Lungworm's growing threat to canine lives

A few years ago, a parasite started filtering through the veterinary grapevine called Lungworm. I have to be honest, I don't think many of us took is serious at first, it sounded a bit like scare mongering to sell parasite protection products! Lungworm was a parasite that was common place in Europe, but rarely seen in the UK.

How times have changed...........


I've witnessed 5 canine deaths since January 2012 at the hands of lungworm and a number of other positive cases that have been successfully treated.

Lungworm, is a worm carried by slugs and snails. It cannot be transmitted from dog to dog, although dogs can excrete eggs in their faeces but these eggs must come in contact with a slug or snail to develop. All the dogs that passed away did not have a history or eating slugs or snails, but as one advisor explained to me, some slugs in the garden are so small, dogs simply inhale them when sniffing about, and swallow them.

Lungworm causes respiratory problems but also clotting problems. Dogs with lungworm can by asymptomatic which means they show little or no symptoms until its too late. The dogs I witnessed came collapsed and pale due to an unknown cause and passed away within a couple of hours because the lungworm burden was so large that the treatment did not take affect fast enough and our supportive treatment was not enough to combat the worm's affects.

The affect the worm has on the blood clotting mechanism is also a massive problem when an animal is having even the most routine operation. We have seen severe post operative bleeding or wound break down in dogs that have been spayed or castrated because we were none the wiser that they were carrying lungworm. Testing for lungworm used to be long and laborious by gathering 3 days worth of faeccal samples and sending them off to an external lab to be tested; impossible when you have a collapsed dog in fron of you on the brink of death. Luckily a new quick, easy and cost effective blood test has been created and is stocked by many practices which gives results in 15 minutes.

If you're worried, you can request your dog be tested for this worm, we had two dogs test positive this week alone - one of which was due to be spayed. If your dog comes back negative, the good news is you can give a parasite control treatment which can protect your dog against lungworm - its a monthly treatment which also protects against other parasites at the same time. These protection treatments are only available from vets because they are Prescription Only Medicines which means the vet has to have recently seen your dog to legally be able to prescribe it.

If your dog comes back positive, don't panic, it can be successfully treated very easily, and once your dog is clear of the infection, you can move on to preventative treatments.

I can only put this increase of cases down to the popular rise of the Pet Passport scheme; dogs becoming infected in Europe, travelling back to the UK and excreting the eggs in their faeces.

Dog owners, please be aware of this very real threat. More information can be found at www.lungworm.co.uk. Take care x