http://www.oldcountryvet.com/youtube_heartworm.html
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Just saw this, good find Jsheley, we need more vets like this guy!
Going further on the subject of heartworms in dogs. This, like many other diseases in small animals is a tool veterinarians use to make money. It scares the hell out of pet owners when they see a glass jar with an infected heart full of worms in it. I know it did me when I was a young'n! :shocked:
So, unknowingly we as pet owners want to believe the vets who have taken an oath to care for our pets just like a medical doctor. Unfortunately money is more motivating than that oath.
Anyway, I have a good friend, who was a vet tech for almost 30 years, who saw very few cases of actual heartworm infection. But, like most businesses they sold beaucoups of heartworm preventative!
Heartworms can infect a dog, it is best to devise a preventative treatment that best suits you in your situation. But the truth is, not all of us need to do this, because the infection is a very complex process. And if you do not have all of the components to make up that process, you are wasting your money preventing what isn't likely to happen.
Link to the American Heartworm Society: http://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-...html#lifecycle
What is interesting about this website, they don't actually tell you how the dog becomes infected in the first place, just that once the female larvae is already present in a dog, that said dog has to be bitten by a mosquito to contract the disease. Quite scary to the unsuspecting laymen.
"Heartworm Life Cycle
A knowledge of the life cycle of this parasite (Dirofilaria immitis)is needed to understand how to prevent and treat it. Infection begins when L3 infective larvae in the mouthparts of a mosquito enter the dog’s skin at the site of a bite. The larvae burrow beneath the skin and undergo two molts that eventually lead to the development of small immature worms. The first molt (L3 to L4) occurs one to 12 days after the dog is bitten by the mosquito. The larvae remain in the L4 stage for 50 to 68 days, and then molt into the L5 stage (immature worms).
It is only during the brief L3 stage, 1 to 12 days after the larvae enter the dog’s body, that they are susceptible to the killing effects of diethylcarbamazine. However, throughout the L3 and L4 stages the larvae are susceptible to three other drugs: ivermectin, selamectin, and milbemycin.
Immature worms make their way into a peripheral vein and are carried to the right ventricle and the pulmonary arteries. Approximately six months after entering the dog’s body, they mature into adults. Adults can grow to 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 cm) long and live up to five years. As many as 250 worms may be found in a heavily infested dog.
Sexual reproduction occurs if worms of both sexes are present. Females give birth to live young called microfilaria;5,000 microfilariae can be produced in one day by a single worm. Microfilaria are able to remain alive in the dog’s circulatory system for up to three years.
Before the microfilariae can become infective to another dog, the Li larvae must go into a secondary host, the mosquito. This occurs when the mosquito bites the dog. The LI larvae in the mosquito molt to L3 larvae. In warm southern climates this process takes less than 10 days; in northern climates it can take up to 17 days. The L3 larvae then move to the mouthparts of the mosquito and are ready to infect a new host."
Source: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/heartworm...symptoms-tests
In conclusion, I will add my method of preventative treatment, I only treat during the warmer months of the year, when I notice mosquitos, because no matter what. I have at least 70 days post infection to kill the larvae with ivomec! #:-S
S_B