Angiostrongylus vasorum  – lungworm – and your pet dog.

Most dog owners are unaware of just how common and easily contracted lungworm, like many other diseases, is. Even though lungworm is easily treatable, it’s important to keep up your pet insurance policy so that the grave consequences otherwise possible are avoided.

The danger to pet dogs of infection by lungworm has recently been stated by many experts including the celebrity vet Joe Inglis. An understanding of how the disease is acquired can lead to knowing how to prevent it.

Molluscs such as slugs and snails often harbour a parasite called A. vasorum so that their ingestion can lead to the contraction of lungworm. The problem is caused by this organism even though it does not affect humans.

A dog can easily unknowingly eat one of these unsavoury molluscs whilst chewing a toy or scavenging.

What follows when your pet has unwittingly swallowed an infected mollusc? The main problem, according to Bayer Animal Health who are trying to raise public awareness, is that once an infected mollusc has been ingested a cycle of infection is started which is very difficult to break. This is so because other dogs will become infected through contact with their excrement.

However, research by the team found that only half of dog owners in the UK understand how their animals can become infected, although 62 per cent said they were aware that the condition can kill.

Disturbingly, said Dr Inglis, nearly half had never heard of the disease at all.

The blood vessels that lead to the lungs become infected as a result of the adult parasites making the heart and vascular system their home. Respiratory distress, shown by chronic coughing and lack of energy, can result from this.

Additionally the dog may appear ill and depressed and may bleed copiously if cut, as a result of its blood clotting mechanism being impaired.

It is important to realise that lungworm is an easily treatable disease, Dr Inglis said, as long as pet health care is sought as soon as these signs become apparent. Death can soon result if you fail to get the correct treatment straight away.

Some owners of pet dogs may assume that their three-month worming will kill off all parasites, including A. vasorum.Sadly this is not true. Instead, lungworm needs a separate course of treatment to eliminate it, although, as the Bayer Animal Health initiative points out, there are topical solutions which can be applied monthly to help ward off re-infections.

Furthermore, owners can help their pooches evade the problem by ensuring any dog mess – no matter where this originated from – is picked up immediately to lessen the chances of cross-contamination.

Dr Inglis stressed the importance of making sure that no toys or bowls were left outside to which molluscs might attach themselves.

Displaying a list of symptoms and thereby spreading information about lungworm would be one way of getting rid of the disease.

Such a list will enable you to make an instant diagnosis when your pet dog starts to show any disturbing symptoms.