Heartworm Prevention: Why It Matters for Your Pets
This month has been busy so our newsletter is getting to you a bit late, but we’ve got an interesting topic and exciting news to share! Today, we’re talking about heartworm disease and why prevention is important for all of your furry creatures!
Understanding Heartworm Disease
Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitos, which means your pet could be infected nearly any time of the year in Georgia, because mosquitos don’t always take a winter vacation.
When bitten by an infected mosquito, a larva is deposited into the bloodstream and then travels through the blood vessels to the heart where it grows into a full sized worm that can reach up to a foot long! Unprotected pets can be infected with dozens of worms at a time and can suffer irreparable damage to their heart and lungs in the process. To find out more about heartworm disease, click here to learn more from the American Heartworm Society.
Treatment for heartworm disease is expensive and risky for dogs (and unfortunately fatal for cats) but luckily, prevention is safe and affordable! Monthly cost for prevention averages at about $35 a month, and that includes flea, tick, and intestinal parasite coverage too!
Monthly Prevention Options
There are many options for prevention and companies are coming out with new products all the time. The one thing most of these products share is that they are intended for monthly use.
It is imperative that heartworm prevention is administered at the appropriate schedule because it works retroactively. This means that when you give the medication, it does not work as a shield moving forward but kills whatever heartworm larva your pet has been infected with the month prior. If you miss a month (or even are a few days late off) you run the risk of a heartworm larva aging into adulthood and then preventative medication is no longer effective against them. For dogs, this means pursuing adulticide treatment, but cats don’t have that option, so every pet needs prevention every month!
Special Offer from Boulevard Animal Hospital
Because we love your pets and want them to be safe and happy, we are excited to offer a FREE HEARTWORM TEST with the purchase of 12 months of prevention at your next visit. So, if your pet is due, or if you’ve missed a few months, or if you just want to make sure your pet is heartworm-free, call us today to schedule an appointment!
From the desk of
Dr. Kara Stem 🐾
Boulevard Animal Hospital | Athens, GA
