Don’t Let Roundworm Effect Your Gun Dogs
Heartworm, or roundworm, is very serious can affect all types of hunting dogs. With gun dogs, working dogs, and other outdoor dogs, you must be especially concerned because they are more susceptible to heartworm. The worse case scenario is that an affected dog can pass it on to humans, as well as other dogs. In turn, you can also pass on heartworm to your own dog.
Prevention of heartworm is crucial, especially when you consider that once your dog is infected with this parasite it made lead to death. Of greater concern is other in animals that come in contact with your dog such as coyotes, fox’s, and others may have roundworm and may transmit that disease to your dog.
Preventing Roundworm/Heartworm
Fortunately preventing heartworm is really not complicated. How worm prevention medications come in a variety of forms including tablets and food additives. You may offer the tablets to your dog as a treat once a month or you may included mixed in with their food. You must ensure that your dog receives monthly treatments so you must keep track of when you provide each dosage of heartworm medication.
If you live in an area where you have all four seasons, you should know that the number one carrier of heartworm are mosquitoes by means of passing on infected blood to another area when they sting their target. Where there are more moderate climactic change, roundworm is usually spread from one animal to another. No matter which scenario suits you, preventative measures should be taken each and every month, regardless of weather.
Symptoms of Roundworm
Unfortunately roundworm infection is not necessarily easy to identify. It may be a few months after being infected with roundworm that your dog shows any symptoms at all. While this is the period of time that roundworm is most easily treated, it is often the time when they are noticed the least.
Symptoms will begin as a cough, a loss of energy, and weight loss. You will see your dog become weaker and less interested in normal daily activities and fun. Take your dog to a veterinarian immediately if you notice these symptoms, as they can be many sicknesses, including roundworm.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Roundworm
A blood test is required to diagnose roundworm definitively, but it is a simple test that most vets can do easily. The next step is to determine whether an early infestation is primarily female or male roundworm, which will decide early treatment.
Once diagnosed, the treatment can start right away. In the later stages of infestation, extensive and costly treatments will be necessary. Roundworm can be treated with drugs and/or dialysis in order to be completely killed. This is hard on your dog’s internal system and can lead to weight loss and listlessness, especially if the worms start showing in the stool. After treatment, follow up treatments should occur for months to make sure that your dog is completely rid of roundworm.
Damage to organs can also be a result of roundworm infection and can mean lifelong treatment for that as well. This is why it’s so important to catch the infection as early as possible and to not delay in getting treatment for it.
When you have any sort of hunting dog, you should always keep in mind that you should always keep your dog’s health as top priority. There are also lots of different hunting dog supplies that you should have on hand for your dog such as electronic dog collars or dog collars.
