Dear friends,
as you may know heartworm has never been considered a threat to dogs and cats in Bulgaria – people know little about the ilness and only recently cases of ill dogs have sprung up in different parts of the country – in Burgas, in Varna and now – in Sofia as well.
Heartworm is a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. It’s larvae rotates with the blood, setteling mainly in the heart (lung and skin forms are also possible), causing adult worms to hatch and infest the organ, sooner or later causing death to the host by occlusion.
Performing the tests in Bogrov
To test the dogs at the Bogrov shelter, over 500 animals would have been impossible if it was not for the generous help of docotor Kostadinov from Plovdiv who performed the tests for free.
Doctor Kostadinov (NOVET clinic) and his assistants spent weeks in the Bogrov shelter, testing the adult dogs for a heartworm infection. On each and every animal they’ve performed an antigen test and also a microfilaric blood test.
The results have shown that there are alltogether 24 infected dogs inbetween the 500 inhabitants of the Bogrvo shelter. All of them have come from different places in Sofia, already carrying the parasite. There are 2 forms in wich heartworm affects the body, of those our dogs have:
D.immitis – 11 dogs;
D. repense – 10 dogs;
combined – 3 dogs.
These are the dogs who were unlucky to have been infected by the parasite sometime in their lives – 24 sweet boys and girls with a sad destiny:
To protect the rest of the dogs in the shelter we are treating each and every one preventively. The dogs get Ivermectin orally, thus preventing the microfilaria to evolve to an adult form even if they do get infected by a mosquito carrying the larvae.
To treat the animals already infected we will need another drug called IMMITICIDE – it is a medicine that kills the adult dirofilaric forms in the haert and lungs. It is not yet imported to Bulgaria, but can be purchased in Holland. The treatment is long and can be quite risky, but extremely necessary.
WE NEED YOUR HELP to be able to continue treating the dogs preventively and begin treating the youngest and strongest of the infected dogs. To give them a chance of life in health and happiness DONATE FOR THE BOGROV CLINIC. Hundreds of kind and loyal dogs rely on your generocity as the shelter struggles through the summer months. We know it’s a long shot, but these sweet souls deserve a chance.
Will we get a second chance?
Please, help us…
