Heartworm In Cats
Recent studies of cats with heart and respiratory diseases have found an incidence of heartworms that is far greater than previously thought.
Heartworm in cats. Heartworm disease is an infectious disease caused by the parasite dirofilaria immitis that can occur in dogs and cats but is less common in cats an infected mosquito that bites your cat can transmit dirofilaria immitis below we will give you information about heartworm symptoms as well as information about the diagnosis treatment and prevention of heartworm disease. In most cases the infection will progress steadily. Heartworm in cats begins when a mosquito bites an animal that already is infected with heartworms dr. Veterinarians now strongly recommend that all cats receive year round monthly heartworm preventives in areas where.
The severity of this disease is directly dependent upon the number of worms present in the body the duration of the infestation and how the cat s body responds to the. Heartworms dirofilaria immitis are a blood borne parasite that reside in the heart or adjacent large blood vessels of infected animals. Heartworm disease in cats is very different from heartworm disease in dogs. The mosquito picks up baby worms in the blood called microfilariae the youngest larvae and these microfilariae live inside the insect for 10 days to two weeks as they mature into their infective larvae stage she says.
Cats with adult heartworms typically have just one to three worms and many cats affected by heartworms have no adult worms. In some cats a heartworm infection may disappear spontaneously possibly because an animal has developed an immune response that is sufficiently strong to kill the parasite.