| In most cases heartworm disease is treated medically by
giving a drug that slowly kills the worms over a period of time- called an "adulticide".
With too fast a kill, one risks obstruction of the smaller vessels to the
lungs caused by the dead worms. Respiratory problems are always a risk of
therapy even with a slow kills. Dogs should be hospitalized and
monitored at all times if being treated for adult heartworms.
In severely infected dogs, surgery is sometimes performed before the drug
is given to manually removal a large number of the works and thereby
reducing the risk of serious complications.
Adulticide therapy is followed by several weeks
of preventative therapy to kill any remaining immature forms in the blood
stream. The dog is re-tested for heartworm in 6-8 weeks and if negative, is
placed on preventative medicine. |
