Heartworm Disease in Dogs

Heartworm Disease in Dogs

Key to a healthy lifestyle is a healthy heart because the heart is the most vital organ of a body. You take numerous precautions to make sure that your heart is healthy. So, if you take good care of your heart, why not be care for your beloved dog’s heart?

Yes, your dog’s heart. More than 7.8 million dogs in the USA are suffering from heart disease that means more than 10% of dogs in the states are suffering from heart disease. And, 13-14% of those 7.8 million dogs are diagnosed with heart diseases caused by Dirofilaria immitis i.e. heartworms.

Heartworm Disease-Prone Areas

Image courtesy: http://animalpetdoctor.homestead.com/heart.html

What Are Heartworms and How They Cause Heartworm Disease?

Heartworms are the nasty parasites that infest your dog in their larvae stage and then they feed on the nutrients in the blood, live in blood vessels, grow in size (with mature males being4-6 inches long and female worms being 10-12 inches long) and eventually reach dog’s heart and cause severe health issues.

Adult female heartworms give birth to their offspring called microfilariae in the blood. These offspring, in their larval stage, are sucked up with the blood by the mosquitoes. They live in mosquito for 14-15 days and become infectious and are transmitted to healthy dogs through the subsequent mosquito bites.

Mosquitoes are the intermediate host which means that these worms stay in these mosquitoes for a short period of time and become miasmic whereas dogs are called as definitive hosts (worms grow, eat and reproduce).

It takes 6-7 months for the infected larvae to become an adult worm and cause health complications and these creeps can survive up to 7 years in your pooch’s body. The average number of heartworms that infest heart is 15 but the number can fluctuate between 10-250 worms.

Heartworms are only transmitted by mosquitoes and there is not even a minute possibility of one dog getting infected with these worms by just staying nearer or in contact with the infected dogs because this disease is not a contagious one.

Symptoms of Heartworm Disease Generally, the disease does not show any symptoms in the initial phases. This is the major reason why it is a tough disease to tackle.

Once a dog gets infected by the larvae it takes 5-6 months for the worms to get mature. Only after the worms are matured they start creating a nuisance.

Hence, the symptoms are rarely visible in the early stages of infestations.

However, in the moderate infestation scenario, there are certain symptoms that can be observed like, feeling tired after performing some activity and coughing.

If the symptoms aren’t noticed and you have ignored the subtle symptoms, the heartworms will continue to multiply and increase the worm burden.

Increased worm burden will lead to heavy infestations causing symptoms like frequent coughing, getting tired after doing mild activities, breathing issues, and heart failure. In severe infestations where the worm burden is high, your dog can reach a fatal health condition called caval syndrome. The heart gets filled with heartworms that block the blood supply to the heart resulting in heart failure. The only option at this stage is to surgically remove heartworms (very risky surgery and many dogs die because of Caval syndrome even if the surgery is done).

Therefore, it is always advocated by the vets that you should contact them even if you have a minor doubt of heartworm infestations.

Diagnosis of Heartworms Heartworms are majorly diagnosed by testing for a specific type of protein called antigen that is released by the adult female worms in the blood.

Antigens can only be found in the blood of your dog after 5 months from the day he/she is bitten by the mosquito.

Another way of testing heartworms is by looking for the microfilariae in the blood. Presence of microfilariae in the blood will directly indicate that your pooch is infected by heartworms because only adult heartworms can reproduce microfilariae. The offspring of heartworms can be detected 6 months after the dog is infected by the heartworm larvae through a mosquito bite.

When You Should Get Your Pooch Tested?

Diagnosing the heartworm disease is very tricky because it takes time for the symptoms to be clear and till then the heartworms thrive and grow. Even the blood tests can only detect heartworms at least after 5 months from the day your dog gets infected.

Hence, the only way to keep a track on your dog’s health is to perform regular checks especially, when there is a change in weather, change in the brand of Heartworm preventive or a gap in the schedule.

If you are moving to heartworm disease prone areas it is advised that you keep a consistent check on your pooch’s health by getting him/her tested regularly.

Before putting your pooch on a heartworm preventive it is very much important to get your dog diagnosed for heartworms because administering heartworm preventives to an infected dog may kill microfilariae in the blood due to which your dog may go on a state of shock and sudden death.

Therefore, be very cautious and consult your vet before beginning with any heartworm preventives.

Treatment of Heartworms FDA approved medicines containing Melarsomine dihydrochloride is an arsenic-containing drug that is very helpful in killing adult heartworms. This medicine is administered with the help of an injection in the back muscles of dogs suffering from class 1, 2 and 3 heartworm diseases.

Heartworm treatment is not that easy and is rough on the pet parent’s pocket.

Moreover, the treatment also has some dangerous side effects on the dog’s body. For example, the treatment can cause blood clots in the dog’s lung.

Prevention of Heartworms Is Actual Treatment Prevention has always been better than cure. In fact, this should be your prime agenda against any disease as a pet parent. But especially in the case of heartworm disease, administering preventives is very important. There are many preventives in the market in the form of spot-ons, chewable and tablets such as Heartgard Plus , Revolution, Interceptor, Sentinel that safeguard your dog from heartworms.

Keeping your pet on year-round preventives would be recommended and always get your pooch tested before you put him/her on preventives.

Also, even if your pooch is on heartworm preventives, it is still suggested to get your pup or dog tested for heartworms every year.

As a dog parent, you should have a comprehensive knowledge of heartworm disease. And, after going through the above-mentioned information you might have gotten an idea of how to save your dog from heartworms. Just remember one thing time is the key factor in this type of diseases, if the disease is prevented well and good but if not, timely diagnosis of the disease is the trickier part.

The sooner you get to know about the infestation the easier the treatment would be.