What You Should Know About Heartworm

Heartworms are transmitted to dogs by mosquitos. Without the administration of a heartworm preventative, your pet could get heartworm disease – a potentially deadly illness of the heart and lungs.

  • The American Heartworm Society estimates that at any one time, over 1 million dogs are infected with adult heartworms in the US.
  • Mosquitoes transmit immature heartworms from infected dogs to healthy dogs.
  • Heartworms live in the heart and lungs of infected dogs. Left untreated, heartworm disease may be fatal to your dog.
  • Some common signs of heartworm infection in dogs include coughing, difficulty breathing and sluggishness. Recently infected dogs may show no signs of the disease.
  • Other carriers of heartworm disease include wolves, foxes, ferrets and coyote.

Heartguard Plus can help prevent your dog year-round. Heartguard Plus offers trusted heartworm disease prevention, plus broad spectrum treatment and control against intestinal parasites. Intestinal parasites (Roundworms and Hookworms) can infect people too!

Roundworms
How can people get roundworms?

  • Accidentally ingesting the worms’ eggs in soil
  • Bringing their hands to their mouths after touching contaminated soil or objects.

What happens when people are infected?

  • Since humans are not natural hosts for roundworms, they migrate throughout the body, doing damage as they go.
  • They may damage the liver, heart or lungs, and can even prove fatal if they infect the heart or brain.
  • They can cause impaired sight or vision.

How common is roundworm infection in humans?

  • Roundworm infection is estimated by the CDC to be in excess of 10,000 cases per year in the U.S. alone.

Hookworms

How can people get hookworms?

  • Penetrating the body directly through the skin
  • Accidentally ingesting along with infective soil
  • Bringing their hands to their mouths after touching contaminated soil or objects

What happens when people are infected?

  • Since humans are not natural hosts for hookworms, they migrate throughout the body, doing damage as they go.
  • They migrate just under the skin, causing unsightly rashes, eruptions and itching.
  • They may also go deeper into the body, inflaming internal organs.

How common are infections with parasites among children?

  • Nearly three out of every four pediatrician reports having seen cases of children with parasitic infections.

Call our office to treat your dog for heartworms today 269-668-5900