Training My dog

Maybe you have heard the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin was giving some fire fighting advice but he may as well been speaking to pet owners and the care of their dogs. This is especially true when it comes to heartworms in dogs. Prevention is notably cheaper than the cure and this is what it is advisable to know.

It is important to realize that heartworms are only transmitted with the bite of an infected mosquitoes. There has been reported cases of heartworms in dogs reported in all 50 states of America in addition to most every country on the planet. The vet might convince you since you have a home in a dry area that your pet isn’t in danger of catching this disease but the simple fact is that in case you have even seen one mosquito in your area, your pet could catch heartworms.

Larvae takes about seven months to develop into mature adults within an animal once it has been infected. They then lodge themselves inside the heart, lungs and surrounding blood vessels. The actual danger at this time from the infestation stands out as the parasites will reproduce in large numbers. There has been many cases where a dog has over 250 worms in its system.

Humans don’t have to worry that much about becoming infected with heartworms because the actual cases where an individual has been in fact bitten by an infected mosquito, the infection was transmitted are rare. Heartworms are not able to reach the mature stage of the lifecycle inside of people. Because of this, they cannot reproduce. What may occur is the development of a small lesion in the lungs of the person infected. This could appear to be a tumor but it is not.

Finding information about heartworms on the web

Your first question is likely to be; can one dog inside my household infect my other pets? The simple fact is no, this could not happen. Heartworms in dogs is only passed via the bite of infected mosquitoes. This is certainly true even tough a mosquito bites a dog which is carrying the parasite and after that flies over and bites another pet. Heartworms in dogs will not be transmitted to that other pet. It has an incubation period in the insect once infected. Because of this, your second animal is safe until the mosquito actually becomes a carrier of the parasite.

Heartworms in dogs can be a terrible disease and must be treated or it may cause the death to your beloved pet. And prevention can be quite economical with a years supply of medicine costing somewhere around 35 to 80 dollars depending on the size of the dog.

Curing heartworms is not easy

The treatment of heartworms in dogs is crazy. It will cost a lot of money getting rid of the parasite when by spending a little in the way of prevention could save all that hassle. Tapeworms, whipworms and roundworms will also be prevented as modern medicines add some treatment for these infestations too. Keeping your animal safe and healthy much simpler and you will be very thankful with the savings.