Does Your Pet Dog Suffer from
Heartworms?
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
in loss of body weight, chronic cough, dropsy, shortness of breath, 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. Early treatment is vital. 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 dogs that were long-haired 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 can be a feasible option. Consult with the veterinarian about
surgical correction or any other method that can cure the infection. There
are also drugs that could 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 already has heartworm
infections in a higher level. That is why the use of drugs should be under the
supervision of veterinarians. Taking drugs are 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 fro preventive medication. In addition, you might want regular blood tests
on your dog to assess early symptoms of infection. This is quite tricky, especially
if the symptoms of heartworm infection could not be seen immediately.
In short, your dog which looked healthy may be having early symptoms of heartworm
infection. It would be best that you have him checked y your vet..
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