The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-10-29
WORM THAT
KILLS DOGS
Vredenburgh Tells OF
His Experiences
in Hawaii.

While IL HdWan TO attend the lIllIldl
! bench show of the Hawaiian Kennel
| Club, A. p. Vredenburgh learned of a
worm that kills dogs. The dogs lap up
the germs, which are believed to be the
larvae of a nocturnal mosquito, in the
drinking water. The developed worms
penetrate the heart and cause death by
Hawaiian name is the heart worm
1t is SC prevalent that it is rare for a
dog bred on the islands to live until
three years old. Beyond that age a dog
is regarded as immune from the at
tacks and old dogs brought into the
is!.rds are seldom the victims of the
keart worm.
Mr. Vredenburgh is secretary of the
American Kennel Club, which has con-
troll over all American dog shows, and
his trip to the Pacific Coast and the
Philippines was a combination of bust
ness and pleasure. The discovery OF
the pest that threatens the perpetual
ton of fine breeds of dogs in Americas
new possessions was q surprise and a
shock to him.
In commenting on the slim showing
of puppies and young dogs at Homo
LULU" said Secretary Vredenburgh, Il
first heard of the heart worm and Of
the epidemic of which it is the cause,
which is so viruIent with young dogs
that to raise one to full growth is sell
dom possible. Before my departure
from Hawaii I had an opportunity of
making a personal investigation and
to verify the statements made to me.
"A night flying mosquito, harmless
to the inhabitants but most terrifying
in appearance to a visitor from the
Atlantic seaboard, is believed to de-
post the eggs of the worm on the
water that the dogs drink. The pest
is said to have been brought to the
islands from japan many years ago
and in that country to attack cattle
and horses, as we'll as dogs, but in Ha
wall the live stock is free from it's raw
ages. The worm is supposed to hatch
in the stomach or intestines of the dog
and, when in the germ state, to gain
entrance to the veins and by the blood
canals to the heart. Here the worms
cluster and develop, with the final eff
feet of killing the animal by choking
the main artery. 1t is not determined,
I believe, whether the worms then die
in their turn or pass into another pc
riod of life as mosquitoes
Each worm is from two to four
inches in length, white in color and
without apparent organs of any Sort
They are very thin, say about the
thickness of small knitting needle,
and suggest bits of white knitting silk.
They are found in clusters of eight or
ten in the heart of the dead dog, group
ed about the source of blood supply as
fish gather at the inlet to a pond. 1
inspected the worm infested hearts
kept as specimens in the museum of
the local Board of Health. The experts
said that specimens of the worm and
similar exhibits had been sent for ex
animation to the Government scientists
at Washington but that full identifi-
cation had not been made or any anti
dote suggested
The presence of the worm is made
known by a hacking cough, which is
followed by a dullness of coat and eye,
with an increasing debility to the end.
In company with DR. l. CharIeton F'itz-
gerald. an Irish veterinarian, 1 visited
the best kennels of pointers in Hawaii.
The owner, a prominent merchant,
showed us a puppy he knew to be in
fected and asked the doctor to end its
misery. The pointer had never been
outside of the kennel and every effort
had been made to guard the dogs
drinking water from pollution, which
reveals how insidious is the approach
of the pest. I saw the puppy killed
by humane means and watched the
subsequent autopsy. In the valve OF
the heart we discovered the deadly
cluster of worms, precisely as 1 had
been told
Turning to more pleasant themes,
Secretary Vredenburgh said that the
dog show was in the skating rink on
Queen street, Honolulu, on September
6, : and s. The expenses We're $70G,