Most are used monthly. Some kinds of heartworm prevention are chewable or oral medications, while others are topical and applied between the shoulder blades. There is also an injectable form that can be used every six months. Be sure that you are using the heartworm medication that is labelled for heartworms. Flea or tick medications do not prevent heartworms, although some will have heartworm prevention medication included in the product.
Heartworm prevention medication must have a prescription to be purchased. He or she will also be able to help you decide which heartworm prevention will work best for your pet. You should start a puppy on heartworm prevention i. The American Heartworm Society recommends starting a puppy on heartworm prevention no later than eight weeks of age. Each heartworm prevention product will have different ages and weights in which it is safe to start a puppy on heartworm prevention.
If your puppy is less than seven months of age, he can be started on heartworm prevention without having a heartworm test.
It will take at least six months for heartworms to mature enough for a heartworm test to be positive if your puppy was infected while not on prevention. You should have your dog tested six months after this visit and again six months later to ensure your puppy has not developed a heartworm infection while not on prevention. Your dog should be tested yearly after this to ensure he continues to remain heartworm negative or free of heartworms.
Labelled heartworm prevention medications are the only US Food and Drug Administration FDA approved methods to prevent heartworm infections in puppies and dogs. Symptoms of heartworm disease may not be obvious in dogs that have low worm burdens, have been recently infected, or are not very active. Dogs that have heavy worm burdens, have been infected for a long time, or are very active often show obvious symptoms of heartworm disease.
There are four classes, or stages, of heartworm disease. The higher the class, the worse the disease and the more obvious the symptoms. Not all dogs with heartworm disease develop caval syndrome. Melarsomine dihydrochloride available under the trade names Immiticide and Diroban is an arsenic-containing drug that is FDA-approved to kill adult heartworms in dogs.
It's given by deep injection into the back muscles to treat dogs with stabilized class 1, 2, and 3 heartworm disease. Treatment is expensive because it requires multiple visits to the veterinarian, blood tests, x-rays, hospitalization, and a series of injections.
Many products are FDA-approved to prevent heartworms in dogs. Most products are given monthly, either as a topical liquid applied on the skin or as an oral tablet. Both chewable and non-chewable oral tablets are available. One product is injected under the skin every 6 or 12 months, and only a veterinarian can give the injection.
Some heartworm preventives contain other ingredients that are effective against certain intestinal worms such as roundworms and hookworms and other parasites such as fleas, ticks, and ear mites.
Year-round prevention is best! Cats can also get heartworms after being bitten by an infected mosquito, although they are not as susceptible to infection as dogs. Both indoor and outdoor cats are at risk for heartworm disease. Heartworm disease in cats is a bit different than in dogs. Heartworms in cats do not live as long average lifespan is only 2 to 4 years or grow as long, and fewer of them mature into adults. Worm burdens are lower in cats than dogs.
Usually a cat has only one or two worms. However, due to its relatively small body size, a cat with only a few worms is still considered to be heavily infected. In cats, it takes 7 to 8 months for infective larvae to mature into adult heartworms and produce microfilariae. This is about one month longer than in dogs. Only 20 percent of cats with heartworm disease have microfilariae in the bloodstream, compared to 80 to 90 percent of dogs with heartworm disease. Also, the presence of microfilariae in the bloodstream is inconsistent and short-lived in cats.
It is harder to detect heartworm infections in cats than in dogs. Veterinarians generally use two types of blood tests in combination to check a cat for heartworms. However, negative test results do not rule out heartworm infection, and positive test results may or may not mean that there is an active heartworm infection. Not all cats with heartworm disease show symptoms.
Some cats are able to spontaneously rid themselves of heartworms without having any symptoms. However, some infected cats die suddenly from heartworm disease without ever showing signs of being sick.
Although dogs are the natural host for heartworms, they can also affect cats, ferrets, foxes, and wolves. As a dedicated and compassionate owner, you will invariably want to do all you can to keep your dog safe from this awful disease. The good news is that heartworms are entirely preventable.
Before you can start your dog on preventative medications, he first needs to be tested for heartworms. This is for two reasons.
Dogs are masters of disguising the fact that they are unwell and will keep going until they cannot cover their symptoms any longer. If at the initial test, your dog is found to have heartworms, treatment will be needed before prevention can begin. However, if your dog is in the clear, he can be started on monthly medication to protect him from the disease.
Heartworm preventatives are generally given as a monthly dose and are available in several different types. These include monthly pills that you can hide in his food and topical treatments that you place on his skin that will deter mosquitos. Currently, there is also an injectable preventative that will protect your dog for up to six months at a time.
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