Our staff then proceeded to take chest x-rays to determine
the severity of the heartworm disease and evaluate treatment potential.
A vet can also listen for abnormal heart sounds and perform other diagnostic tests to help determine
the severity of heartworm disease.
Answer: If he can't afford the adulticide treatment, there are things he can do that are better than not doing anything at all but since they aren't ideal and can be really detrimental to some patients, he needs to go over all of that with his veterinarian that diagnosed his dog and knows
the severity of the heartworm disease and the overall health of the patient.
Not exact matches
Carried by mosquitoes, feline
heartworm disease has been in the literature for decades, but since veterinarians were looking for «dog - like» symptoms in cats, the
severity of the feline version
of the
disease was only recognized recently.
Heartworm symptoms include coughing, exercise intolerance, increased breathing rate or effort, abdominal distension with fluid, discolored urine as well as many other symptoms, depending on the
severity of the
disease process.
If a dog tests positive for
heartworm disease, confirmatory testing and staging
of the
severity of disease is recommended.
In one study, one - third
of cats diagnosed with
heartworm disease died or were euthanized due to
severity of their
disease on the day
of diagnosis.
The number
of circulating microfilariae does not correlate with the number
of adult
heartworms, so is not an indicator
of disease severity.
There are three
severity levels
of heartworm disease in cats and dogs.
In a similar fashion to the changes to the left atrium with certain left - sided heart
diseases,
diseases that primarily affect the right side
of the heart (e.g. primary pulmonary hypertension,
heartworm disease, tricuspid valve dysplasia, pulmonic stenosis) may reduce forward flow
of blood into the pulmonary circulation and, again depending on
severity, may lead to a build - up
of volume and / or pressure within the right atrium which will also try to enlarge to compensate.
Most dogs infected with
heartworms do not show any signs
of disease for as long as two years, but this is entirely dependent on the
severity of infection.