Feline Heartworm

Recent studies have shown that in high heartworm populated areas, cats are just as high in infection rates as dogs are.
With cats, it's harder to detect, and usually it's too late when it is detected. The reason is that it takes three female heartworms for the antigen tests to pick up the heartworm antigen and test positive. Most cats only have one or two heartworms (and they could both be male), or even if they do have three, they could all be male, or one male, or two. By the time cats have 3-5 heartworms, they are usually symptomatic, and it's usually too late.
There is absolutely NO TREATMENT for feline heartworm. The cat is kept until he/she is no longer comfortable, at which point euthanasia is recommended.
Here's the catch... feline heartworm is easily prevented in your cat's flea prevention, like Revolution, Advantage Multi, (both of which protect against intestinal parasites and fleas, too, and more!) or Heartgard for cats (if you can give it orally).
So, prevent, prevent, prevent!

Okie

Many of us have done alot of research on this... I lost an animal to a HORRIBLE illness induced by heartworm preventative.. IMHO Unless you live in a HIGH risk area and have a indoor / outdoor or outdoor animal the risks may out weigh the benefit of said Pesticides ...

I happen to be lucky enough to live in an area Without heartworm... only 5 cases in 8 yrs all dogs ...

Research is key ... ask your vet what the risk in your area is


here are a few good links
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/heartworms.html

http://www.cat-world.com.au/heartworm-in-cats

http://www.ehow.com/about_4587985_be...ment-cats.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirofilaria_immitis

Fair enough, as with any medical, well, anything, you have to weigh the risks with the need... however one thing to add.

If you are in a HIGH risk area (Like I am, in Central Florida), it is being recommended that all cats, whether indoor, outdoor, or both, be on heartworm prevention. Even indoor kitties are having confirmed cases of heartworm in this area, and other high risk areas.

Okie

It is also key to know there are no approved treatments for cats, but they have been treated with dog medicine, while there are side effects, they are lesser than that of death by heartworm.

Many people treat their animals for heartworm without knowing using advantage multi etc

Local cases here also noted that 12% of animals (dogs and cats) treated or seen at a vet for heartworm were on heartworm prevention. That being said, its a huge issue here right now after a local rescue brought in dogs from Southern US States and the number of cases of heartworm has more than tripled over the last 5 years or so, but is beginning to decline again.

My Riley had heartworms. Thankfully he is now antigen and antibody negative as of January. However, he now has chronic lung inflammation that we are dealing with. He is currently taking oral prednisone but would like to eventually get him on inhaled meds to prevent side effects. This will probably be a life-long problem for him now.

He is 100% indoors and we live in an apartment in the city where we never even see mosquitos. Apparently one got in and found him though. He is also currently on Heartgard year round because a 2nd infection would be deadly. We're moving out of state in about 6 weeks though and I'm hoping the heartworm risk is less there so that he can take it only in the summer months. Will have to wait until we find a vet there and ask.

Originally Posted by sharky

IMHO Unless you live in a HIGH risk area and have a indoor / outdoor or outdoor animal the risks may out weigh the benefit of said Pesticides

Click to expand...

My outdoor kitties get treated, but only because I can't keep the fleas off otherwise and they still manage to catch (and eat) anything stupid enough to linger in the backyard.. I'd prefer not to use any pesticides ever...

My county and the surrounding ones are low risk for heartworms due to how dry they are (we don't have a lot of mosquitoes).

One thing some people may want to look into is different types of window screen to keep smaller mosquitoes and even fruit flies out. There are different diameters and even some weird privacy type screens that would make it difficult for anything tiny to slip in.

Alleygirl, it is possible to sterilize the worms in cats, and the worms just die on their own after their life span has reached it's end. But there is no safe, approved treatment to kill the worms. I'm glad to hear that your Riley beat the dreaded parasite!

Icklemiss, unfortunately, some, most, of possibly all of those dogs were from my area! We treat maybe some 8 to 9 cases of canine heartworm A DAY at the clinic I work at. Some days are slow with only 4. That's still alot, considering a lot of veterinarians who come from up north say they've treated maybe 4 cases in their whole veterinary carreer!!!

No, they were from Louisiana - labelled as Katrina dogs many years after Katrina. They have stopped importing them, we do have pockets of areas that show higher incidents of heartworm - still less than 500 cases across the province even including the imported dogs but the spike worried people.

Ah, yes, we still get quite a few transfers from Louisiana. Usually heartworm positive, but that's nothing abnormal for us..

I can think of only 1 heartworm positive dog we have dealt with, and given the state she was in when found, not surprising - she was also pregnant but is happy and healthy now and a very spoiled girl

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

I can think of only 1 heartworm positive dog we have dealt with, and given the state she was in when found, not surprising - she was also pregnant but is happy and healthy now and a very spoiled girl

Click to expand...

I love happy endings!

Originally Posted by Okie89

Alleygirl, it is possible to sterilize the worms in cats, and the worms just die on their own after their life span has reached it's end. But there is no safe, approved treatment to kill the worms. I'm glad to hear that your Riley beat the dreaded parasite!

Click to expand...

Thank you! I just wish I had known about it sooner (had never even heard of heartworms before and had no idea my boy was at risk). Now Riley has to suffer with lifelong meds and asthma attacks. Thankfully I no longer have to worry about him falling over dead from the worms though

Originally Posted by AlleyGirl

Thank you! I just wish I had known about it sooner (had never even heard of heartworms before and had no idea my boy was at risk). Now Riley has to suffer with lifelong meds and asthma attacks. Thankfully I no longer have to worry about him falling over dead from the worms though

Click to expand...

That's great news! (The not having to worry about death from worms!) At least he's worm free now... I know some cats who are HW positive for the rest of their life...

Okie

Originally Posted by Okie89

I love happy endings!

Click to expand...

Me too, we actually had a waiting list of people who wanted her, my BIL included and all were willing to deal with her heartworm treatment

If we had a bigger place with a garden/yard and didn't have a cat that would kill him, I would have adopted one of her puppies too.