Heartworm is a parasitic filarial parasite that lives in the bloodstream, but for the majority of cat lovers, do not know much about such diseases, we know that most cats have fleas, toxoplasma, ticks, heartworm not only cats, dogs may also be infected, this disease can cause serious cat death, so we need to understand the heartworm infection pathway and symptoms of cats It is important to know the route of infection and symptoms of heartworm in cats. Heartworm is a filarial parasite that lives in the heart and large blood vessels and can infect both dogs and cats. In the process of heartworm infection, mosquitoes play an important role as the intermediate host of heartworm, meaning that the heartworm must spend some time in the mosquito to successfully develop into infective larvae (third stage larvae), and then when the mosquito bites the cat, the infective larvae will be injected into the cat, and the larvae (third stage larvae) will begin a tour of up to eight months. When the heartworm has reached sexual maturity, it will begin to move and settle in the heart and pulmonary artery. Once a mosquito bites, the larvae will enter the body of the mosquito and develop into infective larvae (stage 3 larvae) in about 2-3 weeks. Most infected cats do not show any clinical signs, but may show some chronic clinical signs, including: intermittent vomiting, coughing, panting (intermittent dyspnea, wheezing, open-mouth breathing), regurgitation, tachypnea, lethargy, anorexia. Of course, some cats may also show acute clinical signs, depending on which organs are damaged by the adult worms, such as weakness, respiratory distress, seizures, dysentery, vomiting, blindness, tachycardia, fainting, or sudden death. Diagnosis When a cat has chronic cough symptoms, it should be screened for heartworm, but in the past, the heartworm test kit was developed for dogs, and the number of heartworm parasites in dogs is usually quite large, but the number of parasites in cats is usually only 1-2, so the amount of heartworm antigen in the blood is not enough to be detected by the canine test kit. The final diagnosis can only be confirmed by an ultrasound scan of the heart, but such tests are expensive and must be performed by a specialized cardiologist, and are usually discovered incidentally when heart disease is suspected. Fortunately, most infected cats do not show obvious clinical symptoms and do not require special medication. If there are serious cardiopulmonary symptoms, further supportive therapy must be provided, such as: fluid therapy, oxygen therapy, tracheal dilators, cardiovascular drugs, antibiotics, exercise restriction, and good nursing care. Prevention of mosquito bites is the way to infect cats with heartworm, so the home environment should be well protected against mosquitoes, but it is really impossible to prevent, since the treatment of feline heartworm cannot directly kill the adult worms, but only passive symptomatic treatment and supportive therapy, so prevention is quite important. 1. Cats should undergo blood screening after eight months of age to confirm the presence of heartworm infection, and then decide which prevention method to use. The topical drops are Pfizer’s Revolution, which is also applied to the skin on the back of the neck once a month. 2. Although the rate of heartworm infection in cats is not high, with the increasing number of dogs and cats kept together, if your dog is infected with heartworm, please do not forget that your cat is exposed to the same risk. There is no gray area for your cat, just like other infectious diseases, although the chance of infection is low, prevention is necessary because no one can predict the possible situation in the future. 3. Even if your cat does not go outside and does not come into contact with other animals, can you be sure that the environment is always free of mosquitoes? Can you be sure that there are no mosquitoes in the pet store where she stays? Can you be sure that the mosquitoes in the veterinary hospital will not bite her? It doesn’t take much, one mosquito with worms is enough, and once again the old adage: prevention is better than cure. Note that heartworm is a good prevention, difficult to treat, high mortality rate of the disease, so have not started the prevention work of the pooper scooper hurry to take action!
