Prevent Heartworms in Dogs by Understanding Their Life Cycle

Dogs are the most loving creatures, yet they are more susceptible to getting a heartworm infection as compared to other pets. Heartworms are parasites that reside inside the dog’s body and infect the heart, lungs and vessels of his body. In Australia, every year the vets face a number of heartworm cases and the effects of them are adverse. Although heartworms can be prevented, it has to be done at an initial stage. If the canine already has an infection than the preventatives won’t work. To understand when the right time to prevent heartworms is, you must be aware of the entire life cycle of heartworms. The following steps will depict the life stages of heartworms: The lifecycle embarks by a female mosquito sucking the blood from an infected host and ingesting the immature larvae or microfilaria of heartworms. The microfilariae then become active in the mosquito’s mouth in approximately 2 weeks and grow into larvae. When the mosquito feeds on a host such as dog, it infects the dog with...