Your cat and dog are not safe from heartworms. Heartworms can cause substantial damage to your pets’ hearts and lungs, and these parasites are transmitted by mosquitoes. they're about six inches in length and live mostly in the right side of your pets’ heart and the large blood vessel, which brings the oxygen from the lungs to the heart. The adult heartworms live in the heart where they later cause the vessel to thicken or become inflamed. If your pet isn't treated, heart disease or even dying can occur.

These baby heartworms or larvae are transferred by mosquitoes. A mosquito can bite the infected animal, and later, this same mosquito can bite your pet and inject the larvae into the pet’s bloodstream. From the time your pet was bitten by a carrier mosquito, it would’ve taken a cycle of almost seven months for adult heartworms to produce numerous larvae. Infection of these parasites is preventable with medications, and treatment is available for your pets already infected with these parasites.

So how do you get rid of these heartworms? The treatment for your dogs is different from your cats. Their medications are specific to each and should not be given to the other. It’s possible to get rid of heartworms, but it’s not easy. Your veterinarian would have to check blood tests to confirm the diagnosis. he'll also check on the possible side effects and complications arising from administration of medications.

Unfortunately, there are no symptoms of the infection until the disease is on its advance stage where your pet exhibits shortness of breath, coughing, fainting, stupor, protruded abdomen, dull coat color, and congestive heart failure. This can be fatal to your dog, and treatment is risky. Your dog would have to be evaluated thoroughly to check what course of treatment is necessary. It would require a lot of medical care, and your dog would likely have to stay at the hospital and get complete rest afterwards.

It’s a different story with your cat because it's very difficult to treat a cat infected with heartworms. Even if your veterinarian succeeds on wiping out the worm, there are still life-threatening side effects. Symptoms of heartworms in your cat includes wheezing, loss of consciousness, emesis, choking, hindquarter paralysis, and at worst, sudden death. There is no satisfactory medication to cure heartworms in cats. Even if there are drugs, treatment would still put your cat in great danger. So for now, the best treatment for your cat is prevention of heartworm infection.