How do Heartworms damage pets?
Infected mosquitoes inject tiny immature worms called microfilariae into our pets. The microfilariae swim through the blood vessels and create turbulence that damages blood cells and vessel walls. The damage causes clotting, scarring, and narrowing of blood vessels. The blood pressure goes up. As the pressure goes up, the heart pumps harder to get the blood through the vessels. This causes the heart to fail. The more worms damaging the blood vessels, the faster the damage occurs. Heartworm s can live from 3-5 years. That’s a lot of damage. The pet’s symptoms are caused because Heartworm s prefer to live in the heart and main pulmonary artery in the lungs. If the pulmonary artery or smaller arteries weaken, Heartworm s enter the air passages and can be coughed up. Sometimes a pet that’s coughing up worms will look like it’s vomiting, but the worms are coming from the lungs. Pets with advanced Heartworm disease have signs of heart failure including frequent coughing, tiring easily, abdom
