When you bring dogs into your lives you tend to find that life changes
for the better. While you take them for walks, play with them, and care
for them, you find that they are, in turn, taking care of you in a more
spiritual way.
Since they love you so much, it's only natural that you
give them the love they deserve for putting up with you. The best way
of showing them just how much you care about them is by taking measures
to ensure their health. The best way is to make sure that your dog is
heartworm free.
Heartworms are a parasitic worm infection that
shows up most commonly in dogs, although some cats can catch it and, on
extremely rare occasions, a human can catch it as well. Heartworms live
inside your dog's heart, lungs, and arteries and, with a lifespan of
six to seven months, can cause an extreme amount of damage to those
vital organs. Dogs catch this violent little worm infestation from
mosquitos. When an infected mosquito bites a dog, these heartworm
larvae are planted on the dog's coat. The larvae then burrow their way
into your dog's skin and start to grow.
Some heartworms have
been found to be up to a foot long and, once inside your dog, they will
begin to reproduce, causing issues for the dog for many years,
including circulation problems and a deep cough that the dog can't
shake off. One of the biggest issues with heartworms is that they can
live in your dog for a very long time before you are even aware of
them. If you start to notice your dog losing its appetite, sever weight
loss, no energy, deep breathing or coughing, there is a good
possibility that your dog has heartworms.
The best thing you can
do to help prevent your dog from contracting these foul parasites is to
have him or her regularly checked by your vet. Most vets will do a
heartworm test with a regular visit and you can purchase preventative
heartworm pills that will help keep your dog from getting them in the
first place. You can also make sure that there's no standing water
around your house that will attract mosquitos. Doing all of this on a
regular basis will almost guarantee that your dog doesn't get infected
with heartworms and keep him or her healthy for a very long time.