When it comes to heartworms, you can’t tell just by looking. Play it safe. Your veterinarian can perform a simple blood test for heartworm disease.
April Fool’s Day has come and gone, but don’t be a fool about heartworm disease.
Heartworms are a blood parasite that is transmitted by mosquitoes. The disease affects the heart, lungs, and pulmonary (lung) vessels of dogs and sometimes cats and can be fatal.
Treating heartworm disease can be very expensive and very miserable for your pet. Occasionally they can even die from the treatment due to the death of the adult worms.
Heartworm is found throughout North America
Heartworm disease is regularly diagnosed in South Dakota even though the risk of contracting the disease is lower than it would be in a southern state like Texas. Current recommendations from the American Heartworm Society are to use a monthly preventative and periodic testing (most often yearly, depending on the region).
Monthly treatments like Heartgard are easy to give, generally cost less that 10.00-20.00/month depending on the size of your dog and may have additional ingredients in them to control other common parasites.
