Heartworms – How to Prevent and Cure the Most Dangerous Worms for Dogs
Once you become a dog parent, taking care of a pooch is a lot of hard work. You have a lot of fun as well, but you also have to learn so much. Feeding, training, and exercising your dog are the essential requirements. But paying attention to its healthcare is also equally important. Dogs are prone to many health problems, including parasites such as fleas, ticks, and worms. Heartworms are the most dangerous worms that can affect your dog. In this article, we are going to discuss how heartworms can affect your dog and how to prevent or cure heartworm infection.
What Are Heartworms?
Most worms that infect humans or dogs infest in the intestines and live off digested food. However, heartworms infest the heart or lungs of the pooch and feed their blood. They are also known to infect the blood vessels and other parts of a dog’s body. Heartworms get transmitted to a dog’s body through mosquito bites. Almost thirty different species of mosquitoes are known to be carriers of heartworm larvae and eggs. When mosquitoes bite an infected animal, they carry the eggs and larvae that are present in the blood and transfer those into the pet that it bites later. The eggs hatch into larvae called microfilariae that can travel up to six months in the bloodstream before reaching your dog’s heart or lungs. Fully matured heartworms can be up to a foot long and capable of reproducing hundreds more. Heartworms can live up to five years in your dog.
How to Prevent Heartworms?
In the case of heartworms, prevention is a thousand times better than cure. Preventive measures are prescribed by licensed veterinary doctors, which include regular check-ups and chewable tablets. Chewable Trifexis flea and heartworm pill for dogs is one of the best methods of prevention. They need to get administered once every month. The tablets contain an ingredient called Milbemycin Oxime that can prevent heartworm infection. Your veterinary doctor will test your dog for heartworm infection before asking you to administer the medicine.
There are some side effects, and the doctor will advise you about them. If your dog vomits within one hour of feeding the medicine, you will have to readminister the pill. You must consult the doctor if your dog is pregnant. Trifexis can be toxic if combined with medications that contain ivermectin.
How to Know If Your Dog Has Heartworms?
Even after adequate preventive measures, you should know about the indications. Being able to recognize the symptoms early will ensure that you can take your dog to the doctor and get a thorough check-up. The signs you must look out for are:
- Dry, persistent cough
- Intolerance to exercise
- Lethargy
- Breathlessness
- Inflammation in the chest
- Tendency to collapse
These symptoms are common among many diseases. Therefore take your dog to the veterinary doctor immediately to understand why your furry friend is suffering. The doctor will have to conduct further tests to understand what is ailing your pooch.
Why Are Heartworms So Dangerous?
There is a reason why we mentioned that prevention is a lot better than cure when it comes to heartworms. Heartworms infect the heart and lungs of a dog and cause severe and permanent damages. They can also cause blockage in the blood vessels. These damages can be irreparable, and that is why heartworms can be fatal for your dog. Intestinal worms can be killed with medicines and flushed out of the body. But treating heartworms can be a lengthy and cumbersome process.
How Is a Heartworm Infection Treated?
If a dog got diagnosed with heartworms, the doctor would advise on a detailed treatment plan. The first step of treatment is to give a dog preventive medicine if the pet parent has not administered it already. Preventive medications do not let the eggs and larvae turn into adult heartworms. In the second step, the doctor gives the dog antibiotics. Antibiotics will not kill the heartworms, but it weakens them. The worms harbor a type of bacteria called Wolbachia that helps them reproduce. Killing these bacteria ensures that there is less inflammation after the worms die.
Over the third stage is stated, the dog has to be kept under strict exercise restriction for the entirety of the treatment. The doctor will administer a drug called Melarsomine that will kill the adult heartworms. A few other medications are also given to reduce inflammation and pain during the treatment. The doctor might also prescribe anti-anxiety medicines to young dogs. The entire procedure can take up to four months, and a dog’s total recovery time can be up to a year.
