Canine heartworm is a serious and potentially fatal disease of dogs.\u00a0 It is caused by parasitic nematodes (roundworms) called Dirofilaria immitis.\u00a0 Heartworm infections have also been reported in cats, ferrets, foxes, coyotes, wolves, seals and sea lions.\u00a0Mosquitoes pick up heartworm parasites when they feed on animals that have heartworm infections.\u00a0 Infected mosquitoes then bite other animals or dogs, which causes the disease to spread.\u00a0 The disease does not spread directly from dog to dog.<\/p>\n
Adult heartworms living in a dog’s heart produce immature heartworms called microfilaria and release them into a dog’s bloodstream.\u00a0 These microfilaria can be picked up by a mosquito as it bites a dog.\u00a0 In the mosquito, the microfilaria develop into infective stage larva in 10 – 14 days.\u00a0 When the mosquito feeds on another dog, these infective stage larva move out of the mosquito’s body and enter the dog’s body through the hole in the dog’s skin made by the mosquito as it fed.\u00a0 The worms then move slowly through the dog’s bloodstream until they reach the heart.\u00a0 This can take up to 6 months.\u00a0 By the time they reach the heart they have become adult worms, and can be 6 – 14 inches in length.\u00a0 They are usually found in the pulmonary artery near the right side of the heart and also in the lungs.\u00a0 Adult heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years.\u00a0 Infections of several hundred worms have been reported, but this is very unusual.\u00a0 Infected cats have fewer and smaller worms than dogs.<\/p>\n
In California, the responsible vector is primarily the Western Treehole Mosquito (Aedes sierrensis).\u00a0 Aedes sierrensis breeds in cavities in trees that can hold rain or irrigation water.\u00a0 Older trees in city parks and residential yards and dense groupings of oak trees in the foothills and mountains can provide annual breeding grounds for springtime hatches of these mosquitoes.\u00a0 Control of treehole mosquitoes can be difficult, especially in areas with many trees.<\/p>\n
Infections with just a few worms can have serious consequences. \u00a0Veterinary care\u00a0is important to re-establish\u00a0your pet’s good health.\u00a0 Since most dogs do not exhibit symptoms in the early stages of infection, annual testing at your vet’s office is the best method for insuring early detection.\u00a0 Dog heartworm medications can control and kill immature and adult heartworms.\u00a0 There is no vaccine to prevent infections, but there are highly effective medications.\u00a0 Your veterinarian can help you choose the right medication and prevention schedule for your pet.<\/p>\n
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Canine heartworm is a serious and potentially fatal disease of dogs.\u00a0 It is caused by parasitic nematodes (roundworms) called Dirofilaria immitis.\u00a0 Heartworm infections have also been reported in cats, ferrets, foxes, coyotes, wolves, seals and sea lions.\u00a0Mosquitoes pick up heartworm parasites when they feed on animals that have heartworm infections.\u00a0 Infected mosquitoes then bite other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1753,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4419,"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4418\/revisions\/4419"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sutter-yubamvcd.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}