Heartworm Preventative for your Pet

Heartworm is a disease that is common in dogs and cats in all areas throughout the world. Dogs are considered to be the definitive host for heartworms, but cats are prone to infection as well. Most heartworm infections are caused by mosquitoes. Adult heartworms can range from 4” to 6” in length (male), with female adult heartworms ranging from 10” to 12” and causing the most damage. Adult heartworms taken about one year to be fully grown, and can live in your pet for up to five to seven years. They can also reproduce, and the microfilaremia (offspring) can cause additional problems for their hosts. Adult heartworms cause medical problems by clogging the heart and major blood vessels near the heart. They can also interfere with the valve action in the heart. If heartworms are present, the blood supply to other organs in the body is reduced, particularly to the lungs, liver and kidneys. If heartworm disease is not controlled, these organs eventually may fail and your pet may suddenly dies during exercise or excitement. Adult heartworms can also cause destruction to these organs leading to coughing, anemia and weakness.

Signs of heartworm disease can be confused with other diseases in your dog or cat, but symptoms generally include a cough (mild heartworm disease), exercise intolerance, coughing and abnormal lung sounds (moderate heartworm disease), breathing difficulties, coughing, abnormal lung sounds, enlargement of the liver, temporary loss of consciousness due to poor blood flow to the brain, fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity, abnormal heart sounds, weight loss, and loss of stamina (severe heartworm disease). If untreated, heartworm disease can result in death for your pet.

Two tests are generally administered by vets to check your pet for heartworm disease. 1) Antigen tests which detect specific antigens primarily found in adult female heartworms, although these tests do not detect infections less than five months in duration. 2) Microfilarial detection and differentiation, which requires a blood sample be taken from your pet, and then tested by one of the two concentration tests available to find the heartworm offspring in the bloodstream. If the blood tests are positives, most vets will then perform x-rays to look for the signs of heartworms in the organs or the arteries. Enlargement of the arteries in the lobes of the lungs, the pulmonary artery and the right side of the heart are all signs of heartworm infection. Inflammation is also often found in the lung tissue.

Once diagnosed, treatment to rid the animal of the adult heartworms as well as the microfilariae is started. Treatment to eliminate the adult heartworms includes an organic arsenic compound, administered by injection, and thus requires your pet to remain relatively calm and sedate for several weeks. Drugs are also used to rid the body of the offspring as well. While treatment is usually successful, if caught in time, prevention of the disease is much safer, more economical and easier on your pet. The American Heartworm Society recommends year-round prevention, even in seasonal areas. This year-round treatment schedule (mostly on a monthly basis) helps the owners stay on a regular schedule, and most heartworm preventatives also help rid the pet of other intestinal parasites that might infect people as well.

Although dogs are generally more susceptible to heartworm disease, cats as well can be infected, even indoor cats, as the disease is spread through mosquitoes. Heartworm disease is harder to diagnose in cats versus dogs, and is easily overlooked by some owners and vets alike. Although symptoms of heartworm disease in cats can be very non-specific, many may mimic other feline diseases. Therefore, look for vomiting intermittently, lethargy, anorexia, weight loss, coughing, asthma-like signs, gagging, difficulty breathing or rapid breathing.

All in all, it is much better to prevent heartworm disease in your dog or cat than treating it after the fact, and we recommend that you visit your vet to get on track with heartworm prevention. If you don’t want to purchase the heartworm medication from your vet, you can always get these preventatives from 1-800-PetMeds or another pet pharmacy throughout the country. Please take care of your dogs and cats and try to prevent heartworm infections.