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.
Melarsomine dihydrochloride (available under the trade names Immiticide and Diroban) is an arsenic-containing drug that is FDA-approved to kill adult heartworms in dogs. It's given by deep injection into the back muscles to treat dogs with stabilized class 1, 2, and 3 heartworm disease.
Dogs can live for at least six to seven months after becoming infected with heartworms. This is because it takes that long for adult heartworms to grow. However, determining the exact date of infection is challenging.
A newer 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 by the time they are diagnosed."
With heartworm disease treatment can be extremely difficult even for the young otherwise healthy dogs but our senior dogs can see more severe side effects and death if progressed disease is present. Know that 1 in 10 dogs will develop some form of heart disease as they age.
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.
Discussion. Hemoptysis (expectoration or coughing up of blood) has been reported as a consequence of severe heartworm infection in dogs,2-6 although it remains a relatively uncommon finding. Even fewer reports exist of dogs coughing up or vomiting up adult heartworms.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
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.
Prognosis: heartworm treatment success rates
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.
Dogs with heartworm infections will feel weaker, and will find it harder to remain active, even in low-energy activities. Weight loss and loss of appetite. In more advanced stages of heartworm infections, your dog will find it hard to complete normal physical tasks like eating.
How long after heartworm treatment can a dog be active? According to Dr. Marteney, your dog will have to wait about six months after his diagnosis before he can get back to all his favorite activities.
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.
Because heartworms must be eliminated before they reach this adult stage, it is extremely important that heartworm preventives be administered strictly on schedule (monthly for oral and topical products and every 6 months or 12 months for the injectable).
As mentioned above, the infected blood is carried by affected mosquitoes from host to host. This means that if your dog is located in close proximity to another heartworm infected dog, the chances could be higher for your dog to be infected. They cannot be spread from one pet to another pet directly.
Six months after they bite your dog and inject those larval microfilariae heartworms into your dogs, it takes that six months for them to develop into that adult worm. So generally, it's anywhere from six to 12 months after they've been bitten; you may start noticing signs in your pet.
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.
A dog with heartworms will not live a long or healthy life—treatment is required for their survival. The adult worms are treated first, then a different method is used to kill the microfilariae and migrating larvae. They have to be eliminated separately, as no medication kills both.
The heartworm is one of the only mammal-dwelling parasites to be transmitted exclusively by mosquitoes. While other common parasitic worms are transferred via feces, heartworms cannot be passed directly from one host to another.
They can be controlled naturally with citrus oils, cedar oils, and diatomaceous earth. Dogs needing conventional treatment may benefit from herbs such as milk thistle and homeopathics such as berberis; these minimize toxicity from the medications and dying heartworms.
Spring time is notoriously known as “heartworm season” for many pet owners as well as “flea and tick season”. There is truth to this! Springtime is when all of the creepy crawlies begin to come out of their hibernation and start infecting our pets (and sometimes us!) to start their lifecycles.
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.
Middle to late-stage symptoms of dog heartworm include:
Enlarged liver or heart. Panting at rest. Exercise intolerance. Fluid backup into the lungs and abdomen.
Dogs that have a high number of heartworms often develop symptoms such as pronounced and persistent coughing, difficulty breathing, and exercise intolerance. In more severe cases, dogs may also experience fainting or collapse, pale mucous membranes, weakness, elevated heart rate (tachycardia) and severe lethargy.
Stage 4 – Heartworms have caused severe damage to the animals heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. In this stage, Caval syndrome is likely. Caval syndrome is when there is such a large amount of worms blocking blood flow to the heart that it creates a sudden life-threatening problem in need of quick surgical intervention.