Heartworm prevention in dogs....

Hi everyone. I just thought this was an appropriate post to make with the upcoming warm weather months. I'm a veterinary technician and feel the need to educate people about heartworm disease in dogs (and cats).

Heartworm is a parasitic roundworm (technical name is Dirofilaria immitis) that is spread from host to host through mosquitoes. In basic terms, the mosquito will suck the blood of an infected dog and spread it by sucking the blood of another dog. Heartworm is very easy to treat. There are many brands of prevention such as Heartgard, Wormshield, Iverhart and I'm sure there are many other brands I have never even heard of.

Any dog can get heartworm disease, unless of course you live in Alaska where the occurance is practically 0%. I live in Colorado where there is a huge misconception that dogs can't get heartworm here because of the low humidity. The occurance here is lower than in some of the southern states, but that doesn't mean they still can't get it. The cases in Colorado have been growing quite a bit in past years. I believe it to be that people don't seem to think it is an issue here.

Again, any dog can get heartworm disease. I can't tell you how many times I have been told at work, "My dog doesn't go outside that much." I assume that even if the pet isn't much of an outdoor dog that they still go outside to go to the bathroom. Any pet that steps foot out of the house can come in contact with mosquitoes. Another misconception is that dogs can not contract heartworm disease in the winter months. It is much less of a risk in the winter months, but it is still possible for them to get it. Especially if you live in a humid area.

Treatment for heartworm disease is rather brutal. The treatment is called Immiticide. It is an arsenic based compound that is injected into the pet. After recieving treatment, the pet has to have exercise restriction for several weeks. This means basically sitting in a kennel doing nothing all day long. Treating heartworm disease is very costly. It will run you over $1,000. While prevention is around $60-100 a year.

I am so bothered by the fact that I tell people that there pet can die of heartworm disease and they still decline prevention. I think it is very unfair for any dog to have to go through this. I would really encourage anyone who doesn't have their dog on heartworm prevention to get them on it. You do have to have a negative heartworm test before starting prevention (some clinics will let you have the prevention without doing the test, but they make you sign a waiver acknowledging that you know it is a preventitive and not a treatment).

Thanks for reading.

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