Blood Suckers!

Heartworm! It seems to have become a sentence rather than a word so let’s dig a little deeper to find out the story.

Dogs can be given the heartworm via a mosquito, which transfers the worm via the blood, into your dog. It is a parasitic worm called Dirofilaria immitis and can cause sever lung disease, heart failure, organ damage and sometimes death.

Therefore your dog must be protected as much as possible so we give them a heartworm table, usually in combination with the normal worming tablet and relax that we have done what is necessary to prevent this disease.
Your usual worming tablet is needed 3-4 times per year only – ie every 3 months or so.

Next consideration: are there mosquitos where your dog lives all year round or do they come only when the weather is warmer and there is water around to hatch them. If your answer is yes, only when the climate is warm, why would you then need to provide heartworm protection if there are no mosquitos around to deliver the worm.

Why would you give the yearly or half yearly heartworm vaccination if you only had mosquitos for 3 months of the year or less.

Why would you give a monthly worming tablet when there are no mosquitos around to deliver the worm.

Rather than continue to give your dog too many chemicals when they are not needed, if you provide your dog with their worming tablet as soon as you see the first mosquito, then monthly until there are no more around, then drop back to 3-4 monthly worming your dog will still be fully covered for the heartworm, for all other worming as necessary and your dog won’t be given chemicals it doesn’t need and your pocket will also benefit from not having to spend money on products not needed.

Consider what worming products you are using. Do some research to find out if you are using a product that protects from things not within your environment but ensure if covers for what you need not what you don’t. Not all products are the same. Sometimes less is more – certainly for the welfare of your dog.