Heartworms are very serious and can be potentially fatal parasite in a dog. It is imperative to have your dog treated for heartworm disease before it is too late. If the heartworms are found early, before extensive damage has been done, it is possible to save the dog's life without any severe side effects.
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Heartworms
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Heartworms infect areas of the heart and can live up to five years. During this five years, the female heartworms may produce millions of young worms (microfilaria). Heartworms are transmitted through 30 species of mosquitoes, and it can take up to a few years before the dog exhibits any signs of being infected. Heartworms clog the heart and blood vessels, reducing blood supply to other organs in the body, which leads to malfunction of these organs and/or heart failure.
Prognosis
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With proper treatment of heartworms, 95 percent of dogs can be cured, according to sniksnak.com. In severe cases, the dog may be too far infected and exhibit signs of organ malfunction or failure. The organs can be treated for failure, but the dog will most likely only survive for a few weeks or months. Medications in the past have contained toxins that killed the heartworms, but were also toxic to the dogs. However, there are newer drugs that have proven to be safer for the dogs, mainly melarsomine dihydrochloride, which is an intramuscular injection.
Treatment
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An injection may be given to kill the adult heartworms. It will kill the heartworms in both the heart and vessels. Once the adult heartworms are dead, they will decompose inside of the dog and eventually be reabsorbed into the body.
Microfilariae are killed by a drug given in a veterinarian hospital a month after the adult heartworms are killed. When this happens, the dog will most likely need to stay in the hospital for a day or two, with a test given seven to 10 days after treatment to ensure that the worms are gone. If microfilariae are still present, another treatment will be needed.
Severe heartworm disease may need to be treated with antibiotics, diuretics and a special diet, along with drugs. The dog may need lifelong treatment for heart failure, depending on how severe the disease became before treatment.
The dog will need to be checked for heartworms in approximately four months to ensure that the heartworms have been eradicated.
Side Effects of Treatment
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When a dog is treated for heartworms, he will need to be on a leash or in a house, according to placervillevet.com. No exercise or play will be allowed for a few months after treatment. During these few months, your dog will have days of not feeling well and coughing. The dying off of the worms can also cause severe inflammation and respiratory failure, and not all dogs will survive the heartworm treatment.
Some side effects of the most common medications used for treating heartworms (such as milbemycin and selamectin) are depression, lethargy, weakness, convulsions, vomiting, loss of appetite and excessive drooling, stated by natural-do-health-remedies.com. Collie breeds, sheepdogs and shepherds may be more prone to neurological effects because of these drugs.
A veterinarian should be consulted if a dog exhibits side effects such as weakness, vomiting or diarrhea. Vomiting may occur after the treatment injection but it is rare. If it does happen, though, IV fluids and cortisone drugs might need to be administered.
Prevention
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Dogs can be reinfected with heartworms. Your veterinarian will most likely prescribe some sort of preventative treatment to keep these worms from reinfesting your dog. Chewable tablets are available along with preventative injections that are safe and effective, according to sniksnak.com. These chewable tablets should include either ivermectin or milbemycin oxime as an ingredient. These tablets are available from Heartgard, Interceptor, Iverhart and Sentinel.
The injection should include moxidectin and should only be administered by a veterinarian, according to dogs.lovetoknow.com.
One of these treatments should begin immediately following treatment of the heartworms.
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