With cats around dogs that serve as the principal reservoir, if heartworm is controlled in those dogs, then the
risk of heartworm in cats would be greatly reduced.
Due to a lack of studies showing a clear benefit of treatment and the short
lifespan of heartworms in cats, adulticide therapy is not recommended, and no drugs are approved in the US for use in cats.
The
severity of heartworms in cats is directly dependent upon the number of worms present a cat's body, the duration of the incubation, and the response of the infected cat.
While cats are not considered an ideal host environment for heartworms, and it is less common to see
cases of heartworm in cats, it is still possible for cats to contract heartworms from mosquitoes.
Though infections in cats can be light (consisting of just a couple worms), the importance of heartworms is amplified because even a small
number of heartworms in a cat can be life threatening.
Additionally, chest x-rays can check for lung damage caused by heartworms, and an ultrasound may be able to visually reveal the
presence of heartworms in a cat's heart or pulmonary blood vessels.
Early
signs of heartworms in cats: coughing, asthma - like attacks, periodic vomiting, lack of appetite, or weight loss, difficulty walking, fainting or seizures, or fluid accumulation in the abdomen.
The signs
of heartworms in cats are not always definitive, which leads to increased difficulty in diagnosis.
What are the signs
of Heartworm in cats?
There are no consistent clinical signs
of heartworm in cats and diagnosis is often difficult.
The American Heartworm Society says heartworms are harder to detect in cats than in dogs (in fact, sometimes the first sign
of heartworm in cats is sudden collapse or death).