Dogs- Identifying and Curing Heartworms

Does your pet dog suffer from heartworms?

Dog heartworm is a common disease among canines in the United
States. Discovered in 1856, the worms mainly live in your dog’s
heart and major blood vessels.

The worms, especially on worst cases, seriously impair the
heart’s operations. Worse, they could also clog your dog’s blood
vessels. These infections result in loss of body weight, chronic
cough, dropsy, shortness of breath, chronic heart failure,
vision disturbances, and ultimately, death.

Since the symptoms of heartworm disease vary among dogs, it
would be best that a veterinarian check your dog to evaluate a
final analysis. Early treatment is vital.

Most dogs show visible symptoms only when the disease has
reached the point where it would be almost improbable to be
cured by treatment. To help you see early symptoms and to
hopefully save your dog, look out for these signs:

- Dogs that have been quite active usually tend to be tired
easily.

- Dogs that would have been otherwise healthy usually gasp for
breath.

- Coughing of your dog has suddenly become a common occurrence.

- Dogs bred for hunting could no longer keep up with rapid
chases and usually fall from exhaustion.

- In some rare instances, the dog experiences convulsions,
jaundice, and problems in the vision.

- Before it dies, the dog experiences emaciation. often precedes
death.

Who gets infected by the heartworm infection?

Previously, it was thought that only dogs that were long-haired
were more resistant to heartworms because of the high difficulty
of mosquitoes (which bring the worms) to penetrate through the
dogs’ hair. Since then, it has been proven that this was not
true.

Mosquitoes even have a hard time penetrating through
short-haired dogs. Actually, mosquitoes feed on the abdominal
region of the dog. That is why both long-haired and short-haired
dogs are susceptible to an infection, since both types have
little hair on this region. Some mosquitoes also feed on the
muzzle area or the ears where the dog’s hair is quite matted
down.

Can heartworm infection be treated?

Heartworm infection can be treated through chemical therapy if
diagnosed early. Most of the chemical treatments kill the worms
over some period of time. Killing all the worms in one swoop is
no better: If all the heartworms were killed in just one
treatment, the dead bodies would deposit in the lungs and kill
the dog.

Remember also that the chemicals used in treating the worms are
also as dangerous to your dog as the worms. That is why treating
the disease using chemical therapy should be used with utmost
care and should be handled by a veterinarian.

There also cases when surgery is needed. In most cases, this can
be a feasible option. Consult with the veterinarian about
surgical correction or any other method that can cure the
infection.

There are also drugs that could prevent your dog from getting
heartworms. These drugs attack the parasite in its early stages
and stop the worms from being full-blown adults later. This
doesn’t mean that your dog would be free from infection. This
only means that dogs can still get infected during the season of
mosquitoes and yet remain unscathed of heartworms.

Preventative medication using drugs, on the other hand, can
cause serious complications if your dog already has heartworm
infections in a higher level. That is why the use of drugs
should be under the supervision of veterinarians. Taking drugs
are also combined with regular blood texts. This has shown to be
quite effective in saving many dogs with heartworm infection.

In order for your dog to avoid heartworm infection, protect your
pet from mosquito bites especially if there is a high mosquito
population in your area or if it is mosquito season. You might
want to screen the sleeping quarters of your dogs to avoid
repeated bites. Repellent sprays can also be used, but these
only have limited effects.

You might also want to consult your vet fro preventive
medication. In addition, you might want regular blood tests on
your dog to assess early symptoms of infection. This is quite
tricky, especially if the symptoms of heartworm infection could
not be seen immediately.

In short, your dog which looked healthy may be having early
symptoms of heartworm infection. It would be best that you have
him checked y your vet..