If this is your first time owning a cat or dog, then you might feel overwhelmed with just how many medications and vaccinations that are out there. It may seem like a lot but there are a lot of diseases and parasites that can cause serious harm to your pet. Heartworm is one of the worst of these. Our veterinary team at Sheehy Animal Hospital in Livonia, MI, are here to help.
The Importance of Heartworm Prevention
Heartworms are a terrible but unfortunately dangerous parasite that can harm your pet. Heartworms can come from mosquitos. When a mosquito bites a cat or dog, or potentially even an exotic pet, there is a risk this parasite enters their bloodstream. This makes it difficult to prevent your pet from being infected without the right protection.
After entering the bloodstream, the heartworm moves to the host animal's lungs and heart. Here, they grow and begin blocking blood vessels, which causes serious organ damage and, if not treated, can result in death. It can be important to not that there is no cure for heartworms in cats. This means it is very likely that your cat will die if he gets heartworms.
Pet Care and Heartworm Prevention
A great way to ensure your pet doesn't suffer from the serious, life-threatening symptoms of heartworm is to prevent them from ever taking hold of your pet. Heartworm preventative can be administered a couple of ways. These types of medications work in similar ways: They prevent heartworm from taking hold in your pet by killing any larvae that have entered your pet.
Heartworm prevention in its current form is only capable of protecting against heartworms before the infestation takes root. Once they grow large enough to start blocking a pet's bloodstream, more radical treatment is required.
It can be important for your pet to get routine pet exams from in order to test for dangerous conditions and diseases. These tests can help you catch these problems early and help get your pet the treatment he or she may need. Our Livonia animal hospital can provide these tests.
Schedule Your Pet's Heartworm Test Today in Livonia, MI
Let us keep your pet safe from heartworm by scheduling a wellness exam complete with a heartworm test at our Livonia veterinarian location. We at Sheehy Animal Hospital can administer this test and help get you heartworm medication. Call us today to learn more. Call us at (248) 615-7670 for more information from a veterinarian on our veterinary team at our Livonia animal hospital. We can even provide pet care for an exotic pet.
