Symptoms of Heartworms in Cats

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about what are the symptoms of heartworm disease of cats. Heartworm disease is very common, especially in dogs, we see it often, it's transmitted by mosquitos. And dogs typically, when they have heartworm disease, it generally is going to cause heart disease, heart failure, coughing, fluid build-up into the lungs, or especially the abdomen. In cats, that can be quite different. Dogs tend to have a very large worm-burn, meaning many worms. Cats may not, cats may have one or two worms. In cats, primarily, symptoms of heartworm disease revolve around the lungs. There's a syndrome, which occurs in cats of heartworm disease called Pulmonary thromboembolism, and what that means, essentially, is clots that form in the lung space, or in the lung tissue. If that occurs, these cats generally cough, have breathing difficulties, a lot of cats that have lung disease will vomit and will start having weight loss, will not be good eaters, that sort of thing. If you think that your cat could have heartworm disease, check with your veterinary clinic as far as testing is concerned, or tell your clinic what the symptoms are. In cats, there are several preventions that are on the market, such as something like Heartgard, or Advantage Multi, or Revolution, which are, all these products are generally used once a month, either topically or orally, check with your clinic as far as what they recommend, which product they recommend to prevent heartworm disease in the first place."