For many of us April means spring
showers, the beginning of warmer weather and not knowing if the sweater you
walked out of the house with will be too much or not enough. However, to a veterinarian,
April means Heartworm Awareness Month. Here we'll cover the ins and outs of
this nasty parasite, and justify our reasoning for always asking "do you
need to purchase more heartworm preventative?" when you're here. We have
your beloved pet's well-being in mind, we assure you.
Let's get the scary truths out of
the way; heartworm is a serious and potentially fatal parasitic infestation
that can affect dogs, cats, ferrets and other mammals. For our feline friends,
though heartworm disease isn’t as common as it is in dogs, it’s presence may
remain unknown until a pet becomes very sick or even passes from it as it is
tough to diagnose and there is no treatment available. For the kitties,
prevention is the ONLY option to stay safe against heartworm. For our canine
companions, heartworm disease often exhibits no symptoms until its advanced
stages, so routine testing is the primary way to diagnose. Treatment is costly
and not without risks as it requires multiple injections and the pet's activity
level must be severely restricted. The
term “heartworm positive” can be a tough thing to hear, but there is a silver
lining to the situation: heartworm disease is easily preventable.
So we covered why you don’t want
heartworm disease to be a part of your furry friend’s life, now let’s talk
about what you can do to prevent it. We’ve made that simple for you and the
answer is…well, PREVENTATIVES! We offer an array of heartworm preventatives
that can be found in our hospital, and additional varieties can be found at our
online pharmacy, right on our website. The key to getting the most peace of
mind out of your preventatives is consistency. Give the preventative on the
same date, each month. We recommend keeping your pet on preventatives year
round. Why? Let’s just take a brief moment to reminisce on our 50 degree
December. Holiday cheer wasn’t the only thing abound at that time.. the
mosquitoes were too.
So
your pet is on preventatives (year round) and we are abundantly proud of you
but guess what…that’s half the battle! What else can YOU be doing to prevent
heartworm disease? Talk about it! Knowledge is power and although the details
about heartworm don’t often come up in conversation when faced with juicy
gossip and recaps of what happened on the Walking Dead (don’t get me started), make
it a point to share some of these pieces of knowledge I’ve shared with you
today. Getting one more pet on consistent heartworm prevention can mean one
less heartworm positive dog or cat, and one less pet owner who has to face some
tough and expensive choices.
Don’t hesitate to call us with any questions, we love to
answer them! Tune in next week where I offer you a handy informational
insider’s guide to our heartworm preventatives.
Kate Dickson
BAH Receptionist
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