Dirofeliriosis is a parasitic disease in dogs. Parasites can live in the pulmonary artery, in the right heart muscle, or under the skin. The disease is carried by mosquitoes. Therefore, in the spring and summer period, it is necessary to prevent this disease.
Adult parasites reach up to 40 mm in length and 1.3 mm in thickness. The larvae can circulate in the blood for several years. The disease is very dangerous and sometimes fatal to the animal. Dirofilariasis is pulmonary-cardiac or subcutaneous. Less commonly, parasites appear in the eye cloud or in the brain.
Diagnosis and symptoms of dirofilariasis
The disease is determined by a blood test. For correct diagnosis and determination of the severity of the disease, it is necessary to do a chest x-ray and echocardiography (ECHO).
Symptoms depend on how long ago the dog became infected. In the heat, you may notice itching, redness of the skin. In winter, these symptoms are smoothed out. With cardiac dirofilariasis, the animal loses weight sharply, gets tired quickly, sleeps a lot. There is shortness of breath, dry cough, wheezing in the lungs. When coughing, bloody discharge is possible.
There may be egg-sized lumps in the area of the mammary glands, skull, or extremities. An incision produces pus or fluid. Several parasites can also be found.
If the dog has subcutaneous dirofilariasis, then the disease can be almost asymptomatic. Occasionally, you may notice lesions on the scalp or around the eyes.
Treatment
Treatment is to expel the adults, get rid of the larvae in the bloodstream, prevent new infections, and support the weakened body. The expulsion of adult worms occurs surgically and chemically. The most commonly used drugs are dithiazanin, mebendazole, levamisole. However, none of them provides a guarantee against the onset of remission of the disease.
With the surgical method, the dog needs general anesthesia and penetration into the heart cavity.
It is very difficult for a sick dog. The operation is costly.
With the chemical method, dead parasites can clog blood vessels, which is very dangerous. And the medicine itself is very toxic. At the same time, rare and expensive.
The expulsion of the larvae from the blood is possible only with chemotherapy.
To keep the risk of disease as low as possible, prevention is necessary. In cities where mosquitoes live in basements all year round, prevention should be carried out every month. In this case, it is necessary to strictly observe the dosage. During the summer of mosquitoes and a month after it, in addition to medications, the dog must wear a special collar.
Treatment of the dog can only be prescribed by the doctor who made the diagnosis. Self-medication is very dangerous!
