what are side effects of heartworms in your dog? is eating alot one of them?

Answer 1

Clinical symptoms usually appear only when the disease has reached a very severe stage (usually 3 to 5 years from infection). First signs consist of sporadic coughing and tiredness; as time passes, cough becomes chronic and is accompanied by difficult respiration, particularly during and after exercise, mild anemia and unthriftiness. In advanced cases, the dog may collapse after even light physical exertion. Most dogs eventually develop congestive heart failure.Fortunately, a new drug has been developed called Immiticide which, while it also contains arsenic, is safer, more effective, and has much fewer side effects.
An increase in appetite can be contributed to other types of parasites or simply a change in age/lifestyle

Answer 2

The first four answers are all correct, so I won't bother repeating them.

Intestinal worms are easily treated after a fecal exam. They can cause a dog to eat more and lose weight.

Your dog should have been tested annually and put on heartworm preventative! Heartworms are transmitted by the bite of a mosquito - they live in the blood and eventually clog up the heart and kill the dog. Even if you keep your dog away from every other dog on the planet, he can still be bitten by an infected mosquito. It's a horrible and expensive disease to treat - they have to inject the dog with poison over several weeks to gradually kill the adult heartworms clogging up the heart and blood vessels. If I could give my dog only one preventative treatment, heartworm meds would be my FIRST choice. For $50 a year you can save your dog and yourself a lot of misery. My cousin just had to put her 3 year old shepherd to sleep because she thought she couldn't afford the medicine. It cost $45 to put the dog down and $34 for the meds - where's the sense in that?

Answer 3

The heartworms are found in the right ventricle of the heart and the pulmonary arteries. The female worm may be up to a foot long; the male is about half that size. One dog may have dozens of worms. Heartworms live up to five years and during this time the females produce millions of larvae called microfilaria. These microfilaria live in the bloodstream, and may be concentrated in the spleen. The larvae go through a series of molts on their way to becoming an adult heartworm. One of the molts occurs in the salivary gland of the mosquito. Larvae cannot complete their entire life cycle in the dog; they must pass through a mosquito on their way to becoming an adult heartworm. Many species of mosquitoes can transmit heartworms.

Answer 4

Heartworm symptoms in your dog include tiredness, decreased appetite, weight loss and heart failure. Unfortunately, dog heartworm symptoms often don't show up until about a year after the pet has been infected. Heartworm is usually diagnosed via blood test and your vet will normally perform a heartworm test as part of your dog's yearly checkup.

You can determine if your pet has heartworm by having the vet draw blood and testing it.

Answer 5

if your dog had heartworm the most severe "side effect" is a damaged heart and a distended abdomen from the swelling. my shepherd had them when she was about 2 1/2 and it was a tough go for a while. however, she didn't eat excessively. once she was through with the treatment, it took some time for her to be able to eat normally. you should have this checked out by a vet.

Answer 6

Heart worms cause many side effects but eating a lot is not one of them. Your dog may have tapeworms which may or may not be visible in the poop. You can buy dewormer at any store that carries pet products but it really is best to go to the vet to make sure this is the problem. Unless of course you have a female and she is pregnant?? Eating alot more would be a sign of that too.

Answer 7

Eating a lot could be a sign of TapeWorm. Look at your dogs stool and around his/her anus and fur on the backside. If you see little white specks that seem like white rice in stool or on your dog, that could be a tape worm. Most of the time they move, but sometimes you are merely seeing segments that may not move.

I suggest going to a vet to rule out either type worm and take a stool sample with you. That way the dr. can tell for sure what it might be.

Answer 8

No, eating alot is not a aymptom of heartworms. Coughing, shortnees of breath, low energy are the first symptoms.

Answer 9

Death is a side effect of heartworms...

Answer 10

Fatigue is a sign....but if you are so concerned, please take him to the vet and have him checked. Heartworm kill dogs.....so take care of this right away.