Update: January 11, 2008

Myles is about 1 1/2 years old and was rescued from a humane society where he probably would have been put to sleep because he is heartworm positive. Dogs with this disease are difficult to adopt out because of the cost and time involved in treatment of this disease.

Canine Heartworm Disease is highly preventable with a pill a month, yet expensive and time consuming to treat once a dog is infected. Basically, worms fill the heart and eventually, if not treated, take the life of the dog. If treated too aggresively, the worms can die off quickly and cause a clot in the bloodstream, killing the pet. Therefore it is important to treat the heartworms slowly, allowing them to die off in succession, therefore removing the threat of clots.

Read more about Canine Heartworm Disease in an article by Dr. Mary Welle of "All Creatures Animal Hospital" located in Urbana, IL.

Myles is a wonderful dog that looks forward to completing his heartworm treatment in 4-6 months. He asks for your help in treating his heartworm. Typically, treatment can cost from $600-$1,000.

As you might imagine, that is a difficult amount of money for a rescuer to come up with. Myles has such a wonderful personality and is such a handsome boy, that his rescuer had to find a way to make him healthy again.

Myles is not a part of the Central IL German Shepherd Dog Rescue (CIGSDR), however, we would like to help treat him so that he can be adopted into a forever home. Since we have many medical bills pending for the dogs being adopted out through CIGSDR, we don't have any money to spare, however, we ask that our website visitors consider contributing to Myles' treatment.

Sponsor Myles by clicking on the Paypal Button in the sponsor box at the top of this page. (UPDATE November 1, 2007: Myles has received enough donations to pay for his heartworm treatment and no more sponsors are needed)

Thank you for any help you can give. Note that Myles is not up for adoption at this time. He has 4-6 months of treatment before he will be able to find a forever home.

Update: November 12, 2007

Myles is getting much more comfortable... He is getting more used to going up and down the front stairs and he has even mastered going down the stairs off the back deck to go outside and do his duty. However he still refuses to go UP the back stairs.....this is something we are hoping he will be able to convince him to do before winter is here.

Read more about Canine Heartworm Disease in an article by Dr. Mary Welle of "All Creatures Animal Hospital" located in Urbana, IL.Myles is getting more used to the ceramic tile in which he was frightened of before. He still has his days where he is spooked but it is getting better. Myles is a velcro dog and LOVES to be by people. When you sit down he will come by you and sit down and he has to be touching you. He will then nudge you to get you to pet him and then thank you with an occasional 'kiss'. He is a 97lb cuddlebug!!

Myles has already received his first heartworm treatment and his second and third treatments are scheduled for the week following Thanksgiving. After his first treatment he was sore for about a day and then he was fine. Last week we noticed Myles was coughing a little bit due to his treatment they told us that should be expected. The poor guy wants to play soooooo bad, but he isn't able to do that for a bit! [Dogs being treated for Heartworm Disease must remain calm. ]

--Myles' foster family

Update: January 11, 2008

[Myles] is done with the actual heartworm shots etc. He goes for his next check up at the very beginning of April where we are praying for a clean bill of health. Myles is doing great otherwise. He has adapted fairly quickly and feels 'at home' in his foster home. Myles is getting better at walking on ceramic tile, but he still has to work up his courage to do so! However, he has mastered the back stairs loves to go out in his fenced yard and lay in the snow and eat [the snow].