
Hello, it’s me Mr. Waffles! I’m here to talk to you about a very important topic…Heartworm Disease.
Heartworm disease is a very serious and potentially fatal disease in animals. Heartworms are worms that can grow to a foot in length and live in the heart, lungs and blood vessels of pets. Heartworm disease affects dogs, cats and ferrets but can also live in other species including wolves, coyotes and foxes.
The mosquito plays an essential role in the heartworm life cycle and we have plenty of mosquitoes here! Adult female heartworms living in an infected dog, fox, coyote or wolf produce microscopic baby worms (also known as microfilaria) and they circulate in the bloodstream. When a mosquito bites, it picks up these baby worms and spreads them to other animals. It takes about 6 months for the baby worms to develop into an adult heartworm – which is why it is so important to test annually. Heartworms can live for 5-7 years in dogs and up to 2-3 years in cats.
Thankfully – the wonderful world of veterinary medicine has made a preventative so you don’t even have to worry about any of the above information! You can easily and inexpensively protect your pets. You can give your dog a monthly oral preventative in a tablet form, such as Iverhart Plus – which we carry in the hospital! We also have an injection called Proheart that lasts 6 months. For cats there’s a monthly topical called Revolution which also prevents fleas!
Check out the American Heartworm Society’s website for more information https://www.heartwormsociety.org/
xoxo Mr. Waffles