The Importance of Heartworm Prevention

Dogs are some of the most loyal, protective, and loving animals on the planet, and we often don’t deserve the unconditional companionship they offer. If you own a dog and want to ensure that they stay healthy and are able to continue to offer companionship, it’s up to us to take care of them. 

One of the most important things you can do as a dog owner is understand the importance of heartworm prevention. Heartworms are silent killers that we can’t see, but they kill dogs from the inside out by attacking the heart and other vital organs. If you want to keep your dog safe from heartworms, putting them on preventative medicine is your best option. 

1. How Does Heartworm Prevention Work? 
2. Why is Heartworm Prevention Important? 
3. Different Treatment Options for Heartworm Disease
4. Limitations of Heartworm Prevention 
5. Conclusion 
6.  

How Does Heartworm Prevention Work? 

Heartworm prevention, while being crucial and life-sustaining, is a very simple process. You have three options if you want to put your dog on heartworm prevention. 

Chewable pills or tablets that your dog eats every month. It’s best to disguise these tablets as treats or coat them lightly in peanut butter to get your dog excited about them. 

• Injection from a needle and syringe that is given to your dog by a veterinarian every six or twelve months. These injections work like any other vaccination and are mostly painless. 
• A topical application with a heartworm prevention liquid that you rub on your dog's back each month. 

The goal of heartworm prevention is to keep your dog safe from heartworm known as Dirofilaria immitis. This worm gets into your dog's system when they’re bitten by infected mosquitos who pass the disease through their saliva. Usually, several worms get passed with a single bite. Once inside your dog, the worms grow into adults, mate, and produce offspring. 

If your dog isn’t on heartworm prevention, the offspring are able to grow into adults and are the ones that will eventually cripple and kill. If your dog is on heartworm prevention, however, the medication will kill the heartworm larvae in their infancy and protect your dog. 

Why is Heartworm Prevention Important? 

Heartworm prevention is important because it’s the only line of defense that your dog has against deadly heartworm parasites. Here is what the process will look like if your dog becomes infected with heartworms. 

1. A male and female heartworm from a single bite will mate and have offspring. 
2. The offspring are released into your dog’s bloodstream and enter the heart. 
3. Anywhere from one to 250 heartworms can travel to your dog's heart and wrap themselves around it, looking similar to spaghetti or Angel hair pasta. 
4. Heartworms take anywhere from five to seven years to fully grow and take the ultimate toll on your dog. 
5. Once they’re full-grown, however, heartworms will destroy your dog from the inside out. 
6. They wrap themselves around your dog's heart and block blood flow to vital parts of the body. 
7. Symptoms that your dog will exhibit include vomiting, lethargy, weight loss, a swollen stomach, no appetite, coughing, and difficulty breathing. 
8. Symptoms will vary from dog to dog depending on how many heartworms are inside of them. 

While not all forms of heartworm disease are fatal, many of them are. It all comes down to the number of heartworms your dog has in its system. Only one or two heartworms likely aren’t going to kill your dog, but it will impede their way of life. The dangerous thing is that heartworms will continue to reproduce throughout their lifetime and have the potential to multiply. Heartworm prevention is the only way to keep this from happening. 

Limitations of Heartworm Prevention 

It’s important to understand that heartworm prevention is only effective against heartworm larvae that are less than one to two months old. If heartworms have the chance to reach adulthood, your dog will require other treatments to eradicate the adults. 

Different Treatment Options for Heartworm Disease

If heartworm disease does indeed fully manifest in your dog, you have a few treatment options at your disposal. However, none of these treatments are foolproof and many of them have terrible side effects. These treatments work similarly to how chemo and radiation work in cancer treatment. They’re the best option for treating heartworm disease, but the side effects are devastating. Here are your options. 

• Melarsomine dihydrochloride

This drug contains arsenic and is one of the few FDA-approved treatments for killing adult heartworms. The drug is administered through an injection deep into your dog’s back and has the ability to kill most heartworms unless your dog has reached a Class 4 infection. 

• Advantage Multi for Dogs 

This medication is a topical application that you will need to rub on your dog’s back. It oozes its way into your dog’s bloodstream and kills adult heartworms that are lying therein. 

• Surgery 

If your dog has reached a Class 4 infection, which is when there are so many heartworms around your dog's heart that they’ve started blocking the flow of blood. This usually happens when your dog has in excess of a hundred heartworms and can have up to 250 at a time. Surgery is necessary to physically extract the heartworm before they cause your dog’s heart to completely shut down. 

No matter which treatment option you choose, it’s bound to be expensive, painful to your dog, and tough for you to watch your dog go through. They will be forced to go through a series of tests, treatments, x-rays, and more. Extensive treatments can cause other problems with your dog including organ failure, sickness, and even death. 

Conclusion 

As you can see, heartworms are one of the biggest dangers to your dog. The effect that they have and the toll they take are tough to witness and even tougher to treat. Rather than running the risk of having your dog go through heartworm disease and paying the high price to restore their health, you should consider other options. Starting your dog on a consistent heartworm medication once they reach the age of six or seven months is the best way to keep them safe.