Feline Heartworms: The Best Cure Is Prevention
January 21, 2008
Heart-worms are now a recognized problem in cats and prevention is the name of the game.
Heartworms do not need to reach maturity to cause illness in cats, which makes the disease more and hard to diagnose than veterinarians previously believed. The effects of feline heartworm disease are also more extensive than the veterinary community had previously known and because diagnosis and treatment of the disease are problematic prevention is very important.
Effects of Heartworms on Cats
The death of immature heartworms can cause marked lesions in cats lungs, as well as the alveoli, bronchioles and bronchi. Thus cats can develop airway disease and arterial disease even when infected with immature heartworms. Dogs, however are not usually symptomatic until the heartworms are adults.
In studies done at the University of Florida it appeared that even transient exposure to immature parasites can leave cats with substantial lung pathology that may persist long after traces of the parasite have been eliminated. Knowing this, it would be wise for all of us to take a more aggressive stance in promoting heartworm prevention in cats.
Heartworm Symptoms
The symptoms of heartworms in cats are:
- Respiratory Distress
- Chronic Coughing or
- Chronic Vomiting
- Sudden Death (as in dogs)
Cats with Heartworms are often misdiagnosed as having asthma.
Treatment
Treatment for cats is the same as for dogs but is very dangerous and recovery is a long process. Symptoms are treated with Prednesone the heartworms are treated with a heartworm adulticide.
Prevention
Again the same preventatives are used in cats as in dogs:
- Heartgaurd30 for cats
- Interceptor for cats
- Revolution for cats
- Revolution (has the advantage of killing fleas, ticks and ear mites at the same time.)
Article Source: www.MizHizzyFitz.com
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