What Are Heart Worm Symptoms?
Monday, September 28th, 2009 at
6:47 am
Okay, I have a weakness for dogs. I found the most precious puppy the other day and brought her home. She was really skinny, and still is, but she is eating great. But sometimes she starts wheezing and then almost “gasps” for breath. She does this when she is awake, and even in her sleep. Someone told me that is a sign of heart worms…any serious opinions?? (BTW: I am planning on taking her to the vet when I can, but I would like an opinion now…) Thanks!!
Tagged with: Heart • Symptoms • What • Worm
Filed under: Dog Worms Symptoms
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Wheezing hard like that is a symptom of heartworms. You need to get her to the vet and have her tested.
The wheezing could be a respiratory infection. The vet wll have to examine her and run a heartworm test.
There are no symptoms at all until the disease is very advanced. Then, the symptoms are those of congestive heart failure: dull coat, lack of energy, coughing, difficulty breathing, perhaps fainting spells and an enlarged abdomen. Waiting for symptoms to develop is not a realistic alternative to prevention.
Heartworms can be diagnosed by means of a simple blood test. In areas where a heartworm is common, we recommend that your pets be regularly tested for heartworms in order to prevent problems before the animal is too ill. Symptoms of heartworm disease include coughing, weight loss, lack of energy and breathing difficulties. However, during the early stages of infestation, there may be few, if any, symptoms.
wheezing skinny and most will eat their own poop
Pathology and Symptoms
Heartworm disease is caused by damage from the adult worms once they get into the blood vessels of a dog’s lungs. The worms cause the blood vessels to swell and become scarred. As the blood vessels shrink in diameter, blood flow becomes increasingly restricted. In the right lung, blood pressure begins to rise, which causes pulmonary hypertension. This increased vascular pressure means that the right side of the dog’s heart has to work harder to pump blood through the lung. Eventually, the pressure will lead to failure of the right heart.
Many heartworm-infected dogs are free of symptoms. In dogs without symptoms, any sign of heartworm depend on the number of worms and the response of the infected dog. Dogs can be infected with 1 to 250 heartworms at a time. In general, the higher the number of worms, the more severe the disease, and the greater the risk for post-treatment complications. The most common symptoms associated with clinical heartworm disease are coughing, respiratory distress, and exercise intolerance. In more severe cases, a dog will cough up blood because the pulmonary blood vessels have been ruptured.
If the disease is very severe, the heartworms die and enter the smaller arteries of the lung. If there are dead worms, a dog’s body reacts with an inflammatory response and numerous blood clots. Severe damage can also cut off blood flow to the outermost sections of the lung, which causes the affected area of the lung to be nonfunctional.
Testing for Heartworm
The preferred method for heartworm screening and diagnosis is antigen testing. The detection of heartworm larvae is easy, but the tests can only detect infections with patent larvae.
Unprotected dogs that live in areas where heartworm is contagious will have larvae-free infections (occult infections). Occult infections can be produced by one of several reasons, including the removal of larvae by the dog’s immune system, unisex infections, the presence of immature worms, or treatment with microfilaricidal drugs. Therefore, a test must be used that detects the immunological antigens produced by adult female heartworms (the males do not release detectable antigens).
My chihuahua has done the same thing her whole 7 year life! She has been tested for everything possible, nothing is wrong. Small dogs often have collasped tracheas, when they get excited, struggle for deep breath, or are sleeping (as you said) I would in fact get a heartworm test for saftey and as a normal thing a dog needs reguarly. Also i would give your puppy a heartworm preventative i recommend “Heartgaurd” from 1-800-PET-MEDS they are the cheapest. Try and keep him/her calm and always have water near when walking, playing and when he/she is sleeping. Hope i helped, and hope everything is ok!!!
coughing can be a sign of heartworms. but depending on the pups age, for example if it’s younger than 6 months this would be highly doubtful. your pup needs to see a vet. and soon. more than likely the pup has worms and that’s one reason she’s so skinny. may not be the source of the breathing problem, but she still needs to be vaccinated and dewormed. the vet can also get you and the pup started on a heartworm preventative so you don’t have to worry about heartworms. the only decent answer you’re going to get is from a vet who can use a stethoscope to listen to your puppy’s heart and lungs. and be able to tell you what they think is the problem and give you something to help it. it could be a variety of things, and no one on here can give you a definate answer. glad you took this little one in, just make sure you actually rescue her by keeping her up to date on veterinary visits.
There are no symptoms at all until the disease is very advanced. Then, the symptoms are those of congestive heart failure: dull coat, lack of energy, coughing, difficulty breathing, perhaps fainting spells and an enlarged abdomen. Does your dog have any of these other symptoms? It is good you are getting her to the vet I cant really tell you if she has heartworms or not without seeing her but thats a good diea to get her there if its just something as simple as Bordetella or an URI