The Brightside: Clooney’s Courage Inspires Book Aimed at Protecting Dogs From Heartworm
DELAWARE — A local author is lighting up the night in Times Square to showcase a children’s book raising awareness about heartworm disease in dogs in the newest edition of the Brightside, sponsored by Choptank Electric Cooperative.
For Clooney, it was a frightening diagnosis. For his owner, Chris Strassel, it was a crash course in a disease she knew little about.
“They said he was heartworm positive, had not really a clue what that meant, but it was a little more entailed than two shots. Beginning of treatment. You’re on antibiotics for a month,” Strassel said.
That was just the beginning. Once the worms die, the danger isn’t over.
“When the heartworms die, if the heart rate’s accelerated or their breathing and respiration is increased, the heartworms can break off and cause stroke, heart attack or death, so you have to keep them calm and that’s three months,” Strassel said.
For a food-motivated pup like Clooney, keeping him calm for three months was easier said than done. He made it through treatment, and Strassel decided his story could help other families facing the same diagnosis by putting it into a children’s book called “Courageous Clooney.”
“If kids can figure it out and it’s a fun read that maybe grownups can figure it out and we can start eradicating this disease, for lack of a better thing, or decreasing the numbers of dogs that have to go through this,” Strassel said.
She’s not stopping with awareness. Strassel is putting half of the book’s profits toward helping heartworm-positive dogs and the families who take them home.
“We’ve helped three families adopt a dog that was heartworm positive and went through the treatment, and they’re all fine as far as I know of right now, so if we can do that and start the conversation,” she said.
In an effort to help dogs with heartworm disease, the BVSPCA has created a fund in Clooney’s name. The fund supports dogs in need of treatment, giving them a better opportunity to be adopted and helping their forever families with the additional costs of care.
