However, these symptoms are rare for heartworms, and could be a sign of another condition. As heartworm disease progresses, the treatments required becomes more invasive. During routine vet exams, we will recommend a heartworm test, which requires a small blood sample that detects the existence of heartworm proteins.
If your dog tests positive for heartworms, we will recommend further testing to determine the course of treatment. Dogs should be routinely tested for heartworms during preventative vet visits. Routine heartworm testing is important, even for dogs on year-round prevention, in order to make sure the medication is working. While heartworm medication is generally successful, there is still a small possibility your dog could become infected, due to circumstances, like vomiting the pill or rubbing away the topical medication.
Is your dog showing symptoms of heartworm disease? Remember that the sooner we detect a heartworm infection, the more likely we will be able to save his life. Call our office today to learn more about heartworm prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
March 1, Early signs could be shortness of breath, loss of stamina, or a nagging, dry cough. As the disease progresses, breathing becomes more difficult, and in severe cases the abdomen may swell with fluid.
Your dog could become lethargic and lose weight and their appetite. These symptoms are often subtle and hard to detect, so prevention is the best option. Treatment for heartworm disease is not without potential risk, may be difficult, and if left untreated, it is nearly always fatal.
Usually, there are few clinical signs of heartworm in cats. It only takes one to two adult heartworms infecting your furry feline for the disease to potentially become fatal.
Have your pet tested at the vet. A simple blood test can reveal whether your pet is infected. Unfortunately, diagnosis is more difficult in cats, so prevention in all cases is always the best option. Keeping your pet up to date with regular heartworm medication, paired with regular vet check-ups is the best way to ensure their health is optimised.
Once mature, heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years in dogs and up to 2 or 3 years in cats. Because of the longevity of these worms, each mosquito season can lead to an increasing number of worms in an infected pet. In the early stages of the disease, many dogs show few symptoms or no symptoms at all. The longer the infection persists, the more likely symptoms will develop. Active dogs, dogs heavily infected with heartworms, or those with other health problems often show pronounced clinical signs.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
Dogs with large numbers of heartworms can develop a sudden blockages of blood flow within the heart leading to a life-threatening form of cardiovascular collapse. This is called caval syndrome, and is marked by a sudden onset of labored breathing, pale gums, and dark bloody or coffee-colored urine.
Without prompt surgical removal of the heartworm blockage, few dogs survive. Many factors must be considered, even if heartworms do not seem to be a problem in your local area. Your community may have a greater incidence of heartworm disease than you realize—or you may unknowingly travel with your pet to an area where heartworms are more common. Heartworm disease is also spreading to new regions of the country each year. Stray and neglected dogs and certain wildlife such as coyotes, wolves, and foxes can be carriers of heartworms.
The fact is that heartworm disease has been diagnosed in all 50 states, and risk factors are impossible to predict. Multiple variables, from climate variations to the presence of wildlife carriers, cause rates of infections to vary dramatically from year to year—even within communities. And because infected mosquitoes can come inside, both outdoor and indoor pets are at risk. Heartworm disease is a serious, progressive disease.
The earlier it is detected, the better the chances the pet will recover. There are few, if any, early signs of disease when a dog or cat is infected with heartworms, so detecting their presence with a heartworm test administered by a veterinarian is important. The test requires just a small blood sample from your pet, and it works by detecting the presence of heartworm proteins.
Some veterinarians process heartworm tests right in their hospitals while others send the samples to a diagnostic laboratory. In either case, results are obtained quickly. If your pet tests positive, further tests may be ordered. Testing procedures and timing differ somewhat between dogs and cats. All dogs should be tested annually for heartworm infection, and this can usually be done during a routine visit for preventive care.
Following are guidelines on testing and timing:. Annual testing is necessary, even when dogs are on heartworm prevention year-round, to ensure that the prevention program is working. Heartworm medications are highly effective, but dogs can still become infected. If you miss just one dose of a monthly medication—or give it late—it can leave your dog unprotected.
Even if you give the medication as recommended, your dog may spit out or vomit a heartworm pill—or rub off a topical medication. Heartworm preventives are highly effective, but not percent effective. No one wants to hear that their dog has heartworm, but the good news is that most infected dogs can be successfully treated. The goal is to first stabilize your dog if he is showing signs of disease, then kill all adult and immature worms while keeping the side effects of treatment to a minimum.
Whether the preventive you choose is given as a pill, a spot-on topical medication or as an injection, all approved heartworm medications work by eliminating the immature larval stages of the heartworm parasite. This includes the infective heartworm larvae deposited by the mosquito as well as the following larval stage that develops inside the animal. Unfortunately, in as little as 51 days, immature heartworm larvae can molt into an adult stage, which cannot be effectively eliminated by preventives.
Because heartworms must be eliminated before they reach this adult stage, it is extremely important that heartworm preventives be administered strictly on schedule monthly for oral and topical products and every 6 months for the injectable.
Administering prevention late can allow immature larvae to molt into the adult stage, which is poorly prevented. The risk of puppies getting heartworm disease is equal to that of adult pets. The American Heartworm Society recommends that puppies be started on a heartworm preventive as early as the product label allows, and no later than 8 weeks of age.
The dosage of a heartworm medication is based on body weight, not age. The other dogs would need to get bit by an infected mosquito to contract heartworm disease themselves.
According to the FDA, there are four stages of heartworm disease, and symptoms appear differently in each stage. In Class 1, you may not notice any symptoms, and if you do, it would only be a light cough. Class 2 is when symptoms start to appear. You might notice that your dog is more fatigued after being active or you may notice an occasional cough. Class 3 symptoms will be more obvious and include a persistent cough. Your dog will also tire after just light activity. You may also notice some trouble breathing with a Class 3 diagnosis.
Finally, there's Class 4, also known as caval syndrome. This occurs when there are so many worms that they block the blood flow back to your dog's heart, and it requires immediate surgery.
Class 4 disease is fatal if untreated. Not all dogs with heartworm disease develop into this stage, but it's important to identify what class a dog may be experiencing so that it doesn't potentially develop into the worst-case scenario. If you're ever concerned that your dog is experiencing any heartworm symptoms, it's important to make an appointment right away with your pet's veterinarian. The vet will draw blood to check for the presence of a heartworm infection in your dog.
If your dog is infected, he or she can then recommend medicine or surgery for treatment, depending on how ill your dog is. The good news is that there are medications your dog can take to prevent heartworm infection. Your vet can prescribe a topical agent or oral pill to be taken every month. It's important to work all year long to prevent heartworms even if there are no mosquitoes flying by in the winter , so try not to miss a dose to keep your dog safe and healthy.
With diligent prevention, you may never even have to worry, but it's always smart to be on alert for any health changes in your pets. For more information regarding heartworms you can visit the Heartworm Society website.
Also, be sure to talk to your vet at your pup's next checkup about heartworm testing and prevention to ensure your pup stays as healthy as possible.
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