What is heartworm disease in dogs?
Heartworm disease in dogs is easily preventable, but unfortunately very common. Affects at least 1 million dogs in the United States Heartworm disease in dogs is treatable, but can cause serious and lasting damage.
How do dogs get heartworm disease?
Heartworms are spread by mosquitoes that carry infectious heartworm larvae, which are small immature heartworms. Not all mosquitoes carry heartworm larvae. Only insects that have previously eaten an animal infected with heartworms carry the larvae.
Heartworms, which begin as small larvae, can grow up to 12 inches long within just five months after a dog is bitten by an infected mosquito.
Dogs and some wild canines, such as coyotes, foxes, and wolves, are considered natural hosts for heartworms and are very likely to become infected if they do not take regular heartworm preventatives. .
How heartworm disease spreads to dogs
mosquito play an important role in Dog heartworm life cycle in two different stages of heartworm development.
Blood sucking is essential for female mosquitoes, as they need the nutrients found in blood to lay eggs. Female mosquitoes feed frequently, drinking about three times their body weight in blood each feeding period.
Dogs become infected with heartworms when a mosquito carrying heartworm larvae bites the dog and injects the larvae into the dog’s skin while sucking blood. These larvae quickly enter the dog’s bloodstream and reach the heart, lungs, and arteries.
Heartworms, which begin as small larvae, can grow up to 12 inches long within just five months after a dog is bitten by an infected mosquito. These spaghetti-shaped adult worms can live in a dog’s body for up to seven years.
Over time, as the worms die, the dead worms begin to clog the dog’s heart, lungs, and arteries. If mosquitoes carrying the larvae continue to feed on your dog, your dog may also continue to become reinfected.
Additionally, once the heartworms reach adulthood, they mate inside the dog’s body, producing millions of microscopic babies called microfilariae that live in the dog’s bloodstream.
Mosquitoes play a second role here. Heartworm life cycle. When a mosquito eats a dog with microfilariae, the dog ingests the baby worms along with the blood meal. The mosquito’s body then incubates these babies for 10 to 14 days, at which point they become heartworm larvae and can be transmitted to dogs, cats, ferrets, and other susceptible animals.
Is heartworm disease contagious to other dogs?
Your dog cannot get heartworms directly from another animal that has heartworms. The mosquito must bite an infected animal and carry and attach the heartworm to another animal. In other words, heartworm disease is transmitted and spread only through mosquitoes. If there are mosquitoes or infected animals in your area, your pet is at risk if you don’t take heartworm precautions.
How is heartworm in dogs treated?
If your dog becomes infected with heartworms, seek veterinary treatment as soon as possible to minimize damage caused by the parasite. The damage begins the moment heartworms reach the heart or lungs, and gets worse if they stay there.
Heartworms can cause lifelong damage, so treatment should not be considered a substitute for prevention. Heart and lung damage caused by heartworms never fully recovers. Heartworms cause thickening and hardening of the arteries, inflammation of the lungs, and enlargement and elongation of the heart. If heartworm disease is not treated, dogs can develop heart failure and even die.
Heartworm treatment is much more expensive than prevention and requires multiple doses of medication and months of veterinary visits. Additionally, depending on the severity of heartworm disease, severe exercise and activity restrictions are required before, during, and after treatment.
How can I prevent heartworm in my dog?
Anywhere there are mosquitoes, there is a risk of heartworm. But here’s the good news. Heartworm infections are easy to prevent.
Heartworm vaccinations can be started as soon as your dog reaches 6 to 8 weeks of age. If your dog is older, heartworm prevention can be started at any time. It’s never too late to start. First, check to see if your dog has been tested for heartworms. If you were not previously protected, you may be infected with heartworm disease. If you are infected, you should seek treatment as soon as possible.
Heartworm preventatives are safe, affordable, and highly effective. When administered as directed, it is nearly 100% effective in preventing heartworm infections in dogs.
It’s important to know that some products only protect against heartworms, while others can protect your dog from other common pests such as fleas, ticks, mites, and intestinal parasites.
Heartworm preventatives are safe, affordable, and highly effective. When administered as directed, it is nearly 100% effective in preventing heartworm infections in dogs.
No matter which preventative medication you and your veterinarian decide is best for your dog, it’s important to give it on time every time. American Heartworm Association recommends year-round heartworm prevention for all pets (including dogs, cats, and ferrets) to ensure protection from deadly heartworms.
If you forget to take heartworm preventive medication or only give it during certain months of the year, your dog may become infected. Even if your dog spends most of his time indoors or you live in a cold climate, he’s still at risk. Mosquitoes can easily enter indoors and survive for long periods in protected areas outdoors during the winter.
If you live in an area or region where mosquitoes are present, there is a good chance that you also have infected dogs or wild animals nearby. Taking your dog on heartworm preventative medication year-round is a safe, cost-effective, and easy way to ensure your dog is protected from this deadly disease.
