Before we begin with this installment of the Heartworm drama, allow me to surprise you with some extraneous facts. Imagine this, wonder of wonders, the “Pet Care” column has now reached well over 170 weekly articles on matters associated with the well-being of our pets. More than two and a half years have slid by without so much as a bark or a meow! Tempus fugit.
Actually, I am pretty pleased about the longevity of a column such as this. And we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. We have not yet dealt in any great depth with pet nutrition, pet geriatrics, the issue of keeping jungle animals as pets, etc.
And, of course, we are indebted to Sunday Times for carrying the articles and the appropriate photographs which accompany the texts.
The column has generated some interest, as is reflected in the letters, photos, telephone calls, and passing comments which we receive weekly. We promise that, once you continue to enthuse us with your responses, we will continue to write the column.
Now, let’s address the therapy aspect of the Heartworm problem.
Q: What is the treatment?
A: Let US get one thing straight – Heartworm in dogs (cats) should be treated only by your veterinarian. Obviously, this must be so. Do you remember that, over the last three weeks, I have been emphasising the insidious nature of this mosquito-borne ailment? It creeps up on the animal. Symptoms show themselves only when the heart and other organs cannot cope with the pressures induced on them by this ailment. All the time, during the period between the acquisition of the infection and the exhibition of the symptoms, the animal is compensating. The heart, the function of which is being compromised by the worms therein, is pumping faster, because less blood volume (with every contraction) is being delivered to the organs. As the disease progresses, the organs become increasingly starved of blood (oxygenated), and then slowly begin to collapse.
The first step in treatment of the Heartworm ailment would therefore be an evaluation of the dog’s current physical condition. Only a veterinarian can competently do this. In all likelihood, this would mean stabilising the heart failure and the liver and kidney insufficiencies. In other words, long before the actual specific treatment begins, we have to get the dog’s health status to a level which would allow it to cope with the treatment – and what a treatment it is!
I should mention, in passing, that there was a time when the drug of choice was an arsenic compound which the veterinarian would inject into the dog’s muscle or vein. So, we can see the potential danger in the administration of such a therapeutic intervention if the dog’s health status has been sufficiently propped up.
Worse, if this injection of the arsenic salt has to go the venous route, it has to be done four times in 36 hours (morning, evening, next morning, evening). If, for whatever reason, during the process of the injections, the needle slips out of the vein, or if some of the arsenic leaks out from the vein into the surrounding tissue, then a most ungodly reaction emerges (swelling at site).
The drug manufacturers have now come up with a newer and more easily administered method of treatment, which entails giving the dog two or even three injections within one week, and then once a month thereafter. Please note that this proposed sequence of injections with the new drug may vary.
Let us take for granted that your competent veterinarian has carried out the therapy efficiently. The spaghetti-like worms in the heart are now all dead. The problems are over, you think. Not so!
If the dog suddenly exerts itself too much, one of the dead worms could disassociate itself from the bundle in the heart and enter the blood stream, and end up as an embolus in the lungs. The animal might just keel over – instantaneously dead.
This means that after the Heartworms have been killed, the animal must be kept quiet (no strenuous exercise, no sudden movements, no chasing of cats, no fighting with other dogs, etc). The dead Heartworms would disintegrate in due course, and be absorbed slowly – over the period of about two months – by the body.
Having killed the adult Heartworms, the problem is still not over. Don’t forget that we still have the microfilariae (immature stages of the Heartworm) in the circulating blood to deal with. They have to be killed too, so that they won’t grow into adults, which can reproduce and start the whole cycle over again.
How to kill the Heartworm and the microfilariae, and how to prevent and control the Heartworm scourge, will be the subject of next week’s column.
