Heartworm disease can be a serious and potentially fatal disease in most breeds of cats including the British Longhairs. Your vet can help you learn that heartworms are capable of invading the heart, lungs and blood vessels of your cat. The disease, if not caught early, can be fatal as it can cause permanent damage to your cat’s main organs especially the lungs. Heartworm disease is transmitted in cats from mosquitoes. Adult female heartworms produce baby worms that circulate in the bloodstream. The mosquito picks up these baby worms when it sucks the blood from the infected cat. It takes 10 to 14 days for the baby worms to enter the infective stage. Once the mosquito bites another cat, it deposits the larvae into the cat. It can take 6 months for the babies to mature. Heartworms can live two to three year in cats.Click here to learn more from your pet clinic Washington, DC.