What is Heartworm Disease?
What is Heartworm Disease?
Heartworm disease is a serious, debilitating, and potentially deadly condition caused by parasitic worms that inhabit the vessels of the lungs and occasionally the right side of the heart of dogs, cats and other susceptible species. Every breed of dog and cat is susceptible to infection.
How are Heartworms spread?
Initially, adult female heartworms release their young, known as “Microfilaria”, into an animal’s bloodstream. Next, mosquitoes feed on the infected animal and become infected with microfilaria. Inside the misquito, the microfilaria matures into the infective larval stage. This process takes about two weeks to occur. Then, the infective larvae are transmitted to another susceptible animal (i.e. cat or dog) when the mosquito feeds again. In about six months, the infective larvae develop into adult worms within the animal. The life span of an adult worm in dogs can be up to seven years.
It’s a common misconception that indoors only pets and pets living in areas with minimal exposure to mosquitoes do not need protection against heartworm disease. it’s a known fact that, heartworm positive animals have been diagnosed in all 50 states. Also, mainly residing indoors does not protect your pet from infection. Think about this: If you can get bitten by a misquito, then you so can your pets.
Sign of Heartworm Disease?
Heartworm disease not only causes damange to the lungs and heart, but can also cause liver and kidney dysfunction as well.
Dogs that have been recently infected may not exhibit any signs of disease, while dogs that are heavily infected may eventually show clinical signs. These signs include a moderate, persistent cough, hesitant to move or exercise, fatigue after only mild exercise, decreased appetite and weight loss. Cats may exhibit clinical signs that mimic other feline diseases, such as feline asthma. Chronic clinical signs consist of vomiting, gagging, difficulty or accelerated breathing, lethargy and weight loss.
Prevention: The Best Protection
Although treatment for heartworm disease is successful in most dogs, treatment can be expensive for the owner and stressful for the pet. Because it is safer and more economical by far, prevention is always the preferred choice. Since there are no effective treatments for cats, heartworm prevention is very critical in cats.
There are a number of options available for preventing heartworm infection in both dogs and cats. These include daily and monthly tablets and chewables, monthly topical and a six-month injectable available only for dogs. These methods are very effective, and can completely prevent heartworm infection when given properly. The added benefit of administering many heartworms preventatives is that they also provide regular deworming of intestinal parasite, such as hookworms or round worms.
Prior to any preventative program, animals should first be tested for heartworms. These tests are provided by your regular veterinarian, and require a small sample of blood to perform.
Treatment
In pets with pre-existing heartworm infections, treatment can be administered on an outpatient basis, but it is commonly recommended that your pet be hospitaized. During the recovery period, your dog’s exercise should be limited to lease walks. This reduces the chances of partial or complete blockage of blood flow through the lungs by dead or dying worms.