My daughter, Nika, was born with a hole between the left and
right chambers of her heart.
For example, in children who are born with septal defects — a hole in the wall between the left and
right chambers of the heart — cells from the left and right ventricle inter-mix during the earliest stage of formation, breaching the critical wall between the two sections.
These larvae travel to the heart and grow into large adult worms in
the right chambers of the heart.
The worms are found in the right side of the heart and in the major vessels that bring blood to and from
the right chambers (as mentioned above), where they cause inflammation and interfere with blood flow.
The upper left and
right chambers are called the atria (atrium) and the lower left and right chambers are called the ventricles.
Because the left side of your pet's heart has higher pressure than the right, blood generally flows left to right into
the right chamber — bypassing the lungs where it needed to go to absorb critical oxygen.
Since the heartworms thrive in the artery leading out of
the right chamber of the heart (and into the lungs), many dogs display shortness of breath with this disease.
Heartworm is a parasitic infestation most often located in
the right chamber of a dog's heart.
Dogs have four - chambered hearts just like people; the upper left and
right chambers are called the atria and the lower two are called the ventricles.
In the meantime the worms grow and continue multiple blocking
the right chambers of the infected animal's heart, blocking veins leading to the heart, lungs, and even the liver.
Heart enlargement (where
the right chambers of the heart become so large that as the heart beats they pinch off the main airways)
The effects of the heartworm are to physically block the normal blood flow through your heart and to damage the lining of the heart muscle inside
the right chamber.