All Creatures Animal Clinic offers heartworm testing and prevention for dogs and cats, as well as treatment of dogs who test positive for heartworms. The most important message to take away about heartworms is that prevention is always better than the cure; annual testing and consistent prevention are the easiest and most cost-effective way to keep your pet from having heartworm infection.
Heartworms are spread by mosquitoes. The disease begins when an infected mosquito bites an animal and injects baby heartworm larvae (microfilaria) into the blood. Heartworms typically affect companion pets like dogs, cats, and ferrets. In dogs, the microfilaria travel to the heart where they mature and proliferate enough to congest the heart and blood vessels.
Prevention of heartworms can be accomplished by a variety of methods including annual injections and monthly products that combine heartworm control with flea, tick, and intestinal parasite protections. If you have missed a month or more of administering your pet’s treatment, it’s important to have your pet tested for heartworms before beginning a dosage again.
Symptoms of heartworms in dogs are not apparent until several months after the onset of infection. Common signs of heartworm infection are coughing, lethargy, loss of appetite, weakness, fainting, or distended abdomen. The treatment of a heartworm positive dog involves a series of pharmaceutical injections to kill the adult worms; this can be a risky process. Once administered, the patient must be confined, closely monitored, and any resulting complications are to be managed accordingly.
In cats, the heartworms can end up in the cat’s lungs. Their immune system usually attacks the microfilaria before they have time to mature into an adult worm, however the immune reaction can cause significant damage to the surrounding lung tissue. If a cat tests positive for heartworms, there is no treatment as there is for dogs. Their symptoms may resemble feline asthma, and owners should seek medical attention if such indications arise.
Call All Creatures Animal Clinic today to schedule a heartworm test for your pet.