What are the symptoms of Heartworm infection?
• Symptoms can range from none (early in course of infection or low worm burden) to very severe symptoms including coughing, exercise intolerance, collapsing, trouble breathing and even death. • Heartworm Disease can cause heart failure, liver failure and severe lung disease. • Symptoms seem to be worse in dogs that have a high number of worms and dogs that have a high activity level. –> CATS: What are the symptoms of Heartworm infection? • Symptoms in cats are highly variable and tend to occur late in the course of the disease. Whereas dogs can live with quite a few heartworms in the heart, even 1 heartworm can be fatal to the cat. • Coughing, difficulty breathing, vomiting and weight loss may be observed. However, in most cats SUDDEN DEATH is the only “symptom”. How is Heartworm Disease Diagnosed? • DOGS: Heartworm is relatively easy to diagnose with a blood antigen test. A blood test can be performed at our hospital in less than 10 minutes. • CATS: Heartworm is rather difficult to
