Could a dog's past heartworm disease cause pulmonary hypertension?

I am sorry to hear that your dog is coughing. There are so many reasons for chronic cough such as allergic bronchitis, pulmonary hypertension, heartworm disease, enlarged heart, fungal infection, parasites, and cancer. To answer your question heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes only and can not pass through people. Also, there is no answer to how long it takes for a cough to resolve. It completely depends on what is causing the cough. I would highly encourage you to consider a follow up appointment with your veterinarian soon. X-rays, bloodwork, and a fecal exam may be recommended to help determine the diagnosis and best treatment plan. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Any change in breathing warrants a trip to the vet for a recheck. While it’s possible that there’s nothing wrong, you could also be noticing the beginning of a complication of heartworm treatment. Pulmonary thromboembolism can occur when dying worms become lodged in the small blood vessels of the lungs. Your vet might want to take a chest x-ray.

Heartworm are know to lead to cardiac disease specifically pulmonary hypertension and blood clots to the lungs. Unfortunately, he is in heart failure until proven otherwise. Neither lisinopril or a thiazide are likely to improve symptoms of CHF significantly. Ultimately, he needs lasix if he is congestive heart failure. However, first a veterinarian must make the diagnosis. The best thing to do for George is the get him to the nearest veterinary emergency hospital as soon as possible.

I’m sorry you lost your handsome boy. It certainly could have been due to heartworms if he wasn’t on heartworm prevention. Usually though they cough and have other signs before death. With a congenital problem they often die as puppies or young dogs. He could have had dialated cardiomyopathy which can be hereditary or can be a result of diet. They have implicated grain free foods in the higher instance of cardiomyopathy but haven’t discovered the exact reason yet. That does often result in sudden death. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

My oldest dog was adopted with heartworms 13 yeas ago and is still doing well, so it certainly can be treated. I am attaching more information on heartworm disease below from the American Heartworm Society and a handout about treatment. https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=610 Unfortunately, there are a number of variables when it comes to heartworm treatment, so I cannot give you a price estimate, but I would recommend contacting your veterinarian to discuss a price range. Most commonly, we recommend bloodwork, urinalysis and chest x-rays, then decide on which treatment method will be best for them. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.

If the internal scar tissue is in the aorta then there is no way to remove it. Scar tissue in the lungs is also permanent, especially if steroids were given and there is no change. (steroids can soften scar tissue). I am afraid the coughing ins likely permanent. Adapt his exercise according to the severity of the cough, and have him regularly checked for heart problems. He is lucky to be alive and lucky to have you to worry about him. Heart worm disease is a nasty disease that often kills. The treatment also can kill. Most dogs with severe heart worm infection who survive will retain some heart or lung problems due to damage done by the heart worms. As far as I can see there are no other treatments besides the ones already tried that can relieve this cough.

If he is heartworm positive then the coughing is likely associated with it. Heartworms live in the pulmonary artery which is what takes the blood from the heart to the lungs to get oxygen. They can cause significant decrease in the amount of blood flow as well as they are really inflammatory. Their presence makes the lungs really angry and that causes cough. In later stages the heart can be so damaged that they can go into heart failure, which can also cause cough. I would highly encourage you to schedule a follow up appointment with your veterinarian to discuss this disease and how to treat it. I would also recommend an x-ray of the chest to see how much damage has already occurred. In the meantime I would encourage you to keep him on leash and not running around where he might cause more damage. Best of luck to you and Max! I hope he recovers well! Thank you for using Pet Coach.