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Heartworm:
Heartworm disease is caused
by a parasite worm called “dirofilaria immitis.” This
parasite is transmitted by mosquito, so when mosquitoes
are out, your pet can become infected. When an infected
mosquito bites your pet they deposit heartworm larvae.
They travel to the heart and lungs and grow and
reproduce.
As the heartworm population
grows, they clog the heart and lungs. This causes a
condition called congestive heart failure, which means
that those organs are not working properly. Due to the
seasonal nature of mosquitoes in our area Dr. McKee
recommends using heartworm preventative from May or June
through October, unless you are traveling to warmer
areas of the country where they have mosquitoes
year-round. Heartworm preventative only works on
heartworms at the “larval” (or very early) stage of a
heartworm’s life. It does not work on adult heartworms.
What this means is that if your dog already has
heartworms, the preventative will do no good. For this
reason, Dr. McKee requires that a simple heartworm test
be done before starting your pet on heartworm
preventative, so that we can make sure that the
preventative is doing what it is supposed to be doing.
If you do a good job
keeping up with your preventative from May/June through
October, there is no need to do another heartworm test
the following May before starting your pet on heartworm
preventative again. For more information see the
following reliable resources:
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