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An Overview
Feline heartworm disease is becoming a more commonly diagnosed entity. The geographic prevalence of heartworm infection in cats parallels that of dogs, but at a lower rate. The rate of infection world wide varies between 0 to 8.5%. Surveys in the southern US indicate an infection rate of 4-7% for cats and 58-70% for unprotected dogs. Of the cats affected in a recent study at North Carolina State University, 50% of these cats were found to be indoor cats!
As with dogs, cats become infected via mosquito bites. Cats are not the normal hosts for this canine parasite, thus accounting for the lower rates of infection in their species. Most cats have an immunological response which kills the larvae after it is injected by the mosquito into the cat's tissues. However, if this larvae escapes through the cat's defenses it can migrate to the heart and mature to become an adult heartworm. We also carry the effective topical product Revolution®. Rare cases have been cited where heartworms have developed in other areas of the cat's body, such as the brain and spinal cord.
Unfortunately, in many cats that have been heartworm infested the first sign has been sudden death! Other cats may show weight loss, coughing, or vomiting. Most importantly, there is no safe treatment for cats at this time since the treatment of the adult worms currently used for dogs will kill most cats. The only help available for cats is control of the symptoms. For this reason prevention should be a strong consideration.
We now have an approved heartworm preventative for cats in Heartguard® by Merck. Given monthly it is 100% effective in prevention of heartworms. Kittens and younger cats can be started on the preventive without a preliminary heartworm test. The older the cat, the more likely heartworms may already be present, so we do recommend heartworm testing before prevention is started. The cost for a feline heartworm test is only slightly more than our canine test as it requires a more sophisticated test.