Dear Friends,

Welcome to Metairie Small Animal Hospital`s Second E-Mail Bulletin .

New Hospital Design

A Reminder

Evening Office Hours

Reservations

of the

Month

Carey Porges is our employee of the month, having been the first technician to complete our new comprehensive veterinary technician training manual. Carey joined Metairie Small Animal Hospital in January of 1998. She is now taking prerequisites at the University of New Orleans in hopes of attending LSU's School of Veterinary Medicine. Carey received a finance degree in corporate investment and management prior to embarking on her ultimate goal of becoming a veterinarian.

Max, a five year old Rottweiller, was presented to Metairie Small Animal as a referral from a veterinary hospital on the north-shore. Max was in very desperate condition. He had such a mass of heartworms in his heart that his circulation was almost stopped (Caval Syndrome). He was so weak that he could not walk. His heart, liver, and kidneys were on the verge of failure. These critical cases require immediate intervention and 24 hour a day monitoring. Within minutes of presentation, Max was examined, his owners consulted, and he was on his way to surgery. During surgery, an instrument was carefully passed through Max's jugular vein into his heart and the large veins that were clogged with heartworms. With repeated passes, worms were found by feel, grasped, and removed through the jugular vein. In all, 133 worms were removed. The results of the surgery were dramatic. As the worms were being removed, the circulation started to improve. With blood flow restored, Max's internal organs started to function again. The next day Max walked out of MSAH wagging his tail. He still has to undergo regular heartworm treatment to kill the worms that were inaccessable at the time of surgery. His regular veterinarian will handle this. Overall Max has gone from a very poor prognosis to a good one. See photo below (extracted heartworms).

Heartworm Disease

is caused by a parasite that resides primarily in the right side of the heart. The parasite, Dirofiliria immitis, must complete part of it's life cycle in a mosquito. The mosquito is the vector which transmits heartworm larvae from one dog to another. Larvae that have been introduced into a new host undergo molts to grow and migrate to the heart to live out their 5 to 7 year life span.

Heartworm disease is directly related to the number of worms present and the duration of infection. Although heartworm disease has been reported in all the states, the highest incidence occurs where mosquito populations abound, especially along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the Ohio and Mississippi river basins. Infection rates approach 100% in unprotected dogs living in highly endemic areas. Disease caused by heartworms is not only limited to the heart and lungs, but may also affect the liver and kidneys indirectly.

As dreadful as this disease is, we do have the silver bullet. Heartworm preventative given daily (Filarabits) or monthly (HeartGuard or Interceptor) interferes with the life cycle completion, preventing larval development into adult worms. Unprotected dogs, who have already acquired heartworms can be sucessfully treated to eliminate both the adult and immature parasites, then placed on preventative.

Recently a tremendous amount of research has been devoted to studying a less common phenomena, heartworm disease in cats. Although not the definitive host of the heartworm, it appears from the most recent literature that for every one hundred dogs infected, as many as ten percent of cats at risk in that population may be infected. A heartworm preventative now exists for cats at risk. Please feel free to discuss the topic with any of our veterinarians.