How will heartworms affect my dog? Testing for heartworm infection Blood tests are most commonly used to diagnose heartworm infection in dogs. How do I prevent my dog from getting heartworms? Can humans contract heartworm disease? Did you know? If left untreated, heartworm disease can result in your dog's death.
Heartworms can grow to 16 inches in length and there can be as many as heartworms in a dog's vital organs. Your dog can have no symptoms until heartworms are well-established. Almost , dogs in the U. It is difficult, especially for your dog, to treat heartworms once established. It is much easier and less expensive to prevent heartworms than to treat them. In the early stages of infection, most dogs show little to no symptoms at all, and the more the disease progresses, the more likely apparent symptoms will develop.
Pay attention to these warning signs of heartworms in dogs, and take your pet to the vet if these symptoms persist. Heartworms can also cause nosebleeds, pneumonia, high blood pressure, seizures, blindness, and excessive sleeping. When heartworms reach places other than the heart and lungs, like the brain and eyes, dogs will experience seizures and blindness. However, these symptoms are rare for heartworms, and could be a sign of another condition.
As heartworm disease progresses, the treatments required becomes more invasive. During routine vet exams, we will recommend a heartworm test, which requires a small blood sample that detects the existence of heartworm proteins. If your dog tests positive for heartworms, we will recommend further testing to determine the course of treatment. Dogs should be routinely tested for heartworms during preventative vet visits.
Routine heartworm testing is important, even for dogs on year-round prevention, in order to make sure the medication is working. While heartworm medication is generally successful, there is still a small possibility your dog could become infected, due to circumstances, like vomiting the pill or rubbing away the topical medication.
Is your dog showing symptoms of heartworm disease? Remember that the sooner we detect a heartworm infection, the more likely we will be able to save his life. Call our office today to learn more about heartworm prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
March 1, There are few, if any, early signs of disease when a dog or cat is infected with heartworms, so detecting their presence with a heartworm test administered by a veterinarian is important. The test requires just a small blood sample from your pet, and it works by detecting the presence of heartworm proteins.
Some veterinarians process heartworm tests right in their hospitals while others send the samples to a diagnostic laboratory. In either case, results are obtained quickly. If your pet tests positive, further tests may be ordered. Heartworm infection in cats is harder to detect than in dogs, because cats are much less likely than dogs to have adult heartworms. Your veterinarian may also use x-rays or ultrasound to look for heartworm infection.
Cats should be tested before being put on prevention and re-tested as the veterinarian deems appropriate to document continued exposure and risk. Because there is no approved treatment for heartworm infection in cats, prevention is critical. Like dogs, cats can be infected with heartworms.
There are differences, however, in the nature of the disease and how it is diagnosed and managed. Because a cat is not an ideal host for heartworms, some infections resolve on their own, although these infections can leave cats with respiratory system damage.
Heartworms in cats may even migrate to other parts of the body, such as the brain, eye and spinal cord. Whether the preventive you choose is given as a pill, a spot-on topical medication or as an injection, all approved heartworm medications work by eliminating the immature larval stages of the heartworm parasite. This includes the infective heartworm larvae deposited by the mosquito as well as the following larval stage that develops inside the animal.
Unfortunately, in as little as 51 days, immature heartworm larvae can molt into an adult stage, which cannot be effectively eliminated by preventives. Because heartworms must be eliminated before they reach this adult stage, it is extremely important that heartworm preventives be administered strictly on schedule monthly for oral and topical products and every 6 months for the injectable.
Administering prevention late can allow immature larvae to molt into the adult stage, which is poorly prevented. The risk of kittens getting heartworm disease is equal to that of adult cats. The American Heartworm Society recommends that kittens be started on a heartworm preventive as early as the product label allows, and no later than 8 weeks of age.
The dosage of a heartworm medication is based on body weight, not age. Kittens grow rapidly in their first months of life, and the rate of growth varies widely from one breed to another. That means a young animal can gain enough weight to bump it from one dosage range to the next within a matter of weeks. Ask your veterinarian for advice about anticipating when a dosage change will be needed. If your pet is on a monthly preventive, you may want to buy just one or two doses at a time if a dosage change is anticipated note that there is a sustained-release injectable preventive available for dogs 6 months of age or older.
Also make sure to bring your pet in for every scheduled well-kitten exam, so that you stay on top of all health issues, including heartworm protection. Confirm that you are giving the right heartworm preventive dosage by having your pet weighed at every visit. The U. Food and Drug Administration FDA labeling on heartworm preventives states that the medication is to be used by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian. This means heartworm preventives must be purchased from your veterinarian or with a prescription through a pet pharmacy Prior to prescribing a heartworm preventive, the veterinarian typically performs a heartworm test to make sure your pet doesn't already have adult heartworms, as giving preventives can lead to rare but possibly severe reactions that could be harmful or even fatal.
It is not necessary to test very young puppies or kittens prior to starting preventives since it takes approximately 6 months for heartworms to develop to adulthood.
If the heartworm testing is negative, prevention medication is prescribed. Yes, a number of heartworm preventives used today also are effective against certain intestinal parasites.
Depending on the product, these may include hookworms, roundworms, whipworms and tapeworms. Some products are even effective in treating external parasites such as fleas, ticks, ear mites, and the mite that causes scabies. However, it is important to realize that no single product will eliminate all species of internal and external parasites, and you should consult your veterinarian to determine the best product for your pet. Only heartworm prevention products that are tested and proven effective by the U.
At this time, there is not a commercially available vaccine for the prevention of heartworm disease in dogs or cats. However, research scientists are looking at this possibility. Right now, heartworm disease can only be prevented through the regular and appropriate use of preventive medications, which are prescribed by your veterinarian.
These medications are available as a once-a-month chewable, a once-a-month topical, and a twice-a-year injection. You should determine the best option for your pet by talking with your veterinarian. Many of the medications have the added benefit of preventing other parasites as well. Heartworms have been found in all 50 states, although certain areas have a higher risk of heartworm than others.
Some very high-risk areas include large regions, such as near the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and along river tributaries. Most states have "hot spots" where the heartworm infection rate is very high compared with other areas in the same state. For a variety of reasons, even in regions of the country where winters are cold, the American Heartworm Society is now recommending a year-round prevention program.
Cats have been diagnosed with heartworms in almost every county in Minnesota, and there are differences in the duration of the mosquito season from the north of the state and the south of the state.
Mosquito species are constantly changing and adapting to cold climates and some species successfully overwinter indoors as well. Year-round prevention is the safest, and is recommended. Remember too that many of these products are de-worming your pet for intestinal parasites that can pose serious health risks for humans. As with all drugs or pharmaceutical products, heartworm preventives should be used before the expiration date on the package, because it is impossible to predict if it will be effective or safe.
0コメント