Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Heartworm Disease

Art Helping Animals reminds you to use heartworm prevention on your own pets. Heartworm preventatives must be given weekly or monthly to keep your pet well.

Border Collie Brooke will be going in to the clinic this week to start heartworm treatment. She has recovered nicely from her other ailments, and we hope she will recover from the heartworms as well. The treatment is expensive--between $400-$650 depending on how many adult worms are living in her heart.

I have been researching heartworms. What a nasty parasite! Adult heartworms are about the size of a spaghetti strand, and they congregate in the heart. Treatment is risky because if great quantities are killed too quickly, they tend to clot and block the blood flow to the lungs causing death. If a dog is left untreated, it is certain death as the adult heartworms clog the heart and impede blood flow. They are just a bad, bad thing in a dog's life.

In Dr. Dan's newsletter, cats are reported to also be at risk of death from heartworm disease. Please see the attached web site for good illustrations of heartworms in a dog's heart and in a cat's heart. You will agree with me that no pet deserves to have these spaghetti worms in its heart and lungs.

There is still time to donate. Go to Brooke's page on the ArtHelpingAnimals.com web site to see Brooke's donation thermometer. Please donate what you can to Brooke's heartworm treatment fund. No amount is too small. Brooke thanks you for helping her to get 100% well.

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