Heartworm Clinical Signs of Infection – If you have been a dog owner before, you should have heard of heartworms and the clinical signs of infection. These parasitic organisms are filarial worms which survive in the body of dogs; the arteries of the lungs to be exact. Not only will dog be infected by such parasitic worms, other animals like wolves, foxes, cats, to name but a few can also be infected. Such infection is considered parasitism as the host will only be harmed by the worms while the worms benefit from its host. The infected heart and lungs can be damaged by these little creatures and if left untreated, the infection can lead to death pof the host.

The canine heartworms can be contagious as they can be transferred from one dog to another via mosquito bite. Once the dog catches the infection, these heartworm larvae can go undetected until about half a year later. The male heartworms measuring about 4 to 6 inches are usually shorter in length as compared to the females which can be as long as 12 inches.

What Are The Heartworm Clinical Signs of Infection

These young larvae can live in the body of the dog and gradually develop into adult heartworms. The matured heartworms can live in the system of the host for more than five years. Canine heartworms, also known as Microfilaremia is not uncommon health problem of dogs, so if your dog is treated earlier, it can regain its health fully again. Hence, how do you really know if your furry friend is suffering from heartworms? All you have to do is to look out for the heart worm clinical signs of infection in order to save the life of our pet.

As mentioned, the infection can go undetected for half a year from the day your dog was bitten by the mosquito, so you will not be able to observe any heart worm clinical signs of infection during this period. Although heartworms will ultimately land in the heart and lungs of the host, there are rare cases where these young larvae find themselves in other parts of the body like the eyes and blood vessels of the limbs and brain.

When such rare cases happened, an uncommon heart worm clinical signs of infection occur such as seizure, lameness and blindness. There are times when you cannot detect any such symptoms even after more than a year from the time of infection. The reason is because the infection is not really serious.

Heartworm Clinical Signs of Infection – What To Do

To put it simply, when you can see the heartworm clinical signs of infection, it means that health conditions of your dog is serious and need immediate attention. When there are large number of living in the dog’s system, damage can be done to the body system causing the cardio failure eventually. There are cases where the caudal vena cava is severely infected by these parasitic round worms and if not treated, the dog can die in a few days time.

Heartworm Clinical Signs of Infection – Prevention

Prevention is always better than cure. However, dogs need to exercise and run outdoors, so it can sometime be difficult to prevent such infection. Always look out for heartworm clinical signs of infection, so that such infection can be detected earlier and treatment can be arranged in time. If you do regular check up for your dog, your vet would also advice you to give your pet some preventive medication against these heartworms. Heartworm Clinical Signs of Infection

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1. Canine Heartworm Disease