Heartworm season is upon us again in the north country. You can find much information on the web explaining heartworm disease and its diagnosis and prevention. One of my favorite sites is The American Heartworm Society. The AHS is devoted to gathering and disseminating the most current statistics and information about heartworm disease in both dogs and cats. In short, heartworm disease describes an infection with small worms localized to heart tissue, and can cause coughing, lung disease, and ultimately heart failure, if gone untreated. It is considered a fatal disease in untreated dogs.
Because heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes, we are entering heartworm season in New Hampshire at this time. In fact, our clinic recommends that dogs be treated with heartworm preventative medications from April through October, at a minimum. The AHS recommends that all dogs be tested for heartworm disease yearly, and the sophisticated in-house ELISA test we use also screens for exposure to Lyme disease. With the increasing incidence of Lyme disease in our local dogs, evidence of exposure to Lyme allows us to institute prophylactic antibiotic treatment and decrease the likelihood that an exposed dog will develop clinical Lyme disease.
If your dog is negative for heartworm disease (our test detects a protein from female heartworms, therefore a positive test indicates that the dog is actually infected with at least one heartworm), we will recommend that you begin your heartworm preventative as soon as possible to prevent infection. Many clients are choosing to give their dogs preventative heartworm medications year-round to protect against the possibility of early or late mosquitoes, or to simply keep a monthly pattern established. Most heartworm preventatives contain sufficient medication to help prevent against other parasite infections, such as intestinal worms, and can help protect your dog and your family from potentially dangerous infections with roundworms or hookworms. Dogs on year-round preventatives can have their heartworm tests performed at any time during the year.
There are a number of heartworm preventatives available, and most are very effective at preventing your dog from contracting heartworm disease. At Companion Pet Care, we recommend either Revolution, a monthly topical product which protects against heartworms and also kills fleas and ticks, or Heartgard, a monthly oral “treat” which is primarily a heartworm preventative. We find both of these products to be easy to use, and very effective at preventing heartworm disease.
If you are a client of Companion Pet Care, we encourage you to contact our office and schedule your heartworm test today, so you can begin your preventative treatment. If you are not yet a client, please call to schedule a “Get Acquainted” visit and examination with one of our veterinarians, and we can help you design a comprehensive health care plan for your pets.