long shot- anyone have a cat with heartworm?

our vet said that they see about 4 or 5 cases of heartworm in cats per year in this area
admittedly not very many cases

but she was pressuring me to get a $65 test done on my 10 yr old cat, who has a cough and probably has asthma (its a hard thing to get a definitive diagnosis on, basically you rule out other things first, while treating with prednisone or inhaled steroids, and if those work, then its probably asthma)


anyway, the thing with heartworm, as i understand it, is that a cat with heartworm will show improvement with the predinisone but then get worse.


my cat is indoor only now, but i adopted her in July and i have no history on her, she was definately an outdoor cat at some point in her life

just wondering if anyone has any first hand knowledge about heart worm in cats...
or knows where i might be able to find some good information.

so far i've only found that: its rare, and in cats, its usually pretty mild

not a whole lot of information, eh?

Ask about a medicine called Revolution. My vet recommended it for my newly adopted cat - who tested negative for worms. It's drops you put on the neck....treats for ear mites, fleas, & worms - round worms, ring worms, and heart worms. To be used once a month, is my understanding...and vet charged me $15 for it.

As for the heartworms...will leave it to the others here who are far more knowledgeable than I. All I know about it is what you have found out all ready.

From what the vet told me, heart worm is not curable in cats.
And if cat already has heart worm, I don't think revolution will help.

From the web:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/feli...infection.html

The cat's immune system is extremely reactive against heartworms. For this reason, it is virtually impossible to detect microfilariae in an infected cat. (The cat's immune system removes them too quickly). Also, symptoms of infection tend to be more immune-related than heart failure related. Cats develop more of a lung disease, complete with respiratory stress, and coughing or vomiting chronically. Feline heartworm disease is often misdiagnosed as feline asthma. Sudden death may occur just as it may occur in infected dogs.

The same heartworm adulticide therapy used in dogs may be used in cats but it is extremely dangerous to do so. There may not be a choice, however, depending on the degree of illness from the heartworm disease. Approximately one third of cats receiving heartworm adulticide therapy will experience life-threatening embolic complications when the worms die suddenly. One month of cage confinement is typically recommended to control circulatory effort after adulticide treatment.

In general, if the cat does not appear sick, the American Heartworm Society recommends attempting to wait out the worm's 2-3 year life span and simply monitor chest radiographs every 6 months or so.

Since the major signs of disease in the cat are due to inflammation and immune stimulation, a medication such as prednisone can be used to control symptoms.

The American Heartworm Society also has an excellant article on it:

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=16

Originally Posted by jenniferd

From what the vet told me, heart worm is not curable in cats.
And if cat already has heart worm, I don't think revolution will help.

Click to expand...

And oh yeah - sorry...forgot - Jenniferd is correct - revolution is indeed preventative only medicine - won't help a bit on infected kitties....

There are also other drugs that you can give to an asthmatic cat, as well as environmental changes you can do to keep an asthmatic cat comfortable. Doing the test will allow your veterinarian to "tweak" the treatment based on the CORRECT diagnosis instead of a guess. Its completely up to you if you want to make a guess that your kitty has asthma and manage it that way, but knowing for sure can be very helpful.

I dont know much about heartworms but I sure hope your kitty gets better!
Good Luck, Let us know!

Originally Posted by Shemarie

From the web:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/feli...infection.html

The cat's immune system is extremely reactive against heartworms. For this reason, it is virtually impossible to detect microfilariae in an infected cat. (The cat's immune system removes them too quickly). Also, symptoms of infection tend to be more immune-related than heart failure related. Cats develop more of a lung disease, complete with respiratory stress, and coughing or vomiting chronically. Feline heartworm disease is often misdiagnosed as feline asthma. Sudden death may occur just as it may occur in infected dogs.

The same heartworm adulticide therapy used in dogs may be used in cats but it is extremely dangerous to do so. There may not be a choice, however, depending on the degree of illness from the heartworm disease. Approximately one third of cats receiving heartworm adulticide therapy will experience life-threatening embolic complications when the worms die suddenly. One month of cage confinement is typically recommended to control circulatory effort after adulticide treatment.

In general, if the cat does not appear sick, the American Heartworm Society recommends attempting to wait out the worm's 2-3 year life span and simply monitor chest radiographs every 6 months or so.

Since the major signs of disease in the cat are due to inflammation and immune stimulation, a medication such as prednisone can be used to control symptoms.

The American Heartworm Society also has an excellant article on it:

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=16

Click to expand...

hi
thanks so much for that information!!
i have an asthmatic cat who is on Flovent (inhaled steroid) and is doing well

raven, the cat i am concerned about, had a chest xray and all sorts of other very expensive tests, and nothing really turned out-
asthma is almost as hard to diagnose as heartworm i guess, but because there are very few conditions that cause a cough in cats, raven is on oral prednisone while i get her used to the inhaled medication that sheldon is on (my boy with asthma)

raven had a 2 week course of prednisone last month and did great! her cough cleared up completely and she looked wonderful. she also has chronic herpes and that cleared up as well. she was like a new cat!

now she is coughing again, and her vet said to put her back on the oral prednisone but i am worried about her getting diabetes (and liver problems and whatever else oral steroids can do) so i asked her if it would be safe to put raven on the inhaled medication, even while we dont know if she has asthma or not
and she says, oh she probably has asthma, because the medication worked before

????

it seems like she totally forget that she was concerned about heartworm before

maybe she saw something in the chest xray (or DIDN'T see something she would have expected to see) thats led her to rule out heartworm, but if thats the case, she never told ME!!
so i've been worried and i still dont know if i have a reason to be

i have to call tomorrow anyway and will see if i can get more information, but i gotta tell you, every time my girl coughs i wonder if she is just gonna up and die on me----
after what i read about heartworm

she looks pretty darn healthy, eats very well in spite of being chronically congested from the herpes virus ("Kitty cold") and she had blood work that came back just great for an old-ish cat.

she is such a happy cat.

thanks so much for that information, it appears that the treatment for asthma certainly wont hurt her, and in fact can help, IF she has heartworms.

but its sad that there is no safe treatment for heartworms

i am guessing because she is quite active she is probably ok. i have to think that, i have to think positive
because it just scares me and saddens me so much the thought of maybe losing her

i just adopted her from the shelter in July but i feel like i have known her forever. she's one of those kinds of cats, you know?

thanks so much for the links and information and everyone else, thanks for the replies and support

hugs
althea

Yeah, cats don't usually get -adult- heartworms, and even when they do, it's almost always not enough to even trouble the cat. That's why usually, you can just let the heartworm adults live, until they die in a couple of years.

Cat treatments...*shudders* Worth WAY more trouble than they're worth.

Aww, she's got the Herpesvirus, too? =< Poor snotty lil girl. =< Is your doctore sure that the virus isn't affecting her, since it -is- an upper respiratory thing?

Either way, I hope you guys figure out what's bugging her, and she gets better. =)

Well, I have actually had two cats with heartworms, one of which died from them. When the worm died it made an embolism to her lungs. I watched her die as I held her on the way to the vets. It was horrific.

Please no one should take heartworms in cats lightly. Both of my heartworm positive cats were indoor only. I had a third cat who died shortly before the other two were diagnosed and it is very likely he died from secondary problems due to heartworm infection.


Just yesterday I read a study somewhere that said I think 50% of feline heartworm cases were in Indoor only cats. I was going to post it here for comment but decided not too.

Once diagnosed my cats were put on heartgaurd ( pre-Revolution). My one kitty is now 12 and heartworm free, she survived the die off. My other kitty died 7 years ago from them.

Anyone living in an area considered endemic for heartworm in dogs should seriously consider using Revolution on their cats, even if indoor only. It only takes one mosquito trapped inside to cause heartworm in a cat.
I now live in the high desert and mosquitoes are a very rare sight, I still have all seven of my cats on Revolution during the "rainy" season.

I am a little surprised that your vet wants to charge $65 for a heartworm test. That seems a bit high, but it might just be your area of the country.

Good luck with your kitty. I really hope he isn't heartworm positive.

Here's hoping your vet makes a proper diagnosis for your peace of mind. Get better soon kitty.

Here's an informative resource on feline heartworm disease: www.knowheartworms.org

KNOW Heartworms works to raise awareness of feline heartworm, and there's lots of information on the Web site, including FAQs.

You can read the FAQs here: http://www.knowheartworms.org/faqs.asp

I hope that's helpful!

Originally Posted by Katzyn

That's why usually, you can just let the heartworm adults live, until they die in a couple of years.

Click to expand...

Whoa... thats so NOT true!! It only takes one or two worms to kill a cat, and they usually are either cleared completely in a short period of time, or they cause significant pulmonary disease. In fact, a common clinical sign of heartworm disease in cats is SUDDEN DEATH.

http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=16

Dear KittyMonsters, Thanks for sharing your cats' experiences with heartworm. As rare as it is, my kitty has them and has them bad. He was one of many cats who belonged to a "cat lady" who didn't get any prevention and had infections and poor nutrition that kept them from fighting them off.

He came to live with me a year and a half ago and tested positive at the time. He's been so transformed after getting dental work, regular food, and plenty of loving, I had hoped his worm was cured. Not so. We went the the ER this weekend when he was breathing 70+ times/minute. He had chyle (fatty lymph fluid) compressing his lungs that we got drained off. Then we saw a specialist who did an echocardiogram. Poor kitty has a lot of worms, or one large one, clogging the right atrium of his heart and backing up lymph and blood flow. He's on cortisone now. I'm praying he can survive and if not that he doesn't suffer a horrible death due to embolism. He's the best little guy. Even though heartworm is rare in cats and usually mild, the pain and agony for cats and people make prevention with Revolution way way way worth it.

Hi BobbyJoesMom and welcome to TCS. Thank you for sharing your experiences here so others can learn. Heartworm in cats is not something you hear a lot of, but obviously it does happen.
I hope that your cat comes through the treatment well and lives a long time in your care. Sounds like you're doing all you can for the poor little guy.

I have seen heart worms in pet cats via radiographs after the test came back positive.  Once they have them there is no cure at this time. The only cure is prevention.  Dogs have a cure, cats do not.  One diagnosed was only 1.5 years of age.  

Here is a map: http://www.knowheartworms.org/incidencemap.asp

Hi there, my Feral had Heart Worms & I was mortified when I found out! The member Shemarie has it pretty much correct, except that it's not necessarily having the Heartworm itself that is dangerous for the cat ( although it can cause problems of course ) it's when the Heartworms die that is more dangerous.

The danger comes from when the worms die. The cats body has an immune reaction to the dead worm & this is what is dangerous. Only a small percentage of cats survive this stage. A cat can carry live heartworm and appear fine, appear ill ( various symptoms ) and can also suddenly die. We were terrified of this with our feral, which s why initially we let him back outside to live n peace. We were told that stressing him out could kill him.

We had to take him back to the vets 8 months later as he was really sick. It was a nasty hookworm infestation, but upon having blood tests I was discovered he no longer had heartworm! Our vet told us the stats & they were nearly crying as much as me!

We were VERY lucky! Please do not take any chances with heartworm! If you live anywhere where heartworm is possible ( I live in Florida ) give Heartgard or Revolution please! Heartworm needs to be taken seriously.

I am in now way suggesting that any of you aren't taking it seriously, I just can't stress it enough after my own experience.