Should we adopt a low heartworm positive dog?

We are interested in adopting a dog from our local shelter. We have been informed that the dog is "low heartworm positive." The shelter advocates using heartgard as the sole treatment in cases like this. I am getting mixed responses from people about the risk we would be taking by adopting the dog. I have heard that just using the heartgard is safer but has its own risks on the dog's health. We recently lost a very loved dog to cancer and I guess I am unsure about taking on a new dog with potential health problems. Thanks.

Check with your vet. first . An animal with heart worms can be saved but it is expensive .

You would be giving the dog heartguard anyway as a preventative... so I don't really see what the risks would be.That said...Heartguard doesn't kill the adult worms just the larva in the bloodstream so it keeps new adult worms from growing in the heart. If there is already heart damage then the dog will have a shorter life... but if the damage is minimal then the dog could have a pretty normal life span. I would talk to your vet... they might be able to tell you more about the risks.

Talk to your vet to see what protocol s/he recommends. Also, take the dog in for another test, sometimes they have false positives. I had a foster dog that had a false positive because she was so weak and malnourished. We got her healthy and did another test a few months later and she was heartworm negative.I have fostered several dogs that had to go through treatment for full blown heartworms. All of them came through just fine and I even ended up keeping one of them. My boy is now 11 years old and has no side effects from the heartworms or treatment.Please don't let this test result stop you from adopting the dog. He should be fine with proper care.