Protect Your Dog or Cat from Heartworm Disease with our Collierville Veterinarian

Heartworm prevention and treatment are important aspects of pet ownership. Heartworms can be devastating to a pet's health. Collierville Animal Clinic & Surgery Center has the answers you need to keep your pet healthy. The first step to ensuring that your animal doesn't become afflicted with heartworms is prevention. Here you will learn about heartworms and what to do to prevent and treat them.

Heartworms

Heartworms are parasites, which infect an animal's heart and lungs. They are spread by mosquito bites. A mosquito bites an infected animal and ingests the microfilariae, which grow infectious inside of the mosquito, a necessary intermediate host.  When the mosquito bites another animal, the now-infectious parasites in the mosquitoes’ mouth are transmitted into the bloodstream of the animal, initiating heartworm disease. Heartworms are destructive to lung and especially tissue. It can take years after infection before a pet shows symptoms of heartworms, with great damage being done in the meanwhile. The worms block arteries and interfere with heart valves, causing dysfunction in the circulatory system. Because of the blockage in circulation, other organs, besides the heart, can be affected by decreased blood flow.  Because this infection is potentially fatal for your pets, heartworm prevention is key to protecting them. However, if your pet does become infected there is treatment available.

Heartworm Prevention and Treatment

Protecting your pet doesn't have to be an ordeal. Heartworm prevention is one of the most important things you can do for your pet. Note that you must have your pet tested for heartworms before being given a preventative medicine. This is of the utmost importance because if the animal is already infected, it will need treatment. In some cases, if the damage to the animal's organs is advanced, it is more prudent to treat the effects of the infestation, rather than to try and treat the parasites. For this reason, an examination and proper testing are necessary to assess the best course of action for your beloved pet.

Contact our Collierville Veterinarian for Heartworm Prevention

We care about both you and your pet. Here at Collierville Animal Clinic and Surgery Center, we handle heartworm prevention and treatment, as well as tick prevention. If you have any questions about heartworm treatment or need your pet assessed to rule out heartworms and to begin heartworm prophylaxis, or treatment, give our Collierville animal hospital a call at (901) 853-8519.