Can heartworm disease be treated?
Yes, but it is a harsh treatment, fraught with danger for the dog. First a medication is injected to kill the adult worms. However, as they die, they flow out of the heart and into the lung field, where they lodge in the smaller arterioles. There they cause inflammation which can be quite severe, leading to pneumonia. Also, the medication used is an arsenic derivative, which is harmful to the dog in its own right. After the adult worms are removed, and after the dog has recovered the from the insult of that treatment, another medication is given to kill any circulating microfilaria, so that the dog is no longer infective. This, too, can be hard on the dog, although not so bad as the initial phase.
