Heartworm Awareness Month
Welcome back to my monthly blog! First of all, thank you all for supporting us over the last 5 years and thank you to those who voted for our Isla Veterinary Boutique Hospital, as we just recently won our fifth Dallas Voice RVA award for Best Veterinarian!!! Isla Vet opened 5 years ago and we have won every single year, which is a big honor and a very humbling experience for me. Thank you all for making that happen!! Well, let us jump right into our blog topic! April is the Heartworm Awareness Month and it is very important that all of my dog and cat parents are made aware of what heartworms are because we see them in Texas quite often!
Heartworm is a blood parasite that affects dogs and cats (among other mammals) and it is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has the microscopic worm. It cannot transmitted from dog to dog or cat to cat, as it needs the mosquito to be able to spread. Some people think heartworms can be seen in the stools, but this is not the case, as it is a blood parasite. Once the mosquito that has this parasite bites a dog or a cat, it typically takes approximately 6 months for the microscopic baby to travel through the bloodstream to the heart and once it becomes an adult, it can grow up to a foot long!
When this parasite becomes an adult and reproduces, it can cause different symptoms, where one of the most common ones is excessive coughing. Over time, heartworm disease can cause permanent damage to the heart and to blood vessels around the heart and can even lead to life threatening complications, if left untreated. We usually see heartworm disease affecting dogs much more commonly, but it affects cats as well.
Unfortunately, some pet parents are under the impression that strictly indoor pets cannot get infected with heartworms, but since when do mosquitoes need to ask for permission to come inside our homes? 😉 Here in Texas, we can see heartworm infections year round, even in the winter! They are also very common in our state, according to a 2019 survey by the American Heartworm Society, where Texas is one of the top ten states in the nation with the highest heartworm incidence. In fact, if you search for dogs through shelters or rescue groups, you may notice that many dogs that are not up for adoption yet are heartworm positive and are not available because they are being treated.
Diagnosing heartworm infection starts with a simple and fast blood test performed through the hospital and it usually takes about 10 minutes for results to be available. If they are positive, we will discuss further recommended tests for confirmation and for a more thorough assessment.
Heartworm disease in dogs is treatable and you can visit the American Heartworm Society’s website (www.heartwormsociety.org) for more details and an outline of what it entails. However, it does take some time for the treatment to be completed and it can be somewhat cost prohibitive for some families, plus our dogs can experience permanent damage to the lungs and heart caused by the parasite, even if diagnosed early on. Lastly, the treatment itself can lead to adverse reactions that could be concerning, but even then, we always strongly recommend appropriate treatment for dogs that are positive for heartworm infection. You may read about a “slow kill” treatment option, but it is not recommended, as it can take months or years before the heartworm parasites may die and not only it is not guaranteed to be effective, but it also gives more time for the parasites to cause further permanent damage to your pet’s organs. Sadly, there is no treatment for heartworm disease in cats.
Thankfully, this disease is easily prevented! We have options of topical, oral, and injectable forms of prevention. As with everything in life, these options have pros and cons, but our veterinary medical team can help you find which product may work best for your baby and for you. It is extremely important to know that prevention should be administered for year round protection here in Texas. Heartworm prevention can only be obtained through your veterinarian or with approval of your veterinarian’s office and a valid annual physical exam and heartworm test. We also recommend to use a prevention product that repels mosquitoes to provide of another barrier against heartworm infection.
I recommend that you have a good conversation with our Isla Vet medical team about heartworm disease and to assess your lifestyle to identify the best approach for heartworm prevention for your baby. I hope this information helps someone out there and please help us spread the word about this important and deadly parasite so that we can do our best to reduce the high infection rate that we see in Texas. Thank you all for taking your time with me and big abrazos for everyone!