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All About Heartworms in Your Dog
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[ 2006-01-05 13:58:51 ] - kishan
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All About Heartworms in Your Dog
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 on worst cases, seriously
impair the heart's operations. Worse, they could also clog your dog's blood
vessels. These infections result to body weight losses, chronic cough, dropsy,
breath shortness, chronic heart failure, vision disturbances, and ultimately,
death.
Since the symptoms of heartworm disease vary among
dogs, it would be best that a veterinarian check your dog to evaluate a final
analysis. Most dogs show visible symptoms only when the disease has reached the
point where it would be almost improbable to be cured by treatment. To help you
see early symptoms and to hopefully save your dog, look out for these signs:
- Dogs that have been quite active usually tend to be
tired easily.
- 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 could 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.
- Before it dies, the dog experiences emaciation.
often precedes death.
Who gets infected by the heartworm infection?
Previously, it was thought that only long-haired dogs
were more resistant to heartworms because of the high difficulty of mosquitoes
(which bring the worms) to penetrate through the dogs' hair. Since then, it has
been proven that this was not true. Mosquitoes even have a hard time
penetrating through short-haired dogs. Actually, mosquitoes feed on the
abdominal region of the dog. That is why both long-haired and short-haired dogs
are susceptible to an infection, since both types have little hair on this
region. Some mosquitoes also feed on the muzzle area or the ears where the
dog's hair is quite matted down.
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 no 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 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 that can cure the infection.
There are also drugs that can 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 is also combined with regular blood
texts. This has shown to be quite effective in saving many dogs with heartworm
infection.
In order for your dog to avoid heartworm infection,
protect your pet from mosquito bites especially 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 vet 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
that the symptoms of heartworm infection could not be seen immediately.
In short, your pet dog which looked healthy may be
having early symptoms of heartworm infection. It would be best that you
checked.
The nwxt Article will be about
Dental Care for Your Dog
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