Heartworms and Dogs
Heartworms are parasites that are spread from heartworm positive dogs to other dogs by mosquito bites. When a mosquito bites a heartworm positive dog the heartworm larvae (aka microfilare) are carried from the blood that the mosquite sucks from the infected dog. Then when the mosquito bites another dog the heartworm larvae are spread to the other dog. If a heartworm positive dog is not treated, the heartworms grow and spread and will eventually kill the dog. Once in the dog’s heart, the worms grow and cause significant damage to the heart, lungs and other vital organs. Death by heartworms is a horrible.
Traditionally heartworm treatment for dogs is with one or more extremely painful injections of Immitacide (which is a form of arsenic). During the course of this heartworm treatment a dog may suffer major organ damage or develop pneumonia as a result of the adult heartworms dying and decomposing all at once.
This blog however is devoted to the “slow kill” or gentle heartworm treatment that is used by dog rescue organizations.
