Heartworm Medicine & Heartworm Medication For Dogs

The heartworm, also know as "Dirofilaria Immitis" is a type of worm transmitted from animal to animal through mosquito bites. This worm which length is about 6 to 10 inches in average, will come from an infected mosquito that will deposit a microscopic sample of the worm on the dog when biting it. The worm will develop inside the dog's body, locating principally on the right side of the dog's heart and its lungs. This worm can be fatal for your dog, so it is very important to prevent our dogs from getting it, specially if we life in an area where we can find lots of mosquitoes. It is strongly recommendable to give our dogs medication prevention pills every month because once the worm is located on the dog's heart, it might be difficult to cure.

The symptoms may include cough, resistance to exercise, difficulty breathing, abnormal lung sounds, liver enlargement, temporary loss of consciousness, abnormal heart sounds, etc. It will all depend on the severeness of the disease. Be careful, your dog might not present symptoms in early stages the disease.

As for the treatment, you must go to your doctor for medicine as soon as you detect the first symptoms on your dog. The doctor will practice the proper tests (physical test, blood test, etc.) on your dog to define the heartworm's presence. Then he will prescribe your dog medicines that will aim to kill the both, the adult worms and the microscopic ones.

The veterinarian will prescribe drugs and medicines containing milbemycin oxime, moxidectin, selamectin, melarsomine dihydrochloride and macrocyclic lactone. The healing process will be slow, because the main concern, apart from killing the worm, will be to cause the least possible harm to the dog.

The drug administration must be on the precise amounts to kill the worm and not hurt the dog or cause it a sudden death. Always ask for the doctor's opinion before giving your dog any kind of medicine and don't forget to keep the medicines away from the children's reach. Prevention is always our stronger weapon against diseases!