Heartworm in Canines

Canine heartworm is a parasitic worm that is left unattended can do extensive damage to the canine’s body. Canine heartworms enter in the canine’s body through mosquito bites and although canines are the primary known source of these parasites there have also been cases where cats have also been known to have heartworms and in some rare cases humans too. Canine heartworms are basically worm parasites that tend to live in the canine’s lungs, hearts and arteries and they generally tend to have a life span of six to seven months within which they can severely damage the canine’s body and overall dog health. Heartworms in canines are caused by the bite of an infected mosquito which tends to deposit heartworm larvae into the coat of the canine. From there the larvae will burrow into the canines skin and then grow into worm like parasites. Symptoms of heartworms in canines may not be noticed until the situation gets really bad. So basically a canine can be afflicted with heartworms but may not show any outwardly signs unless they are checked thoroughly.

Some known symptoms of heartworms in canines include severe loss of weight, short or heavy breathing, fainting, nervousness, coughing and even loss of energy or appetite. In extreme cases dog heartworms may even be fatal for the canine resulting in death arising on account of heart failure. There are certain heartworm preventative pills that can be given to the canine to protect them from the parasite infestation. Additionally the canines can also be put through various tests by the veterinarian to decide whether it is infected with heartworms of not. Most of the times, unless a canine goes through an X-ray the heartworm may go undetected until it is too late. In such cases the only option for the canine’s survival is to go through extensive medicinal therapy which may have some other side effects as well. One of the major risks of treating heartworms in canines is that as the adult heartworms begin to die on account of the treatment they tend to emboli to the lungs thereby causing damage within the lung tissue. This problem can be combated by severely restricting the canine’s levels of activity which can be achieved by restricting the canine to a cage for a few days during the treatment. Additionally there is always the probability of the treatment not successfully killing the heartworms that live deep within the heart of the canine.