Pet Healthcare Info: Heartworms

Lifecycle of a Heartworm: How they Get Around
The first thing that happens in the heartworm development process is the adult female heartworm releases her young or the microfilariae into a cat or dog’s bloodstream. Then, when mosquito’s feed on the infected animal, they become infected as well. In 10 to 14 days, the microfilariae mature to the infective larval stage within the mosquito. The mosquito then goes on to bite other animals, thus passing the microfilariae onto the new animal through the bite wound. It then takes 6 months for the larvae to mature into full blown heartworms and can live up to 7 years in dogs and 2-3 years in cats.

Signs of Heartworm Disease
It’s hard to detect in recently infected animals, however heavily-infected animals may exhibit a persistent cough, fatigue, reduced appetite, and weight loss.

Prevention
Heartworm disease is very preventable. If you are a pet owner you should most definitely talk to your pet healthcare provider about how to protect their pets from this dangerous disease. White treatment for heartworms in dogs is treatable, it’s untreatable in cats, so it’s imperative that cat owners take the necessary precautions to keep their animal healthy.

There are daily and monthly heartworm pills you can give your pet that are widely popular and quite effective in preventing an infection. There are also monthly topical treatments and an injection for dog only, that you can get every six months.

If you are concerned about heartworm prevention, you may want to consider a veterinary discount program. This can save you hundreds on dollars on vet visits and prescriptions from your vet, including heartworm medication.