All about Heartworms in Dogs.

1. Heartworms disease can be deadly in dogs. This disease can easily be avoided with the regular use of a good quality heartworm preventative product. Heartworm disease is rare in cats as their immune system is better at attacking the immature worms at an early stage before adult worm numbers build up in the heart. Your dog can catch heartworm when an infected mosquito bites your dog and injects the microscopic larval stage (microfilarae) of the heartworm into the dog while taking a blood feed. The heartworms pass through several stages of development in the dog and move to the heart and large blood vessels where they mature to adults: this takes at least six to seven months. One of the tests your vet uses to check for heartworms in your dog is testing for the presence of adult heartworms. So your vet may advise that your dog is retested after seven months to detect any recently- acquired heartworm infections. The heartworms damage the lining of the heart and large blood vessels and can reduce blood flow through the heart. The heartworm infection can also affect the kidneys and other organs. Since the adult heartworms are living in the heart, the signs of heartworm in your dog are usually related to poor heart function, and can

2. include coughing, reluctance to exercise, an enlarged abdomen, and abnormal heart sounds when the vet is listening to the heartbeat. If your pet does have a heartworm infection, he can die suddenly due to heart failure or from other related disease. Dogs that have not been receiving heartworm preventative medication can be tested for heartworm with a simple blood test. Your vet will then discuss the options for heartworm prevention. If your dog does test positive for heartworms, treatment is possible. This requires your dog spending some time in hospital, and can be expensive.

3. Any vet will tell you, heartworm prevention is much easier than heartworm disease treatment! Heartworm prevention medication comes in many varieties. The options include monthly chews and tablets and monthly spot-ons, many combining heartworm prevention with flea and / or intestinal worm treatment. Owners love the fact that they only have to use one product each month to cover all of the major parasites in their pet! There is also an annual heartworm-prevention injection available through your vet. All the heartworm prevention products act by killing any immature larval stages of the heartworms that may have recently been transmitted to your dog. These products don’t kill any adult heartworms that may already be living in the dog’s heart, so any dogs over 10 weeks of age when the medication is started may need a blood test either now or in seven months’ time (it takes seven months for a new heartworm infection to show up on the test). You should discuss heartworm prevention with your veterinarian before starting you dog on any product.

4. If you forget to give a monthly heartworm treatment, or are late by more than 1 week, you should seek advice from your vet. They may recommend your dog has a heartworm test in seven months’ time, to be sure your dog was not infected during the unprotected period. Some vet clinics now recommend all dogs are tested for heartworm at some stage, even if they have been receiving regular preventative treatment, as no product can guarantee 100% efficacy for heartworm prevention in EVERY animal! MONTHLY HEARTWORM PREVENTION PRODUCTS AVAILABLE TABLETS AND CHEWS  Also treats hookworm and roundworm; add a Drontal Heartgard Plus chews Allwormer treatment every three months for tapeworm and whipworm  Safe in puppies from 6 weeks of age Panoramis tablets  Also treats fleas  Also kills most types of intestinal worms. Add a tapewormer tablet every three months

5.  Treats all four types of intestinal worms too  Safe in puppies from 6 weeks old Interceptor chews  Also controls fleas in the environment (not adult fleas on the dog) Sentinel Spectrum chews  Kills all four intestinal worm types too  Safe in puppies from 6 weeks old Valuheart tablets  Heartworm prevention only  Safe in puppies from 6 weeks old Nuheart tablets  Heartworm prevention only  Safe to use in puppies from 6 weeks old

6. SPOT-ONS  Also treats fleas, flea eggs and flea larvae Revolution  Treats roundworm and hookworm  With bonus Canex tablets, treats all intestinal worms in dogs  Safe to use from 6 weeks old in cats and dogs Advocate  Also kills all stages of fleas and most intestinal worms. Add a tapewormer tablet every three months  Safe for puppies from 7 weeks old and kittens from 9 weeks old