Learning how to prevent heartworm for dog is important if your dog is infected with heartworm. Heartworm disease occurs when a worm living in the heart gets into an animal’s bloodstream. Dogs can become infected with heartworm when they are bitten by another infected dog, inhaled dust, or get an injection of contaminated blood. Some dogs can be infected more than once, which increases the risk of serious complications.
Blood tests are usually required to confirm a diagnosis of heartworm disease in dogs. These blood tests are usually done on an outpatient basis and are painless. Your veterinarian will administer a simple test called a viral encephalitis test (VET) or a complete blood count (Cells). If these results are positive, your veterinarian will recommend that your dog be given medications to prevent heartworm. If you have any doubts about the accuracy of these tests, then you should call your veterinarian back to double-check the results.
Adult heartworms in dogs are classified into two groups: hookworms and heartwood. Hookworms cause roundworms in dogs while heartwood causes larvae – small worms – that live in the heart and body. A dog can acquire heartworm disease, even if it has been infected with heartwood or hookworms only recently. Cats and kittens are rarely infected with heartworm, but adult dogs can be infected if they have a history of tick bites, anemia, diabetes, or exposure to the family dog’s infected dog.
Cats, like dogs, also can be infected with fleas, which carry the disease. Because cats also can’t tell us that they’re infested, we usually just find dead cats in our houses that have feline infectious disease. Signs of illness in cats will generally be non-specific, such as loss of appetite and weight loss, fever, lethargy, vomiting, and swelling of the lymph nodes. If your cat shows any of these symptoms, contact your veterinarian.
In order to prevent heartworm disease in cats, it is best to prevent heartworm infection in your pet by keeping a close eye on your pet’s heartworm symptoms and by educating yourself about the disease. Preventing heartworm disease is not difficult if you know what you’re looking for and how to spot it. You can help to prevent heartworm in your cat by making sure to give him a regular heartworm check up with his veterinarian. The American Heartworm Society offers a free annual heartworm screening for cats. Heartworms may appear anywhere from six months to one year before symptoms appear, but they often can be diagnosed early and treated with a medicine.
Some heartworm disease occurs because of parasites: fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Cats that live in areas where ticks and mosquitoes are common are at greater risk. Fleas will lay their eggs near the arches of your cat’s arteries, where the heart begins its circulation. And ticks will latch on to your pet’s body and inject the eggs into the arteries.
The other type of heartworm disease that affects dogs is called dirofilaria immitis. This is more commonly known as “discoid” disease. Symptoms of this disease are similar to those of heartworm: heart murmur, swelling of the abdomen, and excessive licking of the lips. Dogs that have dirofilaria immitis will frequently lick their lips, which increases the chances of their transmitting this disease to humans. It is important to take care of your dogs and know how to prevent heartworm in dogs by knowing the difference between heartworm disease and flea and tick disease.
Is your dog sick? Look for the telltale signs, like a swollen belly and breathing difficulties, within two to four days of exposure to an infected mosquito. An adult dog will usually have already been infected in this manner. Impaired lungs (like people with pulmonary embolism) are also a common symptom of this disease: When an infected mosquito bites an injured animal, the juices from its saliva go directly to the lungs, causing inflammation there.