With the arrival of warmer weather, also comes the arrival of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are responsible for the spread of Heartworm disease to your canine pet. An infected mosquito will bite your dog and transmit microfilaria - microscopic parasites - to your dog. Those parasites will live in the circulatory system of your dog until they become adult worms, when they will then take up residence within the heart. Even one of these parasites can be dangerous to your dog, but often there are many, which can result in a life-threatening condition known as Heartworm Disease. Undetected it can result in heat damage, lung damage, difficulty breathing and exercising, and even death. If detected, the challenge then becomes killing off the parasites without harming your dog.

Heartworm can be identified in one of two ways: a filter test that looks for the microfilaria in the blood stream directly, through observation under a microscope, or, by checking for the presence of the adult parasite by identifying heartworm antigen with a laboratory test kit. You should have this done annually by your veterinarian. Here in the tri-state area, it is recommended that dogs be on a heartworm preventive all year long. There are many options available for heartworm preventive, most of which require a chewable tablet given monthly. Heartworm preventive should be started on all dogs during their puppy months and continued throughout life. Annual heartworm testing should be performed as well.

You can get heartworm preventative by stopping in to any of our three convenient locations, or using our online pet medication service with a prescription from one of our veterinarians.