This is an important question for every dog owner out there. Should I be giving my dog heartworm medicine? Do they need it? What happens if I don’t? If you’re reading this, you’re taking the right steps in learning more about this dangerous disease, and how to prevent your dog from getting infected with it.

First off, heartworms live just about all over North America, so if you and your pet live, or visit North America, there is a chance your pet could contract heartworm disease. In the past, the disease was confined only to the southern most parts of the United States of America. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case as the disease as rapidly spread across the entire continent and even into the southern parts of Canada. Heartworm is transmitted via mosquitoes, so this parasite can travel rapidly and easily across large stretches of land. It’s even gaining a foothold in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. So even if there isn’t a high incidence of heartworm disease in your country yet, because of the nature of technology and travel today you could be seeing the disease in your area very soon. So you might want to speak to a vet soon about getting your dog heartworm medicine, because the disease is so prevalent across the globe.

Let’s say you haven’t given your dog heartworm medicine, is he in danger of contracting the disease? Anywhere there are mosquitoes, there is the potential for this parasite to spread. If your dog gets bitten by a mosquito carrying heartworm disease, the larvae are transferred into your pet’s bloodstream where they begin to incubate. At this point, it’s difficult to tell if a dog has been infected with heartworm disease, as symptoms don’t become visible for at least 6-7 months (this is known as the “prepatent period”). Once the disease has firmly gained a foothold into your pet’s body, your doggy’s health is now in danger. That’s why it’s important to prevent the disease, rather than treat it, and giving your dog heartworm medicine is the best way to prevent this deadly disease.

If your dog is diagnosed with the disease, your vet will most likely indicate that treatment is needed. If the disease has been allowed to progress to this point, there may be heart, liver, or kidney damage and your vet will have to evaluate their health to see if there are any risks to treating the disease at this point. After your dog has been treated, the worms will be dead but still present in your pet’s heart. Your dog will need to rest for several weeks, because the worms could potentially break loose if your dog is physically active. This can be extremely dangerous, especially if the worm travels to a critical part of their body (such as the lungs).

This disease is so difficult to detect because of the 6 month long prepatent period while the worms mature. Speak to your vet about giving your dog heartworm medicine, because the risks are so great. A little bit of preventative medicine could save you thousands of dollars in vet bills treating the disease, or even worse, your pet could die.

Linda is an experienced veterinarian who recommends that every owner give their dog Heartworm Medicine.

What are heartworms

Pets are often considered as a member of the family. A dog or a cat can bring a lot of joy in anyone’s life. And as for any member of our family, we wish to keep out pets healthy and away from fleas, ticks, hookworms and roundworms and of course, heartworms.

Heartworms are worms that mostly infect dogs and, at a lesser extent, cats. Heartworm larvae is spread through mosquito bites, from dogs to dogs. The symptoms of heartworms on your dog can vary a lot between dogs. While some dogs will show no symptoms, other dogs will show significant health deterioration, that can lead to heart failure due to to a large number heartworms in the heart and arteries of the dog. Number of veterinary drugs can prevent heartworm infection.

How can heartworm medicine help

Heartworm medicine such as ivermectin are extremely effective and when regularly administered, they will protect more than 99 percent of dogs and cats from heartworm. You can talk to your veterinarian to learn more about heartworms.

Keep your dog healthy, prevent fleas, roundworms, hookworms, dog ticks and heartworms in dogs using heartworm medicine.

What are heartworm medicine and medication

Heartworm medicine, are successful at 99%. The medication will kill adult worms with the help of an adulticide and larvae (microfilariae) with the help of a microfilaricide.  At your dog next visit to the vetenerian, don’t forget to ask about heartworms.

Heartworm medicationhave to be effective in killing heatworms (adults and larvae) with minimal side effects to the dog.  Treatments against the parasite tend to be more successful in dogs showing low to moderate symptoms. This is why the use of heartworm medicine such as ivermectin or selamectin is usually recommended.

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Show you dog love, treat your dog with heartworm medicine.

What happens when your dog has heartworm disease

Being the owner of a dog or a cat, it is important that you learn about all of the different health elements that you need to be aware of.  Although your dog will be vaccinated for a lot of harmful health problems, be aware of other symptoms, such as those related to heartworm disease. If you have any questions about heartworms, do not hesitate to talk to the veterinarian at your next dog appointment. [...]

Determine if you dog has heartworms

To determine the presence of heartworms, your veterinary will perform a blood test on your dog.  The blood test will allow the doctor to determine the presence of an a product released by the female worm. This particular diagnosis is very specific to heartworms and tests are accurate more than 90% of the time. Sometimes, negative results can happen, due to a too low number of worms, early stage infections or no presence of female worms in the dog.

After your dog has been tested positive to this first blood test, you can also get your vet to test for the presence of microfilariae (larvae), using concentring filter test.

X-Rays

Finally X-ray can be done to evaluate how much lung damage has been caused by the heartworms. It is important to treat your dog with heartworm medicine every year to prevent the infestation by worms.

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X ray are performed to determine the amount of damages done to the lungs

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Don’t let your dog suffer, treat him with heartworm medicine.