Heartworm Prevention

Heartworm

All Shepherd Rescue requires all our adopters to use Heartworm (HW) Preventatives year-round for dogs.

Below are a few basic facts about Heartworm:

• HW is a serious and potentially fatal disease.
• It is caused by foot-long worms that live in the heart, lungs, and blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure, and damage to other organs in the body.
• Mosquitoes spread heartworms, so any area of the country that has mosquitoes—even just a few of them—can also have HW disease.
• Dogs have been diagnosed with HW in every state in the U.S.
• Dogs don’t just need prevention during warm-weather months. HW preventives work by treating heartworms that already infected the pet within the past month or longer.
• Preventives must be given on time, every time to be effective. The American HW Society recommends year-round HW prevention.
• HW preventives are safe, relatively inexpensive, and easy to give, but if a dog becomes infected, HW treatment can be costly and difficult, requiring multiple veterinary visits and months of exercise restriction, and can have a permanent effect or kill your dog.

To learn more:

https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm-basics

https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm-prevention-for-dogs

Click here to view the handout on heartworm lifecycle.