Dog Heartworm - Understanding Dog Heartworm

Name: Veterinary Services
Brand: Phoenix Mobile Veterinarians

What is heartworm disease and how can it affect my dog?

So heartworm disease is a parasite. It's different from other parasites as well. Most parasites live in the GI tracts of the guts of dogs. However, heartworm is very, very specific in the fact that it lives inside the heart and lungs of your dog.

Dr. Mark Caldwell
Phoenix Mobile Veterinarians

How would my dog catch heartworm?

So heartworm is spread actually by mosquitoes. So what happens is it takes a mosquito to bite an infected dog and then in turn have that exact same mosquito bite your dog. If your dog gets heartworm, it's then going to grow that worm inside its heart and usually typically grows to about 9 to 12 inches long. So very, very long.

What are the signs in my dog that would indicate they may have heartworm?

So the clinical signs of heartworm disease can actually vary quite dramatically. It can be anything from a slight cough, sneeze to a heavy cough, a heavy sneeze. You can even see muscle wasting, what's called exercise intolerance. So they just don't seem to have the energy level that they used to, but it really can be everything from a mild cough to an animal that looks like they're losing weight and really debilitated.

What can be done to stabilize my dog's heartworm disease?

So if you suspect that your dog has heartworm and if we're already talking about stabilizing, you really need to speak with your veterinarian because there are some medications that we can start them on just to help stabilize them. But really in the meantime, one of the most important things that you can do as an owner is to just keep the pet calm. Okay, so restrict exercise. Some cases you actually have to kennel or cage them just to keep them from running around because remember that parasites in the heart, the heart pumps blood, and so we just want to keep them at a very significant resting state.

How soon should I bring in my dog to see a veterinarian for heartworm prevention?

Well, we recommend starting puppies on heartworm prevention. So really at your first visit with your veterinarian as a puppy around six to eight weeks of age, we're gonna start talking about heartworm prevention. But if you get an older doggy, if you document any age, we recommend that when you do bring them in that you speak with your veterinarian about heartworm prevention.

How will a veterinarian diagnose if my dog has heartworm?

So there's a couple ways that we can actually diagnose if your dog has heartworm disease. Typically what we do is we actually take a couple drops of blood, there's a little test that we run, it takes about eight minutes and once we do that test, it will say yes or no to having heartworm. Now, other ways that we can check it is we can actually use blood and we can look at it underneath the microscope, but the first test that I mentioned where we take these three drops of blood and we run it in the eight minute test is typically how we diagnose heartworm disease.

Why is early detection and diagnosis of heartworm so important?

Heartworm disease can have long-standing effects on the body. I mean, if you just think about it, it's a parasite in the heart and the lungs causing inflammation in those two organs. The faster that we can get on top of heartworm disease, the faster that we can treat it, ultimately the better prognosis our animal's gonna have because even with complete treatment of heartworm disease, it's been proven that there's permanent damage inside the heart and lungs. So if we catch it early, if we treat it early, we can really mitigate a lot of these problems.

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Dog Heartworm - FAQs 1

Dr. Mark Caldwell
Phoenix Mobile Veterinarians

How is heartworm prevented in dogs?

Heartworm prevention is typically going to be one of two means. We actually have an oral form, so a little chewable tablet. Depending on the manufacturer, usually those are given about every 30 days and then we also have an injectable form of prevention that we give every six months.

What are the different types of dog heartworm prevention?

So kind of like what I just mentioned, the two main types that we have are actually the oral forms and the injectable forms. When it boils down to it, both are really effective. It just comes down to the convenience factor. The chewable tablets, they work great but you have to give it once a month. Typically they're flavored like beef or chicken or something else like that and so the dogs really like them. The injectable form, they're convenient. You give them, you forget about it for six months.

When should I start heartworm prevention for my dog?

You're going to be starting heartworm prevention on your dog when they are at their first visit, usually at around six to eight weeks of age. At that time they're still too young for the shot forms of the prevention that we have, but those little chewable treats that you give every month that I mentioned earlier, those are going to be the ones that you're going to start on.

How effective is heartworm prevention?

So both preventions that I mentioned, the chewables and the injectables, they are very effective. Almost a hundred percent but nothing with medicine is a hundred percent and so they're very good and I would trust them both on my ends.

Does my dog still need a heartworm test if they are on prevention?

Absolutely they do. Depending on the manufacturer and after speaking with your veterinarian, we're always going to do a test at around six to nine months of age just to make sure that they're negative, even if they've been on prevention earlier. But then after that, usually we do a check at six months and then annual testing from then on because as I mentioned earlier, they are very effective but they're not 100% and so ensuring that that test to make sure that your animal is negative for heartworm is going to be crucial for their health.

Can prevention be used to clear a heartworm infection?

Prevention is used in addition to the other medications that we use for treatment of heartworm disease, but they should not be used as a sole factor for treatment of heartworm.

Are there any holistic or over-the-counter dog heartworm preventatives?

So there's not going to be any that we would recommend. Now as I mentioned before, heartworm disease is spread by mosquitoes so if there's anything that you can do holistically to keep mosquitoes from biting your dog, then those are going to be okay. But as far as actual medications, no there wouldn't be anything that I would recommend.

Can I do anything in my dog's environment to reduce the risk of heartworm?

Well you can try to mitigate mosquitoes as best as you can. If you see standing pools of water, you can get rid of those. If you have an active mosquito population, you know keeping your animal from going in that environment or just doing what you can to control that population is going to be important.

What should I do if I miss a dose of my dog's heartworm prevention?

If you miss a dose of the heartworm prevention, make sure you bring that up with your veterinarian, but I do want you to continue on the prevention as before. Now it's going to change what we do as far as testing because as I said earlier, we'll typically, once they get old enough, we'll do annual testing. But if you do miss a dose, we're going to want to recheck again in about six months.