HEARTWORM 101
With warm weather come mosquitoes. They’re a nuisance to you, but to your pets they are a deadly enemy. In a single bite, mosquitoes can transmit a dangerous parasite called heartworm to your dog. Heartworms are blood parasites that make their home in your pet’s heart and pulmonary arteries (in the lungs). Infection occurs when a mosquito picks up a microscopic heartworm by biting an infected animal and then biting your pet, depositing the worm in the process. The heartworm larvae then work their way through the blood stream. Heartworms can grow to be up to 14 inches in length, and they resemble strands of angel hair pasta. As the worms reach maturity and begin to reproduce in your pet’s arteries, they can cause serious illness including heart failure, difficulty breathing and even death. Heartworm can cause permanent damage in your pet long before symptoms begin to show (which can be as long as 2 years after infection). Year-round preventative medications are your pet’s best defense.

HEARTWORM SEASON
Heartworms have been reported in all 50 states and in Canada, with the highest incidents in regions with a warm and wet season that supports a high concentration of mosquitoes. You can help reduce the likelihood of infected mosquitoes biting your pets by eliminating mosquito breeding sites in and around your home. Since mosquitoes need water to lay their eggs, look for any containers that might hold a puddle and turn them over. Be sure to tip over cans, buckets, swimming pool covers, and avoid water sitting stagnant. Reducing the mosquito population near your home will increase your pet’s chance for not contracting heartworms, and will make your family a lot more comfortable too.

A HEARTWORM PREVENTION PLAN
Treating a heartworm infection can be risky and costly, and like any disease, taking preventative steps is a far better alternative. The currently available heartworm prevention medication is safe, effective and available in once-a-month doses. This preventative regimen can be started for your pet as early as 6 weeks of age, as soon as we determine that no adult heartworms have already infected your pet (this requires a simple blood test). In addition to heartworm, many prevention products protect against other parasites, such as fleas, ticks, roundworms, and whipworms. Because heartworm prevention is so easy, we recommend that all pets be on heartworm prevention medicine year-round. This ensures that your family will be safe from diseases that can be picked up from your pet that the heartworm preventative eliminates. Call us for a consultation on which approach will best keep you and your pet healthy.