Most people who have dogs know about heartworm and heartworm preventative. Unfortunately, heartworm is still a major problem and a large number of dogs are not on heartworm preventative.
Years ago we were told we could take our dogs off heartworm preventative during the winter months and to restart it in the spring. This is no longer true. The winters are not cold enough for a long enough period of time to be able to safely stop giving the heartworm preventative.
Heartworm preventative needs to be given year round!!!! You also need to make sure you know your dogs weight so you can give him the correct dosage. If you have a puppy, the preventative should be started at 4 months of age.
You can get heartworm preventative in many different forms and brands now. Some only prevent heartworm while others will also prevent some intestinal worms. I just found out this year about a heartworm preventative that is given topically that also prevents fleas! You need to talk to your veterinarian to decide which preventative is best for you and your dog.
You can only get heartworm through your veterinarian or you can get a prescription from your veterinarian so you can purchase it through places like Drs. Foster and Smith or PetMeds. Some vets require a yearly heartworm test while others will only require a dog be tested if he has missed a pill.
The heartworm test consists of a blood test and can be run in the vet's office while you wait. If the test is positive, your vet will discuss the various treatment options with you. Heartworm treatment is very expensive and dangerous for your pet but the alternative is that the heartworms will kill your pet.
If your pet is positive, you will need to keep him quiet and as stress free as possible during the treatment. Usually this period of time is 6-8 weeks depending on how well your pet responds to treatment. During this time, there will be frequent trips to the vet for treatment and more heartworm tests to check your pet's progress. Some vets will hospitalize their patients during the initial treatment while others will treat them and send them home.
In case you are one of those who have never been told about heartworm, it is transmitted by mosquitoes so even indoor dogs are at risk. Once a dog is bitten by an infected mosquito, the larvae travels to the heart where it hatches into a worm which produces more worms. As the worms grow and reproduce, it becomes harder and harder for the heart to function and like a blood clot, a worm or piece of it can travel into an artery causing the artery to clog thereby ceasing blood flow.
If a dog goes untreated, the worms will eventually damage the heart muscle and become so numerous that the heart cannot function and your dog will die. Normally you will not see any symptoms that your pet has heartworm until his condition is pretty severe.
Until the last few years there was no heartworm preventative for cats because it didn't seem to affect them. This also has changed and there have been cases where cats have been infected with heartworm. I've talked to my vet about this and according to him, it is still pretty rare for a cat to get heartworm but it does happen. Again, this should be discussed with your vet to see if heartworm in cats is a problem in your area.
While we were traveling around Florida, I heard numerous stories of stray dogs being taken in by people and almost every one of these strays were positive for heartworm. It is so heartbreaking that a disease so easy to prevent is still so prevalent.
Please, please make sure your dog is on heartworm preventative year round.
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