The picture to the left is a little difficult to read but it gives you an idea of what these worms look like in the heart . Makes me feel sick just looking at them. To even think my dog could have that in her. So lets go on to how they get these.
Heartworm is transmitted by many species of mosquitos. The transmission occurs when a mosquito bites on an animal that is infected with heartworm and then goes and bites another animal thus tranmitting the larvae.
The mature larvae stage of the worm is deposited into the dog's skin by an infected mosquito. These larvae enter the dog through the bite wound of the mosquito.Then in 2 months the juvenile worm migrates through the bloodstream to the right side of the heart. There they grow into an adult worm. Some can grow up tp 12 inches long. The female then begins to produce off spring called microfilariae. She may produce as many as a 1000 of these offspring. Then they grow 1/2" to 3/4" in length and are fed by the blood of the infected dog This process takes about 6 months. As they grow the heartworms lodge in the heart and the large blood vessels going from the heart to the lungs. Adult worms can live up to 7 years in the dog's body. If left untreated the dog will die of heart failure.
Not a very pretty picture and I'm sure like me you hate to even think about those nasty critters but we need to understand them so we can keep our dogs healthy
Now lets look at the signs of heartworm so we can recognize them in a dog.
The first outward signs of heartworm may not show up until a year after the infection has started and it may begin as a soft cough. The severity of the desease depends on how many worms are present As it progresses the dog will have difficulty breathing He will not want to excercise, and he may show a decrease in appetite and weight loss
By that time your looking at a pretty infected dog so it seems to me prevention is really important. Lets see about prevention
Heartworm desease is easy to prevent.
1. Regular blood tests
This gives you peace of mind your dog is free of heartworms before you start him on a preventitive program Your vet will help you about how often your dog should have this test.
2. Now were ready for prevention This will include giving your dog once a month orally a medication . Now theres heartguard, tri-heart plus advantage multi heartgard interceptor and a few more I'm sure your vet will advise you Theres also natural things like Parasite Dr. like I mentioned before
You must decide what you want your dog to have but I wouldn't let it slide we can't eliminate all mosquitos and theres always that chance
We also need to look at reducing exposure to these nasty critters and that means checking our dogs environment. The places outside where mosquitos will live and hatch. What about that pale of water thats been sitting outside for awhile or the kids pool left unattended or a water barrel or any small container that will hold water and don't forget that pond you put in the yard Anything that will hold water is a breeding place for mosquitos. Search your yard and empty these things or use the tablets you can get at your local home depot or hardware store that you put in these watering places They kill the mosquitos before they can get going
A little time and prevention can go along way and may save your best friends life.
Places to go for information
1 comment:
I have a blacklab that is 9 years old he started breathing like there was something in his throat so i went to the vet they checked him done a e-k-g and said his heart was off rythem so thay put him on Diltiazem,Enalapril,Furosemide,Dig-oxin and after a few weeks he started getting week and started like falling over and then he started having seizures then he was alright for a few days and then over the weekend he had four seizures in one night we called the vet to see if there was anything and vets assistent said no .So I was wondering if you knew of anything else to give him.I think that the druges i am giving him arnt working and was wondering if ther was natural pills out there or what you think i should do
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