{"id":1556,"date":"2024-04-23T12:15:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T19:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baysideanimalhospitalonline.com\/blog\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2025-02-17T14:19:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T22:19:57","slug":"april-is-heartworm-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baysideanimalhospitalonline.com\/blog\/april-is-heartworm-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"April Is Heartworm Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"April<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Heartworm disease is a serious problem for dogs and cats across the country, especially in California. Unfortunately, it is a disease that not many pet owners do not know enough about. Bayside Animal Hospital<\/a> is excited to celebrate Heartworm Awareness Month with our readers and help animal lovers everywhere keep their pets safe from this dangerous disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Raising Heartworm Awareness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As their name implies, heartworms<\/a> are, in fact, worms. These worms can become up to a foot long, and reside in the heart, lungs, and nearby blood vessels. This serious parasitic infection mostly affects dogs, cats, and ferrets, but has also been found in other mammal species like coyotes and sea lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The natural host of heartworms, Dirofilaria immitis<\/em>, are dog species. Being a natural host means that heartworms are able to complete their life cycle within this species; mating and producing young heartworms, called microfilaria.

Cats, on the other hand, are not natural hosts for heartworm. This means that they tend to have fewer worms when infected, but that the infection is less likely to be detected early. Cats are also more likely to have serious, life-threatening complications from heartworm infection<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Pets Get Heartworm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some people are misinformed about how heartworm is transmitted and mistakenly think that good hygiene, a pristine yard, or limited contact with other animals will protect their pet<\/a>.

Heartworms, however, are transmitted by mosquitoes. When an infected animal is bitten by a mosquito, microfilaria enter the mosquito digestive tract and mature into infective larva. In about 10-14 days, if that mosquito bites another pet, the larva can be transmitted into the new host\u2019s bloodstream.

This means that unless we can eradicate mosquitoes from a pet\u2019s environment entirely, heartworm disease is a risk even for indoor pets. In fact, Granite Bay is an area with a pretty dense incidence of heartworm disease<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a pet has heartworms in its body, the worms take about six months to mature, after which time they can reproduce. An adult worm can thrive in their host for up to seven years in dogs and three in cats\u2014causing irreversible damage along the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diagnosing and Treating Heartworm Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Heartworm disease can be a silent disease\u2014until it\u2019s not. Because it takes about six months for the worms to mature after an infective bite, it is very unusual to have any symptoms at all during this time. In fact, your dog\u2019s routine heartworm test can\u2019t even detect an infection during this time frame.

As heartworm disease progresses, though, symptoms may begin to occur. The longer the infection is present, the more likely you are to see symptoms. Signs of heartworm disease can include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n