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8136 E. Point Douglas Road, Cottage Grove, MN 55016
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Pet Health & Behavior Topics:
Heartworm Disease
The life cycle of the heartworm begins when an infected dog, carrying immature heartworm larvae in its blood, is bitten by a mosquito. The mosquito takes in larvae when it feeds.
When the mosquito feeds again, it transmits larvae to a healthy dog. The developing larvae migrate through the tissues eventually reaching the dogs heart in about 6 months.
Once in the dog’s heart, the worms can grow to as long as 14 inches and cause significant damage to the heart, lungs and other vital organs. If left untreated, heartworm disease can be fatal.
Treatment:
Unfortunately, the treatment for heartworm disease can be dangerous and expensive. The drug used to kill the heartworms is an arsenic compound. Because of the potential toxic effects, the dog needs to undergo screening tests to determine if they are even a candidate for treatment.
1.)
Life is very busy and many people miss giving doses or do not give the late season doses. Although we understand why this happens this is potentially very dangerous.
2.)
The dog’s absorption of each month’s medication can be variable.
3.)
Heartworm preventative also helps protect dogs from two common intestinal parasites which can be infective year round.
We also recommend a yearly screening test to make sure the preventative program is working.
Please do not hesitate to contact us any time with questions. We are happy to discuss options. Preventing this disease is so important.
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Prevention:
Because treatment is so involved and potentially toxic, prevention is extremely important. The drug used to kill larval heartworms is extremely safe, unlike the drug used to kill adult heartworms.
All dogs are at risk for developing heartworm disease. Most of our patients who have been diagnosed with adult worms in their heart have been beloved indoor members of the family.
Monthly heartworm prevention must be given from May 1st through December 1st. The preventative kills the larval forms that infected the dog the previous month. While every one of these doses is very important, the late season doses are the most important to make sure any older larvae are killed before the winter months.
Cottage Grove Animal Hospital recommends heartworm prevention to be given once a month all year round for three reasons:
