Heartworm Disease | Rochester MN

Heartworm disease is a potentially fatal parasitic disease spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. It is much easier, cheaper, and less painful for the pet to prevent than to treat heartworm disease, but it can be treated if discovered early enough in the disease process.

The American Heartworm Society recommends annual heartworm tests and year round heartworm prevention for the following reasons:

1. The monthly oral preventative may be improperly chewed, not absorbed, or possibly vomited, leaving the pet exposed to developing heartworm disease.
2. It is easy and common to forget to give every single monthly dose of the heartworm preventative on time.
3. Research has proven that continuous monthly heartworm prevention given on a year-round basis has the ability to “mop op” the heartworm larvae left behind by any missed doses.
4. Giving the heartworm preventative once a month also helps prevent infection by common intestinal parasites that can be found in the soil. Since dogs commonly eat other animals’ stool or consume potentially infected soil, this prevention of intestinal parasites is an additional benefit of the monthly preventative.
5. Warmer climates have year-round mosquito populations, so any travel down south opens a new window of exposure to your pet.
6. Checking a heartworm test yearly helps catch heartworm disease early, when treatment is more successful. The longer the heartworms live in the pet’s heart and lungs, the more permanent damage they cause to these organs.

Please ask us any more questions that you may have concerning heartworm disease or prevention.