What is Heartworm?

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

15 Mar 2006 11:29 AM

My dogs get a monthly preventative for heartworm. Just the mental picture of a dog's heart infested with the stringy worms is enough to make me itchy for a week! UGH! I do not want to even think about something like that happening to Lally or Moosie!

The name is pretty evocative: heartworm. Worms in the heart. Gross! Heartworm is carried by mosquitoes, so if you are in a high-mosquito area like the Atlantic and Gulf coasts or near the Mississippi or any other major rivers, you hopefully have your pets on a preventative.

How it works:

1. A mosquito bites an infected dog, becoming a host for heartworm larvae
2. The host mosquito bites an uninfected dog, depositing heartworm larvae
3. Heartworms grow up and head for the heart to reproduce.

Dogs can have some larvae in the blood without developing heartworm issues; body size and activity level will determine how quickly symptoms develop. More active dogs may experience problems more quickly than lazy ones.

Early symptoms of heartworm

• A soft cough that worsens with exercise
• Tiring easily
• Weight loss

Secondary symptoms of heartworm

• A more frequent/worse cough that may produce blood
• Weakness
• Respiratory distress
• Congestive heart failure

Your vet should test your dog for heartworm on your very first visit, and any time you have missed more than one month's dose of preventative. It is a simple blood test; if the results are negative, your dog will go on a heartworm preventative. If the results are positive, your dog will be evaluated for other potential problems, then treated to kill the adult worms. The complete treatment can take more than a month to clear the dog's system of worms and larvae. In extreme cases, the vet can perform surgery to remove the worms.

Gross, huh? Believe me, after researching all this, I will NEVER miss a monthly dose of Heartguard again. I do not ever want this to happen to my mutts! Heartworm is a dangerous disease that is easily prevented by getting your pets on a monthly dose of prevention -- there are oral preventatives and topical preventatives that are administered monthly, and long lasting, sustained release injections that protect your pets for six months at a time.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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