April is Heartworm Awareness month! It is very important to keep your pets on heartworm prevention year-round. According to the American Heartworm Society, one million pets in the United States have heartworm disease. This disease is highly preventable, and is much easier and cost effective to prevent than it is to treat. 

Heartworms are a parasite spread through the bite of an infected mosquito that carries baby heartworms, or microfilaria. The mosquito carries these worms as they mature into an “infective stage”. Then, when the mosquito bites your dog or cat, the heartworms are deposited into the animal via the mosquito’s bite wound. Over the next 6 months, the larvae develop into mature adult heartworms that can be almost one foot long. Adult heartworms can live for up to 7 years in a dog!

Heartworm disease can present asymptomatically at first, but symptoms progress to include coughing, fatigue, decreased appetite, and weight loss. If untreated, pets can develop heart failure or cardiovascular collapse known as caval syndrome. 

So what can we do to prevent this? Keep our pets up to date on annual heartworm tests and monthly heartworm prevention! Even if your pet is on heartworm prevention consistently, it is important to get your pet tested for heartworm disease annually. This helps us ensure that the prevention is working for your pet. 

After their annual heartworm test, your veterinarian will likely have many options as far as preventatives. Some of these medications can also protect against intestinal parasites as well!

  • Heartgard Plus & Triheart Plus – Once a month pill given by mouth, also treats and controls hookworms and roundworms.
  • Sentinel Spectrum– Once a month pill given by mouth, also protects against tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms.
  • Interceptor Plus – Once a month pill given by mouth, also treats and controls roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, and whipworms.
  • Simparica Trio– Once a month pill given by mouth, also treats and controls fleas, ticks, roundworms, and hookworms.
  • ProHeart – Injectable medication, given similarly to a vaccine. This is given once every 6 or 12 months depending on the type of ProHeart the veterinarian has.
If you would like to learn more about Heartworm disease and prevention, check out the American Heartworm Society’s website, linked below!
https://www.heartwormsociety.org/