adopting a dog with heartworm?

[CrazyLucky]

I'm looking to add a second dog to our family.  Our current dog is a lab mutt, 12 years old, sweet as can be.  We thought we found a perfect match on petfinder, but the organization would not adopt her to us because we don't have a fence and are not permitted to put one up.  I gave them all the details of what type of dog we want, and she came back with a four year old mutt.  He seems like a good match too (good with dogs, kids, housebroken, right size).  But he's being treated for heartworm.  He has been through 2 of 3 rounds of oral treatment.  If I google heartworm, most websites say it is treated with very expensive injections, not orally.
My questions are - how likely is the oral medication to fix the heartworm problem?  How gross is it to deal with heartworms in the meantime?  What other things would make you think twice about adopting a heartworm positive dog?
Thank you!

[lolanjoe]

My parents adopted a HW+ dog, and really the only tough part was keeping her calm after treatments. I have heard of oral treatment working fine, just depends on how the dog responds to it. I don't think it was gross at all, my understanding is there's nothing involved in the stool. Their dog is HW free now and going great.

[puppylove64]

All I know is that they have to be confined to a kennel for a long time will be treated. They can’t run and play while being treated.

[doglove]

The oral medicine is basically just a larger dose of heartworm preventative and could take literally years to be effective. In this time, worms can keep growing rather than die off. The injections are more expensive and harder on the dog, but it is a 60 day window and much more effective.

The only thing I would say is that you have to keep the exercise low key (walking, no excessive duration running) for at least a year after they receive a clean bill of health to let the heart and lungs repair themselves. I have a ton of experience with foster dogs and going through heartworm treatment if you want to shoot me a PM.