How do dogs get heart worms?

Answer 1

The best advice is to take the dog to your veterinarian. The veterinarian will determine the condition of your dog and the best course of action to follow. Obviously, the typical course of action is to treat the dog for the disease.

But here is the "preach." As the adage goes, "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure." Heartworm disease is easily prevented with the preventatives which are currently available. Routine heartworm testing is also strongly recommended. It is very expensive and risky to treat heartworm infected dogs, so thinking you are saving money by not heartworm testing and not giving preventative is ill-advised, just hoping your dog will not get heartworm disease.

The treatment can be very dangerous and you must follow the recommendations of your veterinarian. When a dog or cat is wormed for intestinal parasites the worms are killed by the drug and pass out of the body in the feces. However, in heartworm disease, as the heartworms are in the heart and the blood vessels from the lungs, it is a "closed" system and if the worms are "killed" by the drug, they would be swept into the lungs, leading to sudden death. That is why the drugs used to treat heartworm disease are drugs that "slowly" kill the heartworms so that the body can slowly "absorb" them. In addition, it is important to keep the activity restricted as too much activity during the treatment period could cause the dying worms to move into the lungs quickly, causing severe problems.

There is a relatively new protocol that has been recommended by the American Heartworm Society which veterinarians are familiar with and is very different from the old protocol that was used. There have been problems obtaining the drug which has been used for treatment (as of this writing) as it is in limited supply.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible for dogs to become infected with heartworms when on Heartgard. This is because dogs may vomit within minutes or hours after taking their heartworm medication and thus not digest all of it. Dogs may also simply not eat all of the pill, either because they don't want to or because they drop a portion of it when chewing it. This isn't a common occurance, but it does happen.

Answer 3

Yes, any type of worm found in a dog can transfer from the carrier to any other animal, dog, cat, human. If a dog has worms, get de-worming medicine from a vet for all dogs in your home, and minimize contact with the dog (wash hands after petting, NO kisses). Don't neglect the dog, but be safe.

Answer 4

Dogs get heartworms when bitten by an infected mosquito. Heartworms are not passed through the feces of an infected dog.

Answer 5

Heart worms may be acquired by eating the feces of an affected dog or by being bitten by an infected mosquito.

Answer 6

if dogs cough do they have heartwarms