As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen. Dogs with large numbers of heartworms can develop a sudden blockages of blood flow within the heart leading to a life-threatening form of cardiovascular collapse.
No one wants to hear that their dog has heartworm, but the good news is that most infected dogs can be successfully treated. The goal is to first stabilize your dog if he is showing signs of disease, then kill all adult and immature worms while keeping the side effects of treatment to a minimum.
A new drug is available that does not have as many side effects, allowing successful treatment of more than 95% of dogs with heartworms. Many dogs have advanced heartworm disease at the time they are diagnosed.
Myth: Heartworm disease is contagious for pets.
Truth: You should be concerned if we diagnose one of your pets with heartworm disease, but you do not need to quarantine your infected pet. Heartworms must go through a mosquito to develop into adults, so heartworm-positive pets are safe to be around.
Most dogs can be safely leash-walked during the treatment recovery period and providing appropriate chew toys can help relieve some of that stored up physical energy.
Dogs with heartworm disease can live high-quality lives as long as they are given appropriate care. After completing treatment and following your veterinarian's recommenda- tions on heartworm disease testing and prevention, the chances of any long-term effects are very low.
Is heartworm painful? - Animal Hospital of Statesville. It's not painful, per se, but they feel sick, uncomfortable, and they're likely having difficulty breathing. They're not perfusing very well, so they don't feel well.
After treatment, the adult worms die and are carried by the blood to the lungs where they lodge in small blood vessels. There they decompose and are absorbed by the body over a period of several months. Reactions to the drugs are not uncommon, and there is always some risk involved in treating a dog for heartworms.
Since the mosquito is needed to carry the microfilariae, heartworm disease is not contagious from one dog to another dog. People also cannot get heartworms from dogs. Dogs and humans can only get heartworms from infected mosquitos.
Average Cost of Treatment. The average cost of heartworm treatment for dogs is often around $1,000. However, it can range from $500 to $1,100 or even more depending mainly on the size of your dog, veterinary bills, and the stage of the disease.
False-positive results with heartworm antigen tests are rare.
With the three-dose adulticide protocol described above, in conjunction with doxycycline and macrocyclic lactones as recommended by the American Heartworm Society, 98% of dogs will be cleared of heartworm infection.
Even if heartworm infection is treated, we all know it does serious, permanent damage to the body. This in-depth look at that damage will renew your commitment to consistent prevention recommendations for your veterinary patients.
Step 7: Home Care During Heartworm Treatment
Strict rest is imperative for 6-8 weeks. This means that your pet can be leashed walked outside to urinate and defecated, but must come back inside to rest. Do not allow your pet to run, jump, climb stairs, or play rough with other dogs or children.
Heartworm disease can also lead to liver or kidney failure. Dogs that are exposed to a large number of infective larvae at once are at great risk of sudden death due to massive numbers of developing larvae bombarding the vascular system.
Myth #3: If my pet has heartworms, I will see them in her feces. Although many worm types, such as roundworms and tiny hookworms, are shed in your pet's feces, heartworms do not live in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and are not found in feces.
Once your dog has completed the course of steroids, heartworm preventive and antibiotics, he should be ready to start the actual adult heartworm treatment. The treatment for heartworm disease takes at least 60 days to complete and consists of a series of drug injections that kills the worms.
Heartworm disease, or dirofilariasis, is a serious and potentially fatal disease. It is caused by a blood-borne parasite known as Dirofilaria immitis. Adult heartworms are found in the heart, pulmonary artery, and adjacent large blood vessels of infected dogs.
Allowing vigorous activity at any time in these 8 weeks can cause the weakened heartworms to shatter, causing a clot of worm fragments that blocks off blood flow to the lungs, brain, or other organs (“shaking the tree” phenomenon). This causes a stroke or sudden death.
Your dog will also receive treatment to kill juvenile heartworms (microfilaria) either before or after their Melarsomine treatment. Your dog may need to spend the night in the hospital for observation on the day this treatment is administered.
Treatment Requires a Vet's Help
Once a positive test is confirmed, our veterinarians (in alignment with the American Heartworm Society) recommend treating adult heartworm infections with 3 treatments (injections) of a drug called melarsomine.
Proheart SR12 heartworm prevention yearly injection:
Up to 20kg – $141.00. Up to 35kg – $186.75. Up to 50kg – $232.50. Heartworm test – $67.50.
If owners can't afford treatment at the time of diagnosis, Dr. Herrin recommended delaying melarsomine therapy but still initiating treatment with both a preventive and doxycycline. This will prevent further infection and remove the dog as a heartworm reservoir.
What health criteria must my dog meet? We require all dogs who stay here to be current on the usual core vaccinations, as well as receiving a vaccination for Bordatella (kennel cough). Your dog must also be protected against heartworm and fleas, with no signs of parasite issues in his fecal sample.