Causes of Heartworms in Dogs

Heartworms can be contracted by dogs when they get bitten by Heartworm-transmitting mosquitoes. Since dogs truly play a role as man’s best friends, it is but right to protect our furry friends from the harms that they are exposed to regarding possible infection with Heartworms.

Heartworm is a disease that is caused by a parasite that is scientifically known as Dirofilaria immitis. These are worms that can wreck havoc to the circulatory system and the nearby parts of the dog’s body.

Mosquitoes serve as effective carriers in transmitting the infected larvae into any dog whose systems are not strong enough. If they do not get to prick right into the dog’s body, they would leave the larvae on the dog’s coat of hair, undetected. It would be up to the larvae to tunnel their way going inside the dog’s body. These larvae would take time to hatch in the bloodstream of the dog.

They would then transform into their second form, as worms. As they grow, they would increase in length, even up to a foot long. These worms also mate and reproduce more larvae called microfilariae inside the dog’s body.

The typical life span of these parasites is six to seven months which gives them plenty of time and chances to damage the system of the dog. During the hatching and transformation period of the larvae, the dog acts normally. The presence of these parasites would stay undetected unless the dog will undergo the necessary laboratory tests. The dog’s state could not be seen by just the naked eyes.

One fact though is that the infected dog cannot directly contaminate other dogs. However, the initially infected dog would serve as the breeding source of these worms, especially when the worms have already resided for quite a long time inside.

Usually, it takes four to five months for the symptoms of the disease to show up. As the larvae multiply, they would take up the bloodstream and the dog’s pumping of blood would be hampered. The heart then has to pump harder. When the heart becomes overworked, it would grow larger and larger. An enlarged heart is not good because it would only be able to keep and pump lesser amount of blood. The harder the heart works, the larger it would be. This would eventually lead to heart failure. The worms would also irritate the arteries that go toward the lungs. This would result to scars in the lung tissue.

When the lungs are damaged, this reduces their ability to transfer oxygen into the blood to be distributed to the whole body. All these damages would eventually kill the dog.