The most deadly of all the diseases in dogs and cats is heartworm infection. Once your pet is infected with heartworm, it is quite difficult to protect them, as heartworm treatment itself is very much risky. The best option for this dangerous disease is heartworm prevention.
Most recently, a Heartworm Society news release declared – “By giving heartworm prevention every month, forgetful pet owners will have their pets protected when they need it most.” This also means that the pets should be given the treatment though need at least, or does not need it all. Just think for yourself – Are you a forgetful owner?
Heartworm preventive is the most common thing that many dog owners obtain it from their vet office.
Heartworms are largely spread through mosquitoes. Whether your pet is an outdoor animal or stays indoors, there is always a possibility that your furry friend can be infected with heartworms. That is the reason why veterinarians always recommend keeping your pet on heartworm prevention medications in order to protect them from any future infestation and serious illness caused due to these harmful worms.
According to the American Heartworm Society, it is crucial to treat pets from March through December, in case you are not able to provide them a year-round preventive treatment. Vets ensure pet owners that prevention not only restricts heartworms but various other intestinal parasites as well.
More precisely, the important thing is that heartworm prevention medications have numerous benefits part from saving the life of a pet from the fatal condition.
Benefits of Heartworm Preventives
- The oral/topical prescription protects your dog from heartworm disease.
- It is effective in treating circulating microfilariae.
- It is capable of killing adult fleas.
- Heartworm preventives treat and control roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.
- It treats and controls sarcoptic mange in pets.
- Treatment of heartworm infection is safe though it may be a bit costly.
- An early preventive medication of heartworm saves any serious illness in pets
- Heartworm prevention treatment is simple and easy to administer.
- Most of the heartworm prevention products come in monthly chewable tablets such as Heartgard Plus Chewables, which make it easy to remember to treat your pet regularly.
- It not only protects pets but also restricts the transfer of intestinal worms such as roundworms and hookworms to humans.
Same as dogs, cats too get heartworms. Recent studies show 30% of cats with heartworms were indoor cats. Therefore, there is no exception whether the animal spends most of the time outdoors or totally stays indoors. Furthermore, 20% of potting mix includes roundworm and hookworm eggs. That is the reason why indoor cats need a broad-spectrum monthly preventive just as canines get. Unfortunately, diagnosing heartworm infection is not as accurate in cats as in dogs. Hence, testing is not required but an examination with your veterinarian is necessary to avail the prescription preventive.
Checking on the benefits, we can say that why monthly heartworm prevention treatment year around in pets including dogs and cats is not only beneficial for them, but for people also. We can put this in quotes “Prevention is better than Care.”
