Heartworm Treatment For Dogs
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Having looked at generic heartworm treatments to keep your Dog free of heartworms here at heartworm for Dogs I wanted to take a look at the heartworm treatment for Dogs. We really do want to avoid the later stages of heartworms in our Dogs. Once the heartworms have reached adult size they can pose a very serious risk to our Dogs health. After being introduced to our Dogs at the larval stage by the worm carrying mosquito the young heartworms will gradually grow and can be up to seven inches or more in length.
These adult heartworms may have taken a year or more to grow to adult size and they will have made their way to the heart where they can cause a serious problem. They are predominantly to be found in the right ventricle.
Treating Heartworm For Dogs
The good news at least is that heartworms, if treated, often result in a complete recovery for the Dog. They can be dangerous but if treated correctly then our pets should pull through. Once heartworms are suspected then your Vet will have to assess your Dog to ensure the health of its liver and kidneys. The adult heartworms are then treated, surprisingly, with an arsenic based treatment.
After the treatment the Dog will need to have rest for weeks and this is the most dangerous part of the treatment. The heartworms in the Dog are going to actually be absorbed in to its body and it needs complete rest for this to happen satisfactorily.
Why Dogs Need To Rest After Adult Heartworm Treatment
If a Dog has been treated with melarsamine to destroy the adult heartworms then it needs total rest. This is because until the adult worms have been absorbed they continue to be a great risk to the Dog. If the Dog moves around too energetically then the heartworms may become dislodged and travel to the lungs. This could be life threatening so complete rest is always advised.
It will be a few weeks before the treatment is over and they will also need to be treated for the larval stages of heartworm which may also be present. The treatment for adult heartworms does not destroy the larval stages.
Keeping Dogs Free Of Heartworms
The best way to avoid these dangers is to give a monthly treatment of heartworm medicine. Either the named brands such as Heartgard or the more generic heartworm medicines that are available. These monthly treatments will kill the larval worms that may have been introduced up to a month previously and will then continue to guard against the larvae carrying mosquitos. Anyone who lives in an area where heartworms is a possibility should try to treat their Dog on a monthly basis to avoid adult heartworm complications.
For lots of information on heartworms in Dogs then the wikipedia page has a lot of very useful information.
A note of caution. Before treating with a monthly heartworm medicine all vets advise that Dogs are first tested to ensure that they do not have any adult heartworms present. Only then should the monthly preventative measure be taken. This is to ensure there are no dangers when giving a monthly heartworm treatment for Dogs.