Brilliant Dogs Blog
Dog Care
Dog Grooming
Dog Health Care
Dog Recreation
Dog Socialization
Dog Training
Greyhounds
Pit Bulls
Puppies
New Dog Articles
4 important tips to help get rid of your dogs bad breath
Mouth Tooth Disorders Drooling reluctance to chewing misaligned bite
Dog flea Prevention and natural remedy for dog fleas
Basic questions on neutering the male dog
Taking care of your Dogs Feet
How to clean your dog of SKUNK spray
Ringworms Disposing of your dogs ringworm problem
Natural ways to prevent and treat Arthritis in dogs
Dog Flea Detecting dog fleas
Heartworms All natural prevention and treatment for your dog
|
 |
Heartworms: What are heartworms?
The heartworm got its name from the fact that this parasite actually inhabits the heart of your dog to which they can grow as long as eleven inches. In some few cases of heartworm infestation, your dog may experience breathing difficulty, persistent coughing, weakness and fatigue. However, when left untreated, your dog can develop heart failure in an extreme case of heartworm infestation
Mature heartworms create young heartworms called microfilaria. These young heartworms circulate through your dog's bloodstream during a mosquito bite. When the mosquito bites your dog, it can ingest these tiny young heartworms that could later on infect another dog. Once the mosquito carries the young heartworms to a new dog, the parasites go through about two more growing stages under the dog's skin, after which they enter the bloodstream through nearby veins.
After reaching your dog's heart, these tiny heartworms remain there and make it their new home where they mature and reproduce more tiny heartworms. This cycle takes an average of six months after the original mosquito bite.
In order to diagnose the presence of heartworms, your vet checks for microfilaria in your dog's blood. But the presence of these tiny heartworms alone may not cause any symptoms of illness.
A few of these parasites are not strong enough to cause any problem and your dog may not have to go through any kind of treatment and medication. In fact, only a small percentage of dogs in an area may become noticeably sick from heartworm. It usually requires a heavy infestation from a large number of worms for your dog to show any symptom of illness.
Sidenote: Detailed tests went into building this web location for you to come to. It took a tremendous amount of time and perseverance to compile this file on and pick the best links for you. A major strategic advantage that online retailers have over absolute global organizations is the authority to move and adjust to changing demands in web surfers.
Once your dog show symptoms of this illness however, treatment can be rather difficult and your dog will most likely be hospitalized. The drugs used during the treatment are very toxic and harsh on your dog. For that reason, the best way of preventing heartworm infestation is through preventive measures.
Your vet will more likely prescribe certain drugs to inhibit young heartworms while they are just starting to grow under the skin. Most vets will advise you to give your dog daily doses of this medication several weeks before the mosquito season starts.
He may also advise you to continue on with the treatment until about two months after the mosquito season is over. This could mean year round in some parts of the country where the climate is always mostly warm.
Your vet may also recommend another form of treatment that is only given once a month. This treatment kills all the baby heartworms that have accumulated during that months and thereby preventing the start of infestation.
Writing this article was hard - but fascinating - work. We spent hours researching this material and crafting it painstakingly into an article that will provide you with useful, valuable, practical information.
And the end result was worth all the hard work! Don't you agree? Drop us a quick note to share your thoughts and comments.
Related Articles:
Dogs & Heartworms
If your dog has heartworms then he more than likely received it from a mosquito bite. Mosquitoes in most any part of the country carry these heartworms, particularly on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. If your dog is not protected by preventative...
4 Tips to aid your dog of Diarrhea
Is your dog having a problem with diarrhea? Does he have "accidents" while trying to get outside to go to the bathroom? While your dog may not loosing too much sleep over the problem, there is no doubt that you are not happy with the runny mess...
Mouth & Tooth Disorders: Drooling, reluctance to chewing, misaligned bite
Excessive Drooling
If your dog is showing sings of excessive drooling then it may be caused by a salivary cyst, a periodontal disease, tongue injury, or simply a foreign object. Salivary cysts look like large blisters that occur under the...
Dog disease: How Rabies can affect your dog
Rabies is a disease that occurs in mostly all warm blooded animals. However, dogs, bats, foxes, raccoons, and other meat eaters are the majority of victims of this dog disease. Humans are also at risk in acquiring this type of dog disease.
...
Dog Flea: Detecting dog fleas
Every time you give your dog his regular grooming session, it is very important that you carefully examine his coat and skin. Aside from making sure that the coat and skin are clean and have a pleasant smell to them, you should also check to make...
|