Heartworm Disease in Cats

http://www.knowheartworms.org/

Checkout this link. It has good information.

Here's the scoop - we always knew that cats could develop heartworms. We knew that occasional cats would develop an adult worm in the heart and that those cats were in a pretty dangerous position. If you tried to treat the adult worm, about 33% died outright, 33% were so sick they wished they were dead and 33% did great. Thankfully, the incidence of this disease was fairly low in cats and so prevention was recommended, but not encouraged as much as it should have been.



Guess what - we were wrong! Research completed at North Carolina State in 2005 confirmed that although true that few cats develop adult worms, the real story is that MOST cats kill the worm before it turns into an adult. That's great except that when this happens, these kitties often develop wicked asthma. I've treated dozens of cats for asthma. Feline asthma is considered a fairly common disease. We now know that many (most?) of those cats are heartworm disease!



Diagnosis of these kitties is difficult because of when they kill the heartworm larva. There is a very narrow window of time that a cat would be 'positive' on a test. By the time we see a sick kitty, it is quite likely that we will not be able to prove the presence of heatworm as the cause. Worse yet - our treatment at this point is supportive. I can't reverse the disease, I can only control it. There is now a name for this condition - HARD - Heartworm Associated Respiratory Disease. Heartworm is a misnomer in cats - lung disease is the primary problem, not heart disease.



So the major change in our thinking has been that PREVENTION is critical in cats. Many more cats are at risk that we ever though. Prevention is now seen as just as important in cats as it has always been seen in dogs.



But my cat is indoors. Heartworm disease is transmitted by mosquitoes, so how could my indoor cat be at risk?

There's the other shocking finding. In that same NC State study, roughly 30% of those cats diagnosed with heartworm disease (usually after death) were reported by their owners to be 100% INDOOR cats. So 1 in 3 cats dead of heartworms never left the house (according to their owners). We all know mosquitoes will get into the house. Now we have proof that they bring problems indoors with them.



Moral of the story?

Cat's get heartworm disease. Most frequently they get respiratory disease. Heartworm disease is often fatal in cats. It's hard to diagnose. It's hard to treat. It's also VERY PREVENTABLE if you use a monthly preventative prescribed by your veterinarian. Prevention, Prevention, Prevention, Prevention. My personal favorite is Revolution for cats. There are other excellent products like Heartguard, Iverheart, Advantage Multi, and Interceptor. Each of these have the added bonus of also controlling intestinal parasites.



AMH