The mosquito problem your dog has: heartworm explained
Mosquitoes here transmit more than malaria. How heartworm quietly damages dogs, the cough to watch for, and easy monthly prevention.
Everyone in Nigeria respects mosquitoes for what they do to people. Fewer know what they do to dogs: they transmit heartworm, a parasite that grows into worms living in the heart and lung vessels, and our year-round mosquito season makes exposure constant.
How it happens
A mosquito bites an infected dog, picks up microscopic larvae, and injects them into the next dog it bites. Over months, those larvae migrate and mature into worms up to 30 centimetres long, taking up residence in the heart's chambers and the vessels of the lungs. The dog's body works around the invasion for a long time, which is exactly why the disease is quiet.
What it eventually looks like
A soft cough that will not go, tiredness on walks that used to be easy, weight loss despite eating, and in advanced cases a swollen belly from heart failure. By the time signs are obvious, the worm burden is usually heavy, and treatment at that stage is genuinely risky, slow and expensive.
Prevention is almost embarrassingly easy
A monthly preventive, a chew or spot-on prescribed by your vet, kills larvae before they ever mature. Many combined monthly products cover heartworm alongside intestinal worms and fleas in one dose. Compare that to the alternative and there is no real decision to make.
One important rule
Dogs that may already be infected should be tested before starting certain preventives; killing a heavy larval load abruptly can trigger reactions. This is a quick blood check, and it is why prevention starts with a vet conversation rather than a market purchase.
Ask about monthly parasite prevention at your next home visit; one product, once a month, and this entire disease stays theoretical. Prevention products are stocked in the Pet Shop once your vet confirms the right one.
Seeing these signs at home?
Don't sit on symptoms. A licensed vet can examine your pet at home, often within days.
