HEARTWORMS

CAN ANOTHER DOG THAT COMES IN CONTACT WITH A DOG WITH HEARTWORMS GET THE HEARTWORMS FROM THAT DOG?

Hi Scrappy,

I’m pretty sure the only way a dog can get heartworm is from mosquitoes that transmit it through their bite directly into the bloodstream of an animal. According to the American Heartworm Society, heartworm cannot be transmitted from dog to dog. Unless, of course, a mosquito bites and infected dog and then bites another dog that has not been infected. But it is not transmitted directly between dogs.

Hope that helps.

Hi Scrappy, Kathleen is right, heartworms cannot be transferred directly between dogs the way that other types of dog worms can. The worms and their larvae spend their entire lives in the dog’s circulatory system, and they’re only transfered via blood. As long as a dog is on preventative, the medication will kill off any microfilaria transferred from a mosquito bite. I hope this info gives you more peace of mind. 

My husky had heartworms, The treatment was pretty horrible for him, but he survived.  We are very careful to make sure he gets his heartworm preventative every month. He got them before he came to us and I want to make sure they don’t happen again.

There is also a test the vet can do to see if you dog has heartworms. If you are worried, might want to have him/her tested.

Our Golden Retriever had it when she was about a year. I agree that the treatment was horrible. They have to poison the dog (I think it was with arsenic) to the point of near death in order to kill the heartworm. My poor baby had to go through this three times before she tested clear. The really crazy thing is that we’d bought her heartworm preventative, but my husband thought I was giving her the meds and I thought he was. Since then, I have taken over all medicating of dogs so that I know they have had their heartworm pills. I would have her tested if you are worried. It’s a fairly inexpensive test too.

Just as a side note for anyone who is interested, we have several new articles on heartworm on LTK Dogs this month. They provide lots of great information for anyone who has questions about heartworm or the treatment of heartworm. There is even some information on alternative treatments that you may want to discuss with your veterinarian.

Apparently it is a topic that many people are concerned about, and rightfully so. It’s definitely not something you want to mess around with. Heartworm is a horrible thing for a dog to go through. Not to mention the owner, who has to watch their dog suffer.

Protecting your dogs against heartworms is so important! When I was a child, my family had a dog that contract heartworms and died. It was awful. It’s so easy to prevent heartworms - all you have to do is give your dog a pill once a month. Every pet owner needs to make sure their dogs get this importnat preventive treatment.

I just read an article about natural treatments to prevent heartworm, but need to talk to my vet and see if they actually work. It included techniques like spraying your dog with citronella spray before going outside, since dogs contract the disease through mosquito bites. I think it also encouraged some different herbs that supposedly do the same thing as the preventatives, which is kill the worm in its early stages. I’m not going to list the herbs, because so many are very dangerous for our pets and I want to talk to my vet first. Just wondering if anyone else had heard of this.