My dog has heartworm and ran. What immediate symptoms should I expect?

Hi. I sure hope Mason doesn't have heartworm disease. In the early stages of heartworm infection, dogs show few symptoms or no symptoms at all. The longer the infection persists, the more likely symptoms will develop. More active dogs, dogs heavily infected with heartworms, or those with other health problems often show pronounced clinical signs. Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue, appetite changes, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen. Dogs with large numbers of heartworms can develop a sudden blockages of blood flow within the heart leading to a life-threatening form of cardiovascular failure showing labored breathing, pale gums, and dark bloody or coffee grain like material in urine. If you are worried about Mason possibly having Heartworm disease, please schedule an appointment and testing with your veterinarian.

Most dogs take 2-3 years of being positive for heartworms before showing symproms. Most commonly you will see coughing first. After awhile, they may stop eating, get a pot belly and sometimes have labored breathing. At 4 months of age, I would not be too concerned about heartworms, but I would definitely get her started on heartworm prevention if you haven't already. I would have your vet check a heartworm test in 6-8 months if you have recently missed a month of heartworm prevention. I hope this helps!

First of all it is important to know that testing is the best preventing measure, once symptoms occur the disease is usually considered severe, for this reason it is important to test before symptoms occur. symptoms include coughing, exercise intolerance, loss of weight and increase breathing rate.

Any change in breathing warrants a trip to the vet for a recheck. While it’s possible that there’s nothing wrong, you could also be noticing the beginning of a complication of heartworm treatment. Pulmonary thromboembolism can occur when dying worms become lodged in the small blood vessels of the lungs. Your vet might want to take a chest x-ray.

Coughing can occur from the damage the worms are doing to the lungs. It could also be caused by the worms dying off and causing inflammation, although I'm not sure how likely that is with the slow kill method. I would recommend keeping him crated and resting (no walks, no running, no excitement -- basically no getting his heart rate up) until he can get to the vet for evaluation, which will likely include chest x-rays and a discussion of if he needs anti-inflammatory medication and cage rest to get through this treatment. Wishing you and Bug (love his name!) the best of luck.

hThanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Heartworm treatment can be rough on your pets body. This involves injections given by your vet on 3 separate occasionas. The main concern after the treatment is creating a pulmonary embolism, or clot in the airway, which lead s to shortness of breath, lethargy, and inappetance. A bloated abdomen cannot be determined in this postiion and often requires a physical examination. A bloated abdomen from a heart condition if often not seen unless the heart is very far gone. This would have been likely detected in the work-up for your fur baby to determine if your pet is in congestive heart failure via a chest x-ray. Right sided congestive heart failure is what leads to a bloated abdomen. I hope that this helps and if you still have concerns about your pets health after starting heartworm treatment, then the next best step is a proper physical exam to determine if any heart murmurs exist and potentially repeat x-rays of the chest and abdomen if the physical exam warrants these. Best of luck with your fur baby Ayla moving forward. Take care. : )

Side effects can be common after heartworm treatment shots. You can see soreness and swelling at the site of the injection, and abscesses can form over time in this spot. Definitely let your vet know of Charlie is very uncomfortable or if his condition appears to be worsening over time. The most severe problems are related to the sudden death of large amounts of heartworms. Get Charlie into a vet right away if you notice a cough or a pre-existing cough becomes worse, he has difficulty breathing, pants excessively, becomes weak or lethargic, collapses, he has a significant drop in exercise, he starts vomiting, drools a lot, or has diarrhea. Best of luck, I hope this helps!