Veterinarians warn that with temperatures rising, heartworm parasites will now begin to mature, causing problems for your pets. Vets have declared this to be the heartworm season and they are urging pet-owners to start administering heartworm medications to their pets. According to them, the parasites start maturing when the temperature reaches 57 degrees and they can infect both cats and dogs. Though the disease is curable in case of dogs, it is not so in case of cats.

Symptoms of heartworm include weight loss, coughing, and loss of energy. Vets advise to give one heartworm tablet to your pet every month as soon as you notice such symptoms. Doing so would kill the parasites before they reach the pet’s heart. Vets also urge pet-owners to get their pets tested even if there are no symptoms. “The infection can be sub–clinical, meaning there aren’t any symptoms and so that’s why it’s important to get them tested,” says Dr. Julie Becker of Tiara Rado Animal Hospital. It is advisable to get the tests done on a yearly basis. 

Heartworm is a mosquito-borne disease. The adult female heartworms release microfilariae, the young larvae, which matures to the infective larval stage in 10-14 days. At this point, if the mosquito bites a dog or a cat, the larvae enter the animal’s body through the bite wound. In around six months the infective larvae matures into adult heartworms.

The heartworm can live in a dog’s body for up to 7 years. The adult worms can reach the lungs, heart and nearby blood vessels. Once they have lodge themselves in one of these sites they feed upon the animal’s blood and start reproducing. At a given point a dog can be host to as many as 250 heartworms.

Heartworm, if left untreated, can cause death of your pet. If detected, heartworm is treated with an injectable, arsenic-based drug known as Immiticide. 2-3 injections are enough to ensure the death of all adult heartworms in the pet’s body. But once the treatment begins it is important to keep your pet quiet. This is because as the worms die they break into pieces and block the pulmonary vessels. This as often resulted into death. Hence you should keep your dog quiet for several months after the treatment and also take care not to make it exercise.

Given the cost of treatment of heartworm and the trouble the pet goes through it is advisable to take preventive measure to in order to prevent your pet from becoming infected with heartworms. There are several preventive medications available in the market, including monthly pills, topical medications as well as six-month injectable products. The American Heartworm Society advises year-round heartworm prevention, even during the winter months when there are no mosquitoes.

Heartworm disease is prevalent in all the 50 states of US. Even areas such as Oregon, California, Arizona as well as the desert areas have reported instances of heartworm disease.