Heart worm is a preventable disease which if left untreated can be fatal to your pets.
Infection occurs from a mosquito bite, which passes the larvae to the pet. It then takes up to 7 months for the larvae to mature, when they become lodged in the heart, lungs and surrounding blood vessels to begin reproducing.
Initially, you will see no symptoms to alert you to what is going on. Eventually your pet will develop a cough and won’t be able to exercise . In severe cases, you may hear abnormal lung sounds, they can retain fluids and even pass out from loss of blood to the brain.
If left untreated, most pets will die from heart worm disease.
But!! One of our favorite sayings’ is “Prevention is better than cure” Luckily heart worm can be prevented by using Milbemax or Advocate on a monthly basis. For more information, feel free to come and have a chat with the Muddy Dog crew.
