About Heartworms

Heartworm is a serious cause for prevention in cats and dogs both. Although cats are less prone to it, but still there have been cases of cat heartworm infections as well. This life endangering disease is cause due to a parasitic worm known as Dirofilaria Immitis. The lethal but 100% preventable infection is spread by mosquito bites. Once the larvae transmitted by the bite mature, they live in the heart and blood vessels of the lungs.

How your pet will be affected by the heartworms?

Heartworm infection affects many organs of the body like heart, lungs, kidney, liver etc. The most common being the live-line i.e. heart and lungs. The fatal disease has symptoms which progresses with the stages of the disease, so it might not be clear at first whether your dog has heartworm infection or not.

Heartworm infection can occur at any age in pets but because it takes a number of years for symptoms to develop, the disease is diagnosed in dogs 3 to 8 years old. The worms generally reside in the lungs and heart, which results in resistance towards exercise and tiredness.

There might be no signs of presence of any infection for up to five years as the worms slowly grow. However, in later stages several symptoms are visible. Some symptoms of this disease are:

• Lethargy
• Coughing and difficulty in breathing
• Weight loss
• Sudden collapse
• Nose bleed
• Unable to exercise

There is no need of tension if there are more than one pet in the house. The heartworm infection is not a contagious disease; it is only spread by mosquito bites and no other medium. However, it is recommended to test your dog every once in a while to detect the presence of heartworms.

Proper diagnosis and preventive measures protects the dogs form a great risk of being infected by this dangerous parasite. To know more about the life cycle of the heartworms and its preventatives – wait for part 2….