Preventing Heartworm Disease in the Canine

Heartworm disease poses serious health risks to your pet. What are you doing to protect your dog? Many people are not educated with regards to heartworm disease and how it is transmitted. The mode of transmission is through a mosquito bite. The unfortunate thing about this disease is that if someone goes to another state where the disease is more prevalent and their dog contracts the worm, when they come back home a mosquito there can become infected. The infected mosquito in turn can infect other dogs. It is simple to prevent and not very expensive. Many people do not realize what a danger this disease can be to their pet and feel that it is not necessary to treat their dog at all.

There are several products out there that protect against heartworm disease. Heartgard is the most widely used preventative medication that also protects against hookworm and roundworm. This preventative is not an injection or anything; it is simply a chewable treat that you administer orally to your dog once a month throughout the entire year. Now, when you run out of the preventative, you will be required to have a blood test done to make sure your dog does not test positive for heartworm. If this is the case and your dog does test positive for the disease and you have been giving Heartgard regularly, the company will pay for all treatment.

So why risk the chance of your dog getting the disease and paying for the treatment? Treatment is not very good for the pet either. Treatment is an injection called Immiticide. This is currently the only treatment for killing adult heart worms. Treatment can be done in two or three doses. Treatment in three doses is what is mostly recommended because it is more of a prolonged treatment. What I mean is that if you kill the adult worms too fast, they can cause an obstruction (embolism) in the blood stream and cause death. The three dose treatment is more gradual and chances of embolism are decreased. However, you do not want to be at this stage. Preventing is much easier on your part.

Many veterinarians may sound like used car salesman, but in actuality, they are trying to educate you with the small amount of time that they have. Take into consideration as to what your veterinarian recommends and if it is about money that you are unable to buy the preventative, just think about what treatment would cost if your dog contracted the disease.