How To Protect Your Dog From Lungworm
Your pet dog and Angiostrongylus vasorum, lungworm.
The prevalence and ease with which lungworm, and many other canine diseases, can be acquired is a fact unknown to most dog owners. Although easily treatable, infection can have dire consequences if left undetected, and thus highlights the need to ensure that your pet insurance policy is up to date.
Many experts, such as celebrity vet Joe Inglis, have spoken out recently about the threat that lungworm can pose to pet dogs. But what exactly causes the disease and how can owners work to protect their pooches from it?
The parasite A. vasorum exists in many molluscs such as slugs and snails and the ingestion of such a mollusc can lead to infection. It is this organism which causes the problem, although it does not affect humans.
Despite the squishy creatures not being most dogs’ first meal of choice, mutts are scavengers and may not notice if they happen to scoff one while chewing outside or even chewing on a favourite toy.
What happens when a pooch gets this far? According to Bayer Animal Health, which is currently running the Be Lungworm Aware campaign to raise public interest in the issue, the main problems that come with digesting an infected mollusc is the fact dogs can then easily contract the disease in a cycle which is hard to interrupt or eliminate. This is because their infection can be passed on to others through their excretion.
However, research by the team found that only half of dog owners in the UK understand how their animals can become infected, although 62 per cent said they were aware that the condition can kill.
Disturbingly, said Dr Inglis, nearly half had never heard of the disease at all.
The cardiovascular system is targeted by the adult parasites resulting in infection of the heart and the blood vessels that lead to the lungs. A common result of this is a tendency to tire easily coupled with a chronic cough.
Other symptoms can include general malaise and depression, as well as changes to the dog’s ability to clot its blood - meaning that even a minor cut can bleed copiously.
Provided that pet health care is obtained as soon as these signs are recognized, the condition is, Dr Inglis said, easily treatable. If you fail to take the appropriate action as soon as the symptoms appear, your dog could easily undergo a rapid deterioration and die.
Some owners of pet dogs may assume that their three-month worming will kill off all parasites, including A. vasorum.However, this is not the case. Total elimination of the lungworm requires a separate course of treatment even though, according to the Bayer Animal Health initiative, prevention is possible by the monthly application of a topical solution.
The chances of your pet catching lungworm by cross-infection can be reduced by clearing up any dog mess that you might come across.
It was important, stressed Dr Inglis, that everyone should collect and take indoors all objects that might, if left outside, become a residence for molluscs.
Lungworm could be eliminated by education; a good idea would be to make a list of symptoms and put it in a conspicuous place in your home.
Such a list will enable you to make an instant diagnosis when your pet dog starts to show any disturbing symptoms.
