol, the shelter protocols utilized doxycycline 10 mg/kg once daily (SID) or twice daily (BID), and varied the time from initiation of doxycycline (day 1) to the first melarsomine injection (M1). This retrospective study evaluated modified three-dose melarsomine treatment protocols in a shelter setting and compared them to the American Heartworm Society (AHS)-recommended protocol.

After 9/11 by Sid Jacobson