Heartworms In Dogs - Useful Suggestions And Wisdom Acquired

There is an chestnut attributed to Benjamin Franklin which says, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This statement by him was originally meant as fire-fighting advice nonetheless it has now become helpful advice in numerous areas. One of them is the health of one's pets. When the topic is heartworms in dogs, this advice is extremely important. Learning how to prevent heartworms will likely be less difficult on your wallet than spending hard earned dough trying to remove this parasite once they have infected your beloved pet.

Many people do not recognize that this parasite is just transmitted to a dog by the bite of an infected mosquito. All 50 states in the usa and most countries all over the world have had reported cases. Some veterinarians have told pet owners to not worry because they are in low risk areas however you should still be wary that there is a chance your canine friend can get this disease.

Once an animal is infected it takes about seven months for the larvae to develop into mature adults. They then lodge themselves inside the heart, lungs and surrounding blood vessels. The true danger at this point from the infestation is the parasites will now reproduce in very large numbers. Would you believe that there may be as much as 250 worms alive in one dog? It's true. Although this is a serious case, it's not necessarily so rare. Besides, it will not take this many to become fatal to your dog.

Humans don't have to worry very much about becoming infected with heartworms as the actual cases where one has been in fact bitten by an infected mosquito, the infection was transmitted are rare. Heartworms do not reach the mature stage of the lifecycle within people. Because of this, they just do not reproduce. When detected, something which resembles a tumor will likely be present in a person's lungs. The truth is it is really a small lesion.

Finding information about heartworms in cats online

Also of note is the fact one dog won't infect other pets in the home. Heartworms in dogs is only passed by the bite of infected mosquitoes. If the dog is infected and it is bitten by a mosquito which then bites another animal, your dog is safe. The 2nd animal won't be infected by way of the now heartworm carrying insect. It has an incubation period in the insect once infected. Because of this, your next animal is safe before the mosquito actually becomes a carrier of the parasite.

Heartworms in dogs isn't something that you should ignore. Should you not treat the animal which has been infected, that animal can die. Prevention is indeed much cheaper than a cure. For only 35 to 80 dollars, depending on the size of your animal, you'll be able to buy enough medicine to avoid heartworms in dogs for an entire year. An exceedingly economical solution to what could be a extremely expensive situation to deal with.

Curing heartworms in dogs is not easy

While the expense of curing heartworms in dogs is expensive, just a small amount of care and prevention will keep your dog healthy for quite some time to come. Also, with all the new medicines to fight this condition, in addition, they help alleviate problems with roundworms, whipworms, and/or tapeworms. On the whole you will end up more content and also have the companionship of one's dog for quite some time into the future.