Heartworm disease will cause many different health problems in your dog. The organs primarily affected are:

• Heart
• Lungs

The disease can also affect the liver and kidneys.

The symptoms can sometimes be barely detectable and dogs with a low number of adult worms in the body, that are not exercised strenuously, may never show  signs of heartworm disease.  Unfortunately in most dogs the heart and lungs are the major organs affected by heartworms, so the symptoms are generally visible when you know what to look for.

• Coughing
• Inability to exercise and lack of breath

Your Vet will be able to detect other clinical signs such as abnormal heart sounds, abnormal lung sounds, swelling in the liver. The Vet will then perform a blood  test to confirm the infection and should the tests be positive, treatment options can be discussed.

Treatment

Most pets  infected with heartworm can be treated with a high level of success. The aim of the treatment is to kill off all of the adult worms, together with any of the parasites and lava that are present in the dogs system.

It is essential to accomplish this with a minimum of harmful effects from drugs and a tolerable degree of complications created by the dying heartworms.  Infected dogs that are showing no signs,  or only mild signs, have a far higher success rate than dogs displaying severe symptoms.

If your pet shows  evidence of severe heartworm disease it can still be successfully treated, but with an increased possibility of complications and the rate of deaths  is far greater.  Some dogs may well have Heartworm in addition to other life-threatening diseases. In many cases this may well  prevent treatment for the heartworm infection.

Your Vet will administer the required drugs whilst your pet is hospitalised. It is an arsenic compound that kills the worm, however the complications are numerous and include dead worms  and fragments clogging arteries, resulting in sudden and immediate death.  Dogs  undergoing treatment should have no exrecise at all and your Vet will discuss a future exercise programme, depending upon individual cases.

Treatment and cure of Heatworm is the last option and can be easily prevented by administering a simple Heartworm Preventative.