Symptoms of Heartworms in Dogs
Symptoms of heartworms in dogs need to be recognized by all pet owners. Unless preventive measures are taken, the parasites will cripple the vital organs, causing the death of the animal.
Signs and Symptoms
These include dry cough, diarrhea, vomiting, bulging ribs and chest, and jaundice. Other signs are lethargy, shortness of breath, weight loss, no appetite and deteriorating coating.
As the parasites spread, more severe symptoms like a bloody sputum and anemia will manifest. During the final stage, the parasites will invade the heart and other organs, causing death.
The severity of the symptoms will depend on the number of worms present. If there are only a few, few, if any signs will manifest. Some dogs have as many as 200 worms. In this case the symptoms will be more severe. The disease is prevalent among 3 to 8 year old dogs. Sometimes dogs as young as 1 year old will become infected.
Prevention
There are preventive treatments available like Heartgard. This is a chewable tablet that is given to pets once a month. What Heartgard does is to destroy any larva present in the body.
Heartgard can also shrink the size of adult worms until they are filtered out of the body. Again, this is a preventive medicine. You should not wait for the symptoms of heartworms in dogs to appear. Give it regularly to the dog while it is still free of worms.
Treatment
If the symptoms appear, take the dog to the vet immediately. A blood test will be done to confirm if the dog has the disease. The most common diagnostic tool used is antigen detection. This procedure only works for dogs; it does not work for cats. The test will also look for microfilaria.
Microfilaria can also be detected by conducting a blood smear test. Its presence in the blood indicates it is also in the heart. Diagnosing the kidneys and doing blood counts may be essential in some cases.
If the worms are present, the vet will administer the proper treatment. Two types of arsenic compounds may be utilized; they are melarsomine dihydrochloride or thiacetarsamide sodium. If it is successful, filaricide therapy will follow.
The aim is to kill the microfilaria following adulticide therapy. The drug given may be milbemycin or ivermectin. This requires hospitalization.
If the disease is still in its early stage, the condition may still be reversed. If the disease is in the advanced stage, treatment may no longer be possible.
Transmission and Spread
The disease is transmitted via mosquito bites. A single bite from an infected mosquito is enough to cause an infection. As the worms mature, they penetrate the vital organs of the body. The adult worms can reach up to a foot long and live for as long as 7 years. The condition very rarely affects people.
Because the disease can be hard to cure, recognizing the symptoms of heartworms in dogs is essential. Given the fact that the indicators are quite common, preventive medication should be given. It is the best defense.
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