Mosquitoes blown great distances by the wind and the relocation of infected pets to previously uninfected areas also contribute to the spread of heartworm disease (this happened following Hurricane Katrina when 250,000 pets, many of them infected with heartworms, were “adopted” and shipped throughout the country).
Stray and neglected dogs and certain wildlife such as coyotes, wolves, and foxes can be carriers of heartworms.
Heartworm disease is also spreading to new regions of the country each year. Your community may have a greater incidence of heartworm disease than you realize-or you may unknowingly travel with your pet to an area where heartworms are more common. Many factors must be considered, even if heartworms do not seem to be a problem in your local area. How significant is my cat's risk for heartworm infection? Unfortunately, the first sign in some cases is sudden collapse of the cat, or sudden death. Occasionally an affected cat may have difficulty walking, experience fainting or seizures, or suffer from fluid accumulation in the abdomen. Symptoms may include coughing, asthma-like attacks, periodic vomiting, lack of appetite, or weight loss. Signs of heartworm disease in cats can be very subtle or very dramatic. What are the signs of heartworm disease in cats? Because of the longevity of these worms, each mosquito season can lead to an increasing number of worms in an infected pet. Once mature, heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years in dogs and up to 2 or 3 years in cats. Once inside a new host, it takes approximately 6 months for the larvae to mature into adult heartworms.
#SIRDS IN DOGS SKIN#
Then, when the infected mosquito bites another dog, cat, or susceptible wild animal, the infective larvae are deposited onto the surface of the animal's skin and enter the new host through the mosquito’s bite wound. When a mosquito bites and takes a blood meal from an infected animal, it picks up these baby worms, which develop and mature into “infective stage” larvae over a period of 10 to 14 days.
Adult female heartworms living in an infected dog, fox, coyote, or wolf produce microscopic baby worms called microfilaria that circulate in the bloodstream. The mosquito plays an essential role in the heartworm life cycle. How is heartworm disease transmitted from one pet to another? Moreover, the medication used to treat heartworm infections in dogs cannot be used in cats, so prevention is the only means of protecting cats from the effects of heartworm disease. While this means heartworm disease often goes undiagnosed in cats, it’s important to understand that even immature worms cause real damage in the form of a condition known as heartworm associated respiratory disease (HARD). Cats with adult heartworms typically have just one to three worms, and many cats affected by heartworms have no adult worms. The cat is an atypical host for heartworms, and most worms in cats do not survive to the adult stage. Heartworm disease in cats is very different from heartworm disease in dogs. For this reason, prevention is by far the best option, and treatment-when needed-should be administered as early in the course of the disease as possible.Ĭats. Heartworm disease causes lasting damage to the heart, lungs and arteries, and can affect the dog’s health and quality of life long after the parasites are gone. If untreated, their numbers can increase, and dogs have been known to harbor several hundred worms in their bodies. The dog is a natural host for heartworms, which means that heartworms that live inside the dog mature into adults, mate and produce offspring. Because wild species such as foxes and coyotes live in proximity to many urban areas, they are considered important carriers of the disease. Heartworm disease affects dogs, cats and ferrets, but heartworms also live in other mammal species, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, sea lions and-in rare instances-humans. It is caused by foot-long worms (heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs and associated blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure and damage to other organs in the body. Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the United States and many other parts of the world.
0 kommentar(er)
