Heartworms are parasites that can be extremely harmful to your dog, treatment can be difficult, but once your dog is afflicted with heartworms, non-treatment is simply not an option. Heartworms can be lethal, and a dog that has heartworms will suffer quite a bit before succumbing to the affliction.

What are they?

A heartworm as the name implies, is a parasite that lodges itself in a dog’s pulmonary artery where it can survive for several years and even reproduce. It is a round worm, and it can also infect other animals such as: cats, foxes, and wolves. It has also been known to occasionally infect humans.

How they get around

The affliction is transmitted by mosquitoes, after the worms mature and find the dog’s pulmonary artery, they produce thousands of microfilariae, because they reside in the heart, the microfilariae travel all over the dog’s bloodstream, so that if a mosquito bites the dog, there is a chance the microfilariae will be passed on to the mosquito, then on to any other dogs the mosquito bites.

How to spot it

The earliest signs that a dog has heartworms will appear only when there are mature worms, some 6 months after the dog is first infected. The most common symptom is radical drop in the dog’s energy level. As the condition worsens, there are other symptoms such as coughing and exhaustion and in very advanced stages, weight loss, coughing up blood, fainting, and even heart failure. Should your dog exhibit any of these symptoms, you should see a vet.

Treatment

The disease is treatable with drugs, of which there are many available options on the market; however, the drugs used are quite potent. Before treating a dog, the general state of a dog’s vital organs such as the heart, the kidneys and the liver are carefully assessed. As the treatments themselves take a toll on the dog, the dog should be made to rest during the treatment and for some weeks after. The dog then needs to be treated separately for the microfilariae.

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