April is Heartworm Awareness Month

April is National Heartworm Awareness Month and no better time as warm temperatures begin. We just cannot stress enough the importance of keeping your dog(s) on heartworm prevention from your Veterinarian twelve months/year as we see far too many heartworm positive dogs in our Shelter. Heartworms are transferred through mosquito bites and here in the south, mosquitos are a threat year-round.

Adult heartworms are found in the heart, pulmonary artery (one of the big blood vessels from the heart), and adjacent large blood vessels of infected dogs. Adult heartworms can be anywhere from are 6"–14" long & one dog may have as many as 300 worms present. These adult heartworms are this size no matter if they are in a Great Dane or a Chihuahua so think about that! Sadly it is the 'small/house dogs we seem to find the most often positive in our Shelter, so think about the damage being done to their tiny hearts even by ONE adult heartworm. So yes, inside dogs also need to be on year-round prevention!

PREVENTING heartworms is the key as there is risk and significant cost of trying to clear them after your dog has become infected. FYI - you cannot look at your dog and know if they are or are not infected with heartworms! The ONLY way to know if your dog has heartworms is for your Veterinarian to do a quick & easy blood test. Once your Veterinarian determines your dog does not have adult heartworms, they can then prescribe prevention to protect your pet. The drugs to prevent heartworms are completely different than the drug necessary to treat a dog with heartworms so it is very important to never give your pet heartworm medicine until it has been tested by your veterinarian.

The good news is heartworm prevention is safe, easy and relatively inexpensive. There are a variety of options for preventing heartworm infection in both dogs and cats, including monthly tablets and chewables, monthly topicals, and a six-month or twelve-month injectable product (available only for dogs), all available from your veterinarian. These products are NOT available for you to purchase at a pet supply store, your local feed store or on-line without a prescription – you must get these from a licensed Veterinarian! Please do NOT purchase heartworm prevention from on-line sites that do not require a prescription from your Veterinarian as you may be purchasing potentially low-quality, poorly stored/shipped products or, worse, fake products. These preventatives are extremely effective, and when administered properly (do not skip months) will prevent heartworm infection. An added benefit from keeping your pet on heartworm preventative is that many of them also prevent other parasites like roundworms, whipworms and hookworms (a few also prevent tapeworms), AND some products also prevent fleas as well.

Most of us only think about dogs when we think heartworm prevention, but we now know that our cats are also at great risk and there are preventives (oral & topical) for cats too. So please talk to your Veterinarian about heartworm prevention for your dogs AND cats (and, FYI, Ferrets too).

In the long run keeping your dog (and cat) on monthly heartworm prevention will not only keep your pet healthy it will save you a LOT of money and heartache for a very expensive, lengthy and risky adult heartworm treatment. It will also help your pet live a long life as pets with heartworms generally do not live to old age as they face congestive heart failure, kidney issues, sometimes blindness and more. Here in Alabama mosquitos can be year-round, so please, please, please keep your pets current on heartworm prevention all twelve months.

Rea Cord, M.S.

Executive Director

Humane Society of Elmore County

255 Central Plank Rd

Wetumpka, AL 36092

Ph: 334/567-3377

Fax: 334/567-8774

Email: hselco@bellsouth.net

Website: http://www.elmorehumane.org

"Each of us can only do the best we can for as many as we can and that will never be good enough for those of us who care!"

"Adoptions are about finding homes more able, more committed or simply better for the pet that came into our charge. Adoptions are not about numbers or rewards or statistics. We strive to place our pets like they are our own."