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Does my dog requirement heartworm preventative medication year round even if he/she is mainly a home dog? This is one of the most typical questions we get in daily veterinary practice. Heartworm illness is a parasitic illness transmitted by mosquitoes. After being bitten by a heartworm infected mosquito, immature stages of heartworms called heartworm larvae slowly mature over many months as well as ultimately end up at their final location of maturation in the pulmonary arteries of a dog or feline and/or to a lesser degree the heart.
Depending upon the private susceptibility of a dog or cat, the average ambient temperature in the part of the country a guardian lives, as well as the number of heartworm carrying mosquitoes in an area, all of these elements impact the risk of infection in a provided area. Heartworm positive animals have been documented in all 50 states, and the rate of infection can vary from 2 to 4 percent depending upon the elements discussed above.
In cats, the risk is somewhat lower; however, heartworm infection in cats as well as subsequent pathology of the lungs as well as heart are being progressively recognized as well as appreciated by the veterinary community. Symptoms of heartworm infection can range from sub clinical (meaning no symptoms at all), varying degrees of exercise intolerance, coughing as well as in severe cases abdominal swelling as well as best sided heart failure.
On occasion, a clot can type as the body attempts to rid itself of the heartworms, which can get into the circulation as well as potentially lodge in important organs causing kidney, liver damage, or even sudden death. And while cats are commonly considered a “dead end” host for heartworms with many cats showing no symptoms, others cats are more sensitive to the existence of even one or two adult heartworms as well as the larvae, showing varying degrees of respiratory symptoms that are commonly mistaken as feline asthma, as well as chronic or intermittent digestive symptoms such as vomiting.
Heartworm transmission in the northern two thirds of the country lasts only several months a year, however in the south, transmission can happen year round. However with the increasing recent worldwide warming, as well as the interstate travel that many people are now doing around the country at various points throughout the year, the American Veterinary Heartworm society is now recommending year- round prevention. Their recommendations likewise come at a time when there is increasing concern of what are called zoonotic diseases, which are diseases potentially transmitted from animal to human. many of the current monthly heartworm preventative medications have extra ingredients that likewise safeguard against zoonotic diseases, such as roundworms or hookworms.
There are plenty of safe monthly heartworm preventative medications on the market, with a long track record of reliability such as Heartgard plus as well as Sentinel. some of the newer topical flea/tick products likewise safeguard against heartworms; however, I remain a proponent of the tried as well as evaluated monthly preventatives that have been around for years, rather than the topical medications for heartworm prevention.
Many clients will commonly ask why their vets require heartworm testing every year. And while medically speaking, giving even a heartworm positive dog any type of of the newer monthly preventatives is not a issue in many cases, it is still a great concept to have your dog heartworm evaluated when a year. Although these products are close to 100 percent efficient in heartworm prevention, there are still prospective private dogs that are uniquely vulnerable to heartworm infection, even with diligent client monthly compliance in administration. If your pet is on heartworm prevention year-round, some veterinarians will enable every other year blood testing. However, if an animal guardian misses a few months of their pet’s heartworm preventative, it is NOT important that they have them promptly evaluated before restarting the pills, which many veterinary offices still erroneously tell their clients. This instant testing was only important when using the old everyday heartworm prevention medications that were on the market years ago, since in those cases if one gave a heartworm positive dog one of the old everyday pills such as Filaribits, there might be an increased risk of an allergic or life threatening anaphylactic reaction. While reactions to heartworm medications can sometimes occur, many animals tolerate them just fine as well as enjoy the chewable flavors that they commonly are packaged with.Heartworm