Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets transmitted from a mosquito bite. Once bitten, it takes up to 6 months for adult worms to appear. View the amazing chart at the bottom of the blog to understand the lifecycle of a heartworm (hint: you can click on it to enlarge).
Heartworms are foot-long worms that not only live in the heart, lungs and the associated blood vessels. This can lead to heart failure, lung disease and damage to other organs. It is important that your pet is on year round prevention and is tested every 12 months to be sure they are free of heartworms.
Dogs are a natural host for heartworms and if left untreated the number of worms will only increase. Heartworm disease is a little different for cats. Unlike dogs, most worms in cats do not survive to become adults. However, if our feline friends do end up getting adult worms they typically only have one to three which is a very low number compared to our canine pals.
You may wonder if your pet is at risk for getting this disease or if he/she really needs to be on prevention and the answer is YES! You may not know this, but heartworms are spreading to new regions of the country each year. The primary reason being, mosquitoes are blown a far distance by wind which results in them traveling to new areas. Secondly, infected pets are spreading to uninfected areas. Hopefully this helps everyone see why we encourage you (if you haven’t already) to get your pet started on heartworm prevention!
Read more by visiting www.americanheartwormsociety.com.
If you have any questions on how to get your pet started on prevention or what product your pet is currently on, give us a call or send us a text to (765)453-4700. We want to make sure your pets stay protected all year round.
A special thanks to the American Heartworm Society for providing relevant and life-saving data about this disease!
