What should I do if my spaniel gets heartworm disease? Heartworm disease is caused by canine heartworms parasitizing the right ventricle and pulmonary artery (rarely found in the chest and bronchi) of dogs, causing circulatory disorders, dyspnea, anemia, etc. Symptoms of a type of filariasis.

1. Causes of canine heartworm disease

1. Dog heartworm (also known as heartworm) is yellow-white and slender fan-shaped. The male worm is 120~160 mm long, with a spirally curled tail, and the female worm is 250~300 mm long. The viviparous larvae are called microfilariae, which live in the blood. They are 307-322 microns long and have no sheath.

2. Canine heartworm needs dog fleas, Anopheles mosquitoes or Culex mosquitoes as intermediate hosts to complete its life cycle.

3. The female parasite parasitizing the right ventricle produces microfilariae that can move freely and enter the blood. When fleas and mosquitoes suck blood, they suck the microfilariae into the human body and develop into infective larvae, which enter the beaks of fleas and mosquitoes. When fleas or mosquitoes suck blood, the larvae escape from their beaks and penetrate into the skin of the final host. They circulate to the heart and large blood vessels through subcutaneous lymph or blood.

2. Clinical key points of dog heartworm:

1. The earliest symptom is chronic cough, but there are no other symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. It is aggravated during exercise, or the sick dog is prone to fatigue during exercise.

2. As the disease progresses, the sick dog will develop hyperpalpitations, a weak and intermittent pulse, and murmurs in the heart. The liver area is painful on palpation and hepatomegaly. Fluid accumulation in the chest and abdomen, and edema all over the body. Difficulty breathing.

3. In cases of long-term infection, pulmonary heart disease is very obvious.

4. In the final stage, death occurs due to systemic weakness or collapse during exercise.

5. Sick dogs are often accompanied by nodular skin disease, which is characterized by itching and multiple focal nodules that tend to rupture. Skin nodules are pyogenic granulomatous inflammation in the center of blood vessels. Microfilariae are common in the blood vessels surrounding pyogenic granulomas.

3. Preventive measures against dog heartworm:

A), deworming:

1. To kill adult worms: Apply sodium thiarcosamide at a dose of 22 mg/kg body weight, intravenously, twice a day for two days. During intravenous injection, the drug should be injected slowly, and the liquid should not leak out of the blood vessels to avoid causing tissue inflammation and necrosis. Or use dichlorophenylarsine hydrochloride at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg body weight, intravenously, once every 4 to 5 days. This drug has a strong anthelmintic effect and low toxicity.

2. To expel microfilariae: Use levamidazole at a dosage of 10 mg/kg body weight, orally, for 15 days. Test the blood after the 6th day of treatment. When no microfilariae can be detected in the blood, stop treatment. Or use ivermectin (trade name: Harvest), the dosage is 0.05~0.1 mg/kg body weight, 1 intradermal injection; or use fenthion, every 1,000Subcutaneously inject 0.2 ml of 7% solution per gram of body weight, repeat 1-2 times at 2-week intervals if necessary. Symptomatic treatment should also be carried out according to the condition.

B). Prevent and eliminate intermediate hosts:

1. Preventing and eliminating fleas and mosquitoes is an important measure to prevent this disease;

2. Drug prevention can also be used. The oral dose of diethylcarbamazine (Haiqunsheng) is 6.6 mg/kg body weight. The drug should be used continuously during the mosquito and fly activity seasons;

3. For microfilaria-positive dogs, it is strictly forbidden to use diethylcarbamazine. The adult worms and microfilariae must be killed with medication before starting to use diethylcarbamazine for prevention.