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.