Heartworms are parasites that most commonly affect dogs, although vets have come to realize the cats can also infected with them as well. All internal infestation is bad for your pet’s health but heartworms, if left unchecked and untreated can cause serious damage to their internal organs, especially the heart and lungs, and eventually prove fatal.

An animal acquires a heartworm infection from mosquitoes, to which they are of course often exposed to during the course of their every day walk, however careful you may be. Not all mosquitoes carry the infection, but if one that does bites your pet the larvae that form can grow in a heartworm that can be 7” to 11” inches long.

Heartworm infection can be diagnosed by a veterinarian by means of a simple blood test, and it is advised that pet owners get their cat or dog tested on a regular basis to ensure that they are free from this and all other parasitic infections.  When first infected the animal may show very little in the way of external symptoms and by the time they do display  the classic signs of heartworm infection -  weight loss, lethargy, respiratory difficulties and unexplained dehydration – it may be too late to treat their condition successfully, so these regular checkups really are advisable.

If an animal does fall victim to heartworm infection, getting them professional medical treatment as soon as possible is crucial. Veterinarians have a number of medications available to them these days to kill of the adult worms and prevent the growth of larvae. In many cases these are indeed enough to effect a successful cure, but if the heartworm is particularly large , or occupying a dangerous area of the body  such as the heart or lungs then surgery has to be resorted to remove it and hopefully spare the infected animals life.

It is always best to implement preventative measures against any disease of course if they are available, whether you are talking about a human or a canine. There are such measures available to guard both dogs and cats against heartworms and the complications they cause.

There are a number of good treatments available, but they usually can only be dispensed with a veterinarians prescription (did you know that the FDA even regulate pet medications?) These can come in form of pills or injectables and a veterinarian will decide which one best suits an individual animal. There are also lotions that can be applied topically, which may be easier to use if you have a nervous animal, or one that simply will not take medications, even if disguised in their food.

It can be hard to keep animals away from those pesky mosquitoes altogether of course, but since stagnant water is a great attractor of the pests, exercising your dog near them in the summer puts him at extra risk of being bitten and infected and should be avoided, as should very long grass, which contain all kinds of other harmful ticks as well.