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
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