Heartworms in Your Dog

By Joseph Devine

For most, dogs usually become like part of the family because of the bond that you make with the pet. If your dog becomes sick, you want to know everything that you can do to make your pet feel better. Heartworms are a disease, in dogs, that can cause severe damage if you don't catch it in the beginning.

Heartworms are defined as parasitic worms that live in the right ventricle of a dog's heart. Heartworms can be a dangerous disease for a dog if it's not treated in the beginning stages. Once the disease has developed, the heartworms will begin producing larvae; the larvae will develop and continue the cycle. After a period of time, this cycle will lead to many heartworms feeding off of your dog which will make your pet very sick. One factor that you should be aware of is that heartworms are transferred through mosquito bites. Since the heartworms live in your dog's blood, the mosquito will bite your dog, draw blood, then go to another dog to do the same thing. Because the mosquito has the heartworms in the blood, heartworms would then be transferred to anything else the mosquito bit.

Heartworms are almost always curable with medicine from your local Philadelphia vet clinic. Depending on how severe the heartworms are will determine how long the medicine will be administered to the dog. The earlier you catch the heartworms the less medicine your pet will need to have to become healthy again.

If you want your dog to be checked, there are many tests your Philadelphia vet clinic can do to check for heartworms. One of the first tests that your vet will suggest is a blood test for your dog. For a blood test, the vet will draw blood from your dog to inspect it. They will then put one drop of blood, on a slide, under the microscope. If they find that there are any larvae in it, they will immediately begin heartworms treatment for your dog. One of the downsides to this method is that it requires a larger infection of heartworms to detect it. If there are only a few in your dog, it can often be undetectable. There are many other forms of testing that your Philadelphia vet clinics can recommend. They will also be able to explain details of each test, so you can choose the one that will be best for your family dog.

For more information on heartworms in dogs, contact the Philadelphia Vet Clinics at http://www.philadelphiaveterinarianclinics.com Joseph Devine