Protect Your Dog From Heartworm

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 in the worst cases, seriously impair the
heart’s operations. Even worse, they could also clog your dog’s
blood vessels. These infections result in body weight losses,
chronic cough, dropsy, breath shortness, chronic heart failure,
vision disturbances, and ultimately, death.

To help you see early symptoms and to hopefully save your dog,
look out for these signs:

- 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 can 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.

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
not 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 are also cases when surgery is needed. In most cases, this
could be a feasible option. Consult with the veterinarian if
surgical correction or any other method can cure the infection.

There are also drugs that 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 has already heartworm
infections in a higher level. That is why the use of drugs
should be under the supervision of veterinarians. Taking drugs
should be also combined with regular blood tests. This has shown
to be very effective in saving many dogs with heartworm
infection.

In order for your dog to avoid heartworm infection, protect your
pet from mosquito bites 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 veterinarian for preventive
medication. In addition, you might want regular blood tests on
your dog to assess early symptoms of infection. This is quite
tricky, especially because the symptoms of heartworm infection
can not be seen immediately.

In short, your pet dog which looks healthy may be having early
symptoms of heartworm infection. It would be best that you have
your dog checked on a periodic basis.