An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: Protect Your Pet from Heartworms Year-Round. The bad news: Heartworm disease can be fatal to dogs, cats, and ferrets.
Heartworm in dogs is prevalent across Australia and can be a serious and potentially fatal condition. Knowing how to prevent heartworm is essential for all dog owners. Luckily, there is plenty you can do to keep your pooch safe and healthy. Read on to learn what you need to know about heartworm in dogs.
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).
If you have a dog at home who is already heartworm negative, we highly recommend doing everything you can to keep her that way, which means giving heartworm prevention once a month, every month.
Heartworm disease can be prevented in dogs and cats by giving them medication once a month that also controls various internal and external parasites. Heartworm infections are diagnosed in about 250,000 dogs each year. 1 But there is no good reason for dogs to receive preventives all year; it is just not needed.
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.
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.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: Protect Your Pet from Heartworms Year-Round. The bad news: Heartworm disease can be fatal to dogs, cats, and ferrets. The good news: You can protect your pet from this disease.
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. The mainstream prevention of the heartworm is based on macrocyclic lactone (ML) administration.
Prognosis: heartworm treatment success rates
With the three-dose adulticide protocol described above, in conjunction with doxycycline and macrocyclic lactones as recommended by the American Heartworm Society, 98% of dogs will be cleared of heartworm infection.
While I encourage pet parents to maintain their monthly heartworm preventative scheduling, accidentally missing a dose will not be a health risk or harmful to one's pets in these isolated circumstances.
The American Heartworm Society recommends that you start heartworm prevention for puppies at 8 weeks of age and keep them on it year-round. Heartworm disease has been diagnosed in all 50 states, and there is growing concern about resistance to some preventatives—mostly due to inconsistent dosing by owners.
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).
One of the most common questions heard by our veterinarians during an annual wellness exam is, “Does my pet really need heartworm prevention?” To put it simply: yes! Even if your pet is considered “indoors-only,” all cats and dogs should be on a heartworm prevention medication.
Heartworm disease, as the name suggests, are worms that infect the heart. In Australia, the prevalence of heartworm disease is highest in subtropical/tropical areas (Darwin up to 100%, Brisbane 34%) and northern temperate areas (Sydney 25%). Dogs are the most important hosts, but cats may also be susceptible.
All dogs are at risk, even those that are indoors only. Untreated, heartworm disease can result in severe heart damage and even death.
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.
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. In this blog, we will cover what heartworm is, how it spreads, and what the best ways are for you to prevent your pet from getting it.
Why Is Heartworm Preventative So Expensive? The big drug companies that sell heartworm preventative make a healthy profit off of their products and are not about to help owners find a cheaper option. I do not have stocks in these companies, do not market their products, and do not mind if you find an alternative.
While these drugs are generally safe and effective, there are always exceptions: Toxicity associated with ivermectin can include depression, ataxia (trouble balancing or unsteady walking), and blindness, but these are uncommon at the low doses used in heartworm preventatives.
The heartworm preventatives are 95% effective, if not more. There are a few cases of resistant heartworms that have become more recent.
Heartworm prevention
Puppies can begin heartworm preventative medication from as young as 6/8 weeks old. If your pup is a little older (age 6 months plus) it is important that she is given a heartworm test before preventative medication is given.
A tick is going to get on an older dog just as much as a younger dog. A mosquito can bite them the same, whether they're old or young. So they still need to be on heartworm prevention.
SIMPARICA TRIO should be administered at monthly intervals year‑round or at least within one month of the animal's first seasonal exposure to mosquitoes and continuing until at least 1 month after the dog's last seasonal exposure. If a dose is missed, give SIMPARICA TRIO immediately and resume monthly dosing.