WHY WORRY ABOUT HEARTWORM DISEASE?
When the warm weather arrives so do the mosquitoes. You are bound to be bitten and so is your dog, cat or your ferret. A mosquito could be carrying a parasitic worm called Dirofilarial immitis. The worms transition from the mosquito into a new host like your dog.
The worms become adults, mating and producing offspring, and live in your pet’s heart, lungs and attached blood vessels. Thus the name “heartworms.” Heartworm disease has been reported in all fifty states, but it is most commonly found “along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from the Gulf of Mexico to New Jersey and along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries.” Mosquitoes get the Dirofilarial immitis from biting a dog that is already infected and is carrying the offspring called microfilariae in its bloodstream.
Then the mosquito becomes infected with the microfilariae and over the next 10 to 14 days with “the right environmental conditions the microfilariae become infective larvae while living inside the mosquito.” When this infected mosquito bites another dog, it passes the larvae into the wound site. It then takes six to seven months for the female worms to mature, mate, and pass their offspring into the new dog’s bloodstream. The heart worm can then live in an untreated dog for 5 to 7 years with males reaching a length of four to six inches and females up to 12 inches, looking a lot like spaghetti (see picture.) The collection of living worms within a dog is called the worm burden and can be as small as one worm, an average of fifteen, and as many as 250 worms.
Unfortunately, the tests used to see if a dog has been infected are not conclusive until the dog has been harboring heartworms for five to six months. All dogs over the age of 7 months that have not been given heartworm preventative must be tested before starting a program. A heartworm infected dog may appear healthy even if it is not yet showing signs and starting heartworm preventative will not kill the heartworm and may even, as I have been counselling my customers for the last almost 36 years, cause a shock-like reaction that may kill the dog. That is why one must get heartworm preventative through your vet.
It is important to stay on heartworm chewable monthly or get your dog a shot every six or twelve months. Some heartworm preventatives contain substances which help handle roundworms, hookworms, fleas, ticks, and ear mites. If you forget for a few months or change preventative types, get your dog a blood test.
The symptoms a dog may show depends on the dog’s age, activity level, how long it has been infected and how large the worm burden. There are four classes with severity of symptoms elevating with each stage, from just a mild cough, to a cough and fatigue, to a persistent cough and greater fatigue and trouble breathing with apparent heart issues at which point an x-ray can diagnose heartworms, and finally the worse stage called caval syndrome, where the mass of worms is so large that blood to the heart is blocked, and risky surgery must be performed with very few positive outcomes. Not all dogs will get caval syndrome but left untreated heartworms will cause “damage to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, eventually causing death.”
There is an available injection given into the deep muscles of a dog’s back if he has stabilized class one, two, or three of heartworm disease. There is also an approved topical solution. However, all come with a hefty price tag both to your purse and to the dog’s well-being.
To me it is the same with not feeding your dog a healthy diet. You may save on food costs but end up with big vet bills.) According to the American Heartworm Society, “THINK 12” twelve months of heartworm preventative and have a yearly blood test. More about cats and other animals next week.
