Rescue Step 1: The Facts

     Gigi has heartworms.  I've never cared for a dog with heartworms before. I have seen the horrible images of tiny worms packed into a heart at the vets office.  They look scary.  I have to educate myself on heartworms... in laymen terms please.

Where do they come from?

Mosquitoes is the easy answer.  But to follow the worm life cycle you learn that the mosquito didn't make the worm, it just transmits it from host to host.  So a blood sucker mosquito bites a dog infected with heart worms, the infected blood carries a worm in the larval stage.  The larvae live in the mosquito and migrate to the saliva glands in the mosquito.  Then when the mosquito bites an animal, the larvae is injected into the host by the mosquitoes long pointy mouth and saliva.

Is it really a worm?

Yes.  Heartworms are parasitic roundworms.  The heartworm is a filaria.  A filara is a small threadlike worm. 

What happens once the mosquito bites the dog?

Once an infected mosquito bites the dog, the larvae is carried through the dogs bloodstream.  Their goal is to lodge in the lung arteries and grow.  This process takes between 3-6 months.  After the worm matures it moves into the right side of the heart and grows to 6-14 inches long.  Adult worms mate and produce a worm in the larvae stage (microfilaria).  The larvae circulate through the blood stream with the goal of lodging in the lung arteries to start the process over again.  However, sometimes the blood suckers ingest them and take them to a new pet.

What kind of damage can heartworms do to Gigi?

Heartworms impair blood circulation.  This impairment can lead to damage to the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.

What are the symptoms of heartworm disease?

Many dogs are asymptomatic. Which means they show no signs of the infestation.  This is the early stage of the disease, before most owners know the dog has worms invading it's heart.  This is where Gigi is right now. For dogs with more advanced heartworm disease the symptoms are coughing, difficulty breathing, tiring easily, listlessness, loss of weight and fainting.

How do we treat heartworms?

Treatment requires a trained veterinarian, homeopathic remedies are not effective.The adult worms are killed with an injectable drug given in a series of 2 injections.  A few days later, the worms begin to die, and are carried by way of the bloodstream to the lungs where they lodge into small blood vessels. They slowly decompose and are absorbed by the body over a period of several months.  After treatment, the dog must rest (restricted exercise) for several weeks so as to give its body sufficient time to absorb the dead worms without ill effect. Otherwise, when the dog is under exertion, dead worms may break loose and travel to the lungs. This can cause respiratory failure and death.  The course of treatment is not completed until several weeks later when the microfilariae (baby worms or larvae) are dealt with in a separate course of treatment. Once heartworm tests are negative, the treatment is considered a success.

What is the prognosis for Gigi after treatment?

Excellent.  Gigi will return to being a healthy dog, capable of strenuous exercise and play.