Because heartworms must be eliminated before they reach this adult stage, it is extremely important that heartworm preventives be administered strictly on schedule (monthly for oral and topical products and every 6 months or 12 months for the injectable).
The monthly heartworm preventative we prescribe only lasts in a dog's or cat's body for one to two days, not 30 days, due to the lifestyle of the heartworm, it is only necessary for the pet to take the heartworm preventative every 30 days.
A dog who has missed just two monthly doses of preventative or is late for a heartworm injection can become infected with heartworms.
Although there are fewer mosquitoes in the winter, there is still a risk that your pet could get heartworms if you stop giving heartworm prevention medication during this season. That's one reason veterinarians strongly recommend pets receive heartworm prevention medication year-round.
Heartgard.com
According to its web site, it recommends monthly treatments for all dogs since it can't be “determined with certainty when the threat of mosquitoes has passed.”
Talk to your dog's veterinarian to decide which preventive is best for your dog. The American Heartworm Society advocates to “Think 12." Give dogs 12 months of heartworm prevention and get them tested for heartworms every 12 months.
Most of the monthly heartworm medicines have a safety factor of at least 15 days of protection if a dose is missed. This means that if you're just a week or two late, your pet is likely still within that window of protection and would be unlikely to become infected during that time.
Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) in dogs is considered endemic in Australia, but the clinical heartworm disease caused by the heartworm is rare and prevalence is low.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
At the Holistic Veterinary Center, we recommend seasonal heartworm prevention with oral monthly products. We recommend the Heartguard tablets as this product contains no other additional dewormers. If a dog has an allergy to this product, another form can be compounded by a compounding pharmacy.
Because administering a preventative every 45 days is hard to remember, the easy-to-follow recommendation is to give the heartworm preventative every 30 days.
If you miss a dose of your heartworm prevention for your dog, get them back on prevention ASAP—speak to your veterinarian. Six months from that time that you missed is really the only time that we're going to be able to detect whether or not your dog was infected during that period.
If a dose is missed, give SIMPARICA TRIO immediately and resume monthly dosing. When replacing a monthly heartworm preventive product, SIMPARICA TRIO should be given within one month of the last dose of the former medication.
Heartworms, also known as Dirofilaria immitis, are parasitic worms that infest a dog's heart, potentially resulting in lung disease, heart disease, and organ failure. Expensive surgery is sometimes required to remove heartworms, and if left untreated, heartworms can be fatal.
If you miss that monthly dose, your pet is at a potential risk of getting flea or tick bites, which can transmit some serious diseases. Heartworm preventive medicine is especially important to keep on schedule for your pet.
Signs of an overdose include drooling, incoordination, weakness, tremors, disorientation, lethargy, dilated pupils, blindness, coma, and death. Other symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, low heart rate, body temperature changes and abnormal behavior.
Myth #3: If my pet has heartworms, I will see them in her feces. Although many worm types, such as roundworms and tiny hookworms, are shed in your pet's feces, heartworms do not live in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and are not found in feces.
Heartworm disease in dogs is known as a silent killer, because it can take months before your dog shows symptoms. In the early stages of infection, most dogs show little to no symptoms at all, and the more the disease progresses, the more likely apparent symptoms will develop.
Puppies under 7 months of age can be started on heartworm prevention without a heartworm test (it takes at least 6 months for a dog to test positive after it has been infected), but should be tested 6 months after your initial visit, tested again 6 months later and yearly after that to ensure they are heartworm-free.
Heartworm prevalence in Australia
Queensland and New South Wales are considered to be areas of higher risk whereas rates in South Australia are low (4,5). Dogs and cats living in rural areas are more at risk of infection than their urban counterparts (6).
While the risk of heartworm is more prevalent in spring and summer when there are more mosquitos, a pet can get heartworm any time of year.
Dogs can live for at least six to seven months after becoming infected with heartworms. This is because it takes that long for adult heartworms to grow.
A: Give the dose you missed immediately, then continue giving the medication on the day you've always given it. If the missed dose is more than 2 weeks late, your dog should be tested for heartworm again in six months (click here to learn why). Want a free monthly reminder so you don't forget to give preventatives?
It's possible, but not likely for your pet to develop heartworm disease if you give them a preventative. The most common reasons pets get heartworm is because of a skipped or late dose. Remember, heartworm preventative only kills larvae in your pet's bloodstream.
However, ingesting a larger number of tablets or medication intended for a larger animal, may be a concern. Clinical signs of poisoning include dilated pupils, difficulty walking (ataxia), tremors, drooling, seizures, coma, inability to breath, and death.