Heartworm disease is a serious, potentially fatal disease in dogs (focus of this article) and cats. It is caused by worms developing and living in the heart, lungs and blood vessels. These worms cause lung disease, heart failure, and damage to other organs. Heartworm disease can be found in wolves, coyotes, and fox; they are considered important carriers of heartworms.
Mosquitoes carry heartworm from one dog to another. Adult worms living in an infected dog’s heart produce baby worms that travel through the blood vessels. When a mosquito bites an infected animal, it picks up these baby worms in the blood meal. After a couple weeks, it deposits them in another dog. Once in the blood, it takes approximately 6 months for the baby worms to grow into adults.
Early in disease, many dogs show few/no symptoms. The longer the infection goes untreated, the more symptoms emerge. Dogs with a lot of heartworms or those with other health issues often show symptoms of: a persistent cough, decrease in exercise, tired after moderate activity, low appetite, weight loss, a swollen belly, trouble breathing, or sudden collapse. Symptoms in cats are often more subtle and mimic asthma.
You might be wondering how at risk your pet is for getting heartworm disease. A common thought is that a primarily indoor dog doesn’t need preventative. This is false. Those pesky mosquitoes can still find their way into your home or bite your dog when it goes out to the bathroom. Prevention is key! Some areas have higher rates of disease, but the fact is that heartworm disease has been found in all 50 states and risk factors are impossible to predict. Every year we see several cases of heartworm disease, so it is in our area!
We can test your pet for heartworm disease by running a simple blood test at the clinic! If your pet’s test is positive, further testing is done to determine how severely affected your pet is. Based on these findings, a treatment plan tailored to your pet’s level of disease is recommended. Dogs are hospitalized and treated with medication that will kill the adult heartworm (the preventatives only kill the baby worms). There is a potential for an allergic type reaction as the worms are dying in the heart/ vessels, so patients are monitored closely. Antibiotics and steroids are used to help minimize reactions and associated infections. Their activity is restricted from any major exercise for several months after leaving the hospital.
The good news is, there are numerous preventatives on the market that will kill baby heartworms infections before they can cause disease. We recommend the monthly HeartGard chewable or a six month Pro-Heart injection for prevention. Stop in or call us today for more details!