Are you preventing Heartworm Disease?

With spring and warmer weather upon us, mosquitoes will be making their appearance anytime. Heartworms are transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. This is a major health concern for your pet!

Signs of heartworm disease include: coughing, difficulty breathing, panting, decreased exercise tolerance or even sudden death. Pets may not show signs until very late in the course of the disease and that is why annual blood testing is recommended.

However, heartworm disease is easily prevented with either a chewable tablet or a topical medication placed on the skin between the shoulder blades. Both types of preventative are used monthly. If you have a difficult time remembering to treat your dog monthly, we now have an injection that will last six months.

Let’s not forget our feline friends. Although cats are not the proper host for heartworms, some cats can contract the disease. Identifying cats with heartworm disease is very difficult, but the infection can be easily prevented with use of monthly and/or topical medication.

Tick-borne Diseases: Lyme Disease by Dr. Carter

Following the lead of our colleague, Dr. Miller, we will take a closer look at Lyme disease, our area's most common tick-borne disease. Lyme disease (named for the Connecticut town) has been around for over a century but did not gain public notoriety until the 1980s. The Northeastern US and upper Midwest represent disease “hotspots,” but with warming temperatures, the disease is spreading. While we see scattered cases throughout our clinic's areas, the Goose Lake region especially represents a regional/local hotbed. Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by Ixodes ticks, in our area better known as the deer tick.

Map of the State of Illinois Canine Lyme Disease Prevalence for 2014. (CAPC)

Lyme disease, or Borreliosis, while also a well-known human disease, manifests itself differently in our canine patients. Greater than 90% of dogs who are infected with the organism are not “sick” because of it and are asymptomatic. In dogs, the disease may not manifest itself for weeks to months after infection and they may present with signs of arthritis or perhaps a fever. Fortunately, symptoms of the disease respond quickly to a course of appropriate antibiotics. Although rare, the most serious potential long-term effect is kidney disease. Due to this potential risk, in some cases we may recommend a urinalysis be checked to look for any possible indications of kidney involvement. Lastly, while cats may become infected with the organism, they appear more resistant to its effects, do not develop clinical signs and currently, the disease is not regarded to be of clinical concern in our feline patients.

As noted earlier, the deer tick transmits the bacterium, causing infection. There are three life stages involved: larvae, nymph and adult, that utilized various-sized 'hosts' for their feeding (blood sucking!). These hosts range from small (white-footed mouse) to large (dogs, deer, humans) depending on the life stage of the tick. Not surprisingly, the mouse and deer are quite prevalent in our area. Whit the tick feeds on its host, it requires a minimum of 48 hours to pass the bacterium, thus, if the tick is removed within 48 hours of attachment, the bacterium cannot be transmitted and the host will not get the disease.

Diagnosis of Lyme disease is confirmed through blood testing. When performing our recommended yearly heartworm testing, the test also checks for three tick-borne diseases: Lyme, Ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis, the latter two being less common in our are. Remember, simply having a positive result does not constitute illness. However, if the patient is exhibiting joint pain and maybe a fever, we may prescribe a course of antibiotic therapy. Treatment does not eliminate the organism, it will remain in a low latent state, similar to the 90% of infected dogs who do not experience illness.

Tick control is the hallmark of Lyme disease prevention. Ticks can be active year-round and continuous protection is recommended. We carry and utilize monthly topical applications or a new chewable monthly medication, all of which kill ticks before they can transmit disease. In addition to these products, vaccination offers additional protection against Lyme disease. The vaccine inactivates the bacterium within the tick. While we do not vaccinate ever canine patient, it is recommended for patients who reside in regional hotspots, those individuals whose lifestyle is higher risk such as hunting dogs, or individuals who travel to other geographical hotspots such as Wisconsin.

Remember, prevention is the key to protecting both our canine companions AND their human friends, as we take to the woods and fields in our area!

Click here to find more information about CAPC prevalence maps for pet parasites.

Intestinal Parasites: What’s Lurking In Your Yard? by Dr. Gay

There are three common intestinal parasites that not only infect your dog or cat, but can also infect you and your family. Those parasites are roundworms, hookworms and giardia and they are found in sandboxes, soil, grass, and water. The parasites are released through an animal’s feces and the eggs can live in the environment for months. Transmission occurs by ingesting the worm egg, drinking contaminated water, or penetration of the skin by larvae. 

In our pets, infection with these parasites can cause allergic reactions, blood loss and anemia, digestive problems, and damage to internal organs. People infected with these same parasites may experience digestive problems, liver and lung damage, partial or total blindness, and itching skin lesions. Early detection of intestinal parasites is the first step in control and protection.

The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) recommends the following fecal test schedule:

      • Puppies and Kittens: 2-4 times a year
      • Adult pets not taking a broad-spectrum heartworm preventative: 
        2-4 times a year
      • Adult pets taking a broad-spectrum heartworm preventative: 

        1-2 times a year

Some action to protect your pet and family include:

      • All year us of a broad-spectrum heartworm preventative

      • Remove pet feces from your yard as often as possible

      • Keep sandboxes covered when not in use

      • Wash hands after working in the soil or playing with pets

      • Teach children not to eat dirt   

By following these simple tasks,
we and our pets can safely enjoy our time spent outside!

Why should I treat my pets year-round with heartworm, flea, and tick prevention? by Dr. Haag-Eggenberger

It is that time of year again when we will start to see insects flourish, this includes fleas, ticks, bees, and mosquitoes. We’ve already seen our first cases of tick infestation and bee sting reactions in the middle of April this year. So, have you been giving heartworm, flea, and tick prevention through the winter?

 

Heartworm disease requires a ‘middle man’ which is the mosquito in order for the microfilaria (baby heartworms) to mature to the infective L3 larva stage. Heartworm disease is spread when a mosquito bites a dog which has microfilaria, the microfilaria then mature, and the mosquito goes and bites an unprotected dog or cat. It then takes 6-7 months for the microfilaria to mature before the adult worms start producing microfilaria of their own. This also the time frame it takes for adult female worms to produce the antigens that are picked up in our standard heartworm tests.

We’ve been talking about year-round heartworm prevention for over a decade. I hear a lot of clients who are still only giving prevention during the warm months. But anymore, we are seeing mosquitos into November. Unfortunately, heartworm prevention does not kill all the circulating microfilaria with one dose. It can take 2-3 months before preventatives will kill all the microfilaria. Several specialists are even talking about resistant microfilaria which take more doses to control. If you are traveling south with your pets, that is also going to affect the disease risks. Year-round prevention which also covers intestinal parasites is going to ensure that your pet does not pick up a parasite that can passed to people.

This year-round recommendation applies to flea and tick prevention as well. We see many cases of flea infestation over the winter despite a good freeze outside. Flea eggs can lie dormant in areas of the garage, basement, in the furnace filter, and even on wildlife in the backyard. When these areas warm up, the eggs start to hatch. When heartworm, flea, and tick prevention become a monthly habit all year-round, it helps insure we don’t miss a dose or get off the monthly schedule when our pets do need the protection the most.

So what about cats? Yes, they can get heartworm disease as well but it works a little differently than in the dog. In the cat, only a handful of adult worms mature and so there is a very low level of microfilaria, if any. But it only takes a few worms to make a cat very sick because of the difference in body size. Unfortunately, there is no current treatment for heartworm disease in cats. Since we live in an area where heartworm disease is prevalent in dogs, we recommend heartworm prevention in cats year-round as well.