For most people, April is when thoughts begin to turn to the coming spring and summer, but for veterinarians and animal welfare advocates, it’s important because it’s Heartworm Awareness Month, when they step up their efforts to increase public knowledge of this deadly pet disease. There’s a lot of misunderstanding about heartworms. For example, many pet owners don’t know that the disease can affect many types of animals, including cats, and even humans. The tiny worms that cause the harm can also live in the lungs, blood vessels, and arteries, causing heart failure, lung disease, and serious damage to internal organs. April was named Heartworm Awareness Month because that’s when the mosquitoes that spread the disease first begin to become active in many places. But the Family Pet Hospital in Stockton, CA would like to remind you that it’s important to practice year-round heartworm prevention, not just in the warmer months when infection risk is higher.
Why Year-Round Heartworm Prevention Is Necessary
Although the mosquitos that carry and spread the heartworm larvae are active mostly in the warmer months, they can survive indoors long enough after the weather has turned cold to infect your pet. Also, if you travel with your pet to a warmer location in the winter, they can easily become infected there. Additionally, if your pet is bitten late in the season by an infected mosquito, and then you stop giving them heartworm prevention during the winter, the larvae will have months to grow into adults with nothing to stop them, and heartworm diagnostic blood tests aren’t designed to detect the larvae. Most heartworm preventatives aren’t effective against adult worms, so they won’t help when you resume medication in the spring, and long, uncomfortable treatments will be necessary to get rid of them.
Protection From Other Parasites
Most heartworm medications contain additives to control intestinal parasites such as roundworms and hookworms. These parasites survive outdoors in the soil all year long, so you’re also protecting your pet from these pests by practicing year-round heartworm protection.
Treatment Of Heartworm
If discovered early, heartworm can be treated effectively, but it’s a long and painful ordeal. It requires at least six months of preventing exercise and exertion, which is especially hard on dogs. It’s much less costly to avoid this outcome with year-round heartworm prevention. It’s a great investment in the health of your pet.
To learn more about year-round heartworm prevention, contact the Family Pet Hospital in Stockton, CA.
