Cat and Dog Heartworm Prevention
in White Bear Lake

As a pet owner, you’ve heard of heartworm disease. But how much do you know about it? Heartworms are parasites that can be transferred to your pet through the bite of an infected mosquito. The heartworms travel through your pet’s bloodstream and lodge themselves in the blood vessels around the lungs and in the heart. Over time, they grow, mature, and multiply and put a strain on your pet’s heart and lungs. Symptoms are usually non-existent in the early stages of infection and only appear once the disease is much more advanced. Common signs of heartworm disease include:

• Coughing and difficulty breathing, particularly after exercise (dogs)
• Reluctance to exercise (dogs and cats)
• Heart failure (dogs)
• Caval syndrome (dogs, severe cases only), where blood flow is completely blocked in the heart due to the abundance of worms
• Asthma-like attacks (cats)
• Weight loss (cats)
• Vomiting (cats)

Heartworm disease primarily affects dogs, but it can also affect cats. While it is treatable for dogs, the effects of the disease can be debilitating, and so can the costs of treatment. For cats, unfortunately, there is no treatment available. Luckily, with consistent heartworm prevention medication, your pet can completely avoid contracting this illness, and you can avoid the costs of lengthy treatments.