answersLogoWhite

0

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.

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

What else can I help you with?

Related Questions

What is the most frequent diagnosed form of heart disease in dogs?

Um, heart worms is the only thing I can come up with, but I'm not not that sure if it's heart worms, but dogs can get them by moskito bites, i think....


Do puppies get heartworms?

Yes, all dogs can get heart worms.


Can worms grow in one's heart?

No studies have shown that worms can grow in a human heart. However, heart worm is common in dogs. The worms can grow for 5-7 years in the heart. If untreated, animals can die in 1-2 days.


Can adult dogs die from chocolete?

yes very much so. dogs are not allowed to have sugar. it increases their chances of heart worms


Can adults get worms from dogs?

The answer is NO humans can not get worms from dogs


What nematode causes heartworm in dogs?

Its called a heart worm you can have your dog tested if negative start it on heart worm medicines if the dog has heart worms there are treatments for this also


What worm causes sever damage to a dogs heart?

Its called a heart worm you can have your dog tested if negative start it on heart worm medicines if the dog has heart worms there are treatments for this also


Does vinegar kill heartworms?

Vinegar will kill heart worms in some breeds of dogs. It also depends on how bad and how long your dog has had the worms that determines if vinegar will work or not.


Can dogs die from heartworm?

Yes, these worms can damage heart valves and heart muscle and otherwise simply impede blood flow by being in the way all of which can lead to congestive heart failure.


Can humans get infectedd with a heart worm?

I'm assuming that we can't, because if we did, then the super genious scientists/biologists would have been working to fight it. Although, we have heart worms in dogs. The reason as to why it's only dogs, I'm not sure.


Are horse worms different from dog worms?

Yes. Though the parasitic worms of horses are similar to the worms of dogs, they are not the the same. This means that horses won't pick up worms from dogs and vice versa.


Is ivomec dangerous to dogs?

if the dog has heart worms Ivomec will kill both the worm and the dog. If the dog is heart worm free it can be sued but Valbazen or panacur are better choices