Heartworms are potentially fatal to your pet. Fleas are a nuisance for your pet and your home. Ticks, on the other hand, may not be a nuisance, but they can cause diseases, such as Lyme disease. Ideally, you want to prevent the illnesses before they start by preventing the parasites using flea, tick, and heartworm prevention methods, which could begin with visiting a vet on our team at Bay Road Animal Hospital, serving Sarasota, FL, and the surrounding region.
Dangers of Fleas and Ticks
Fleas can cause your pet to itch from irritation from the saliva in the pest's mouth. If your pet continuously itches, an infection could arise in the broken skin. A severe infestation of fleas could disrupt your pet's sleep or cause your pet to have anemia.
A tick isn't always a danger to a cat or dog, but one infected with Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever could cause disease in your pet. In the early stages, certain tick-borne illnesses may not cause any symptoms in your pet. However, when lifted untreated, your pet may develop complications.
Heartworm Disease
Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the United States and many other parts of the world. It is caused by foot-long worms (heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs and associated blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure and damage to other organs in the body. Heartworm disease affects dogs, cats and ferrets, but heartworms also live in other mammal species, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, sea lions and—in rare instances—humans. Because wild species such as foxes and coyotes live in proximity to many urban areas, they are considered important carriers of the disease.
Dogs. The dog is a natural host for heartworms, which means that heartworms that live inside the dog mature into adults, mate and produce offspring. If untreated, their numbers can increase, and dogs have been known to harbor several hundred worms in their bodies. Heartworm disease causes lasting damage to the heart, lungs and arteries, and can affect the dog’s health and quality of life long after the parasites are gone. For this reason, heartworm prevention for dogs is by far the best option, and treatment—when needed—should be administered as early in the course of the disease as possible. Learn more about heartworm medicine for dogs.
Cats. Heartworm disease in cats is very different from heartworm disease in dogs. The cat is an atypical host for heartworms, and most worms in cats do not survive to the adult stage. Cats with adult heartworms typically have just one to three worms, and many cats affected by heartworms have no adult worms. While this means heartworm disease often goes undiagnosed in cats, it’s important to understand that even immature worms cause real damage in the form of a condition known as heartworm associated respiratory disease (HARD). Moreover, the medication used to treat heartworm infections in dogs cannot be used in cats, so prevention is the only means of protecting cats from the effects of heartworm disease.
(Source: American Heartworm Society)
Prevention Is the Best Medicine
Prevention is truly the best medicine when it comes to preventing complications from ticks and fleas. It can save you the hassle of vet visits and the surprise expense of a possibly dangerous illness. It also ensures your pet lives a happy, healthy life. Not to mention, it can prevent you from the expense and frustration of trying to rid your home of fleas, which can bite you and your family. You can get flea and tick prevention with a veterinarian at our animal hospital.
Flea, Tick, and Heartworm Prevention
We can offer you a variety of prevention options for fleas, ticks, and heartworms for both cats and dogs. A veterinarian on our team can help explain the benefits and risks of each to help you decide. In some cases, your pet's breed may be more likely to have a reaction. A vet at our animal hospital can alert you of this and help you select from another option. He or she will educate you about the schedule to ensure you keep up with administering the treatment. Call us at (941) 366-2275 for our Bay Road West location or (941) 378-1236 for our East location on Honore and 17th Street.
