Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Should a dog have heartworms if he was adopted from a shelter?

i saw a post on here where a person said they adopted a dog froma shelter that was "full of heartworms" i thought REPUTABLE shelters try to be sure the pet is 100% healthy before they put it up for adoption, shouldn't she take the animal back? I realize they have probably already fallen in love with the animal, so at least that shelter should be reported if it is adopting out sick animals, is what I would hope
Answers:
The shelter should pay for treatment.

Many many county shelters do not test for Heartworm. Rescues should but shelters would just euthanize if Heartworm positive. Their money goes to pay people to work there not to treat sick animals
Reputable shelters usually test for HW. They also require that dogs be spayed or neutered. You could be confusing them with rescues. Some are not reputable and will just sell dogs for money with no vetting. It's an excellent question though. You should ask questions and see all medical paperwork no matter where you get a dog.
I adopted a dog directly from a SPCA shelter and it had all sorts of issues (worms, etc). Unfortunately they don't always have the resources they need to make sure the animal is healthy, or treat them if they know there's an issue.
they SHOULDNT , but it's possible that they do or could. Some shelters have dogs for adoption that have a sign to alert the potential owners that they are sick. It wouldnt hurt to report them though- just incase
While this is true, one a dog is infected with heartworm it will always have them.
Normally when dogs are brought into the shelters, SPCA etc. they have a thorough check up for diseases including heartworms.

If you would like to adopt an animal from a shelter, why not aske the required questions that need to be asked, dont always expect things might be ok even if the animal is from a shelter. Always be aware of the right things to ask.

But like I said, normally animals are given a thorough checkup, so I really dont know what happened with your friends dog. If they adopt out a frail sick dog, they should normally tell you, if its not in any pain or suffering. But normally they would do the right thing and whats good for the animal. If your not happy with the shelters conduct, then do what you think is right and report them. They might better their services and you will probably get the answers your looking for.
They generally test for many illnesses. Some shelters and humane societies even microchip, vaccinate, and spay/neuter the animals before adoption. I'm sure that accidents happen, and perhaps the woman adopted the animal from a less advanced shelter.
I agree that most of your reputable shelters will have tested for HW and a few other things. And I could be wrong but worming is a routine thing and should have been dewormed as it came through the door,while it was still in quarntine.

Back the the HW thing, Unfortantly it can take up to a year for a dog to test HW+. HW is one of the leading killers of all dogs and somehow it gets over looked by pet owners.

Story: I was pet sitting for my sis in law her two poodles along with my three dogs it was quite the circus. I was getting ready to move south to be with my man while her worked to help clean up Katrina and I wanted my dogs on HW prevenitive. I took all five dogs in and the smallest poodle came up positive. My dogs have been on prevenitive everysince.

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