<human>: Hey /r/dog redditors,

My girlfriend was teaching English out of the country for about a year and left her dog in the custody of someone who supposedly doesn't believe in proper preventive treatment. Found that out after the fact.

Long story short, the dog tested positive for heartworms. I never knew that the treatment was so intense and terrifying for someone like my GF who's dog is basically her child.

But here's my question: The dog is perfectly healthy from an observation stand point on the outside. He is active, he doesn't have breathing issues, etc. He went through antibiotics and had an X-Ray that showed his heart wasn't inflamed. He had his first immiticide shot about 2 weeks ago and it hasn't phased him one bit. He hasn't had the coughing side effects that the Vet **assured** would be the case.

Does this mean that he's not as badly infected as the Vet makes him to be (good thing right?) or is it still a risky situation (what I expect to hear)?

What has been some of your experiences?

Can you give me the gist of the text in a nutshell?
<bot>: A worrisome OP who might be stressing out too much about the heartworm treatment and might just be looking for experiences because all the Vet will tell him is "HE MIGHT DIE! BE CAREFUL!"?