Heartworm Prevention Treatment, Breaking The Lifecycle of Heartworms

Heartworm prevention treatment with monthly preventatives like Heartgard for dogs, Interceptor and Sentinel is so important because these medicines break the lifecycle and prevent the process that leads to the development of the adult heartworms that cause such devastating damage. If you live in an area where the problem is prevalent, it is vital that you consult your vet if your dog or cat is not already on a heartworm prevention program.

In order to understand this process and why it is so important to use heartworm preventatives, we first need to understand the lifecycle of the heartworm. There are five developmental stages in the lifecycle, which scientists categorise with the codes L1 through to L5.

L1s are the baby worms and these are called microfilariae and L5s are the mature worms that go on to reproduce.

All heartworm infection is spread by the bites of mosquitoes. In order for this to happen, the mosquito has to bite a dog or other animal that is already carrying these L1 stage larvae in its blood. When the mosquito bites, it drinks some blood and takes some of these larvae into its own body. Before it can pass the larvae to another animal, these have to be able to develop within the mosquito through the L2 stage and become L3s – a process that usually takes a couple of weeks or so, depending on the weather temperature.

L3s are carried in the saliva of the mosquito and get left on the surface of the animal’s skin when it gets bitten. These larvae continue their development in the skin of the animal, not in the bloodstream until finally, as L4, almost mature adults they pass into the bloodstream and make their way to the heart and heart arteries. Once there, they continue to develop into mature L5s and then mate and give birth to live L1s – and so the cycle continues. To see a video of a successful operation on a dog infected with a huge number of adult worms and find out more about heartworm prevention, please see my hub on the subject.

Juvenile worms cannot mature into adulthood within the body of the animal in which they were born. Unless they get carried to a new host via the mosquito, they will die off in around two years. This is why heartworm preventative medicine is so important because it breaks the cycle. These medicines, usually given monthly on the same day each month kill the juvenile larvae and stop them being carried to a new host by mosquitoes.

To find out more about prevention and preventative heartworm treatment for dogs and get your questions about heartworms, medicines, symptoms and anything related to heartworm for dogs, please visit my website by using the link provided.