To Prevent Heartworms, Consistency is Key!

Heartworms are a deadly parasitic worm transmitted from one dog or cat to the other via the mosquito. These worms take about 4 months to become foot-long adults. They clog the heart vessels causing heart failure and death. The worms cause damage for months or even years before any symptoms are noticed, so yearly testing (in dogs) is necessary to catch these positive cases early. View our heartworm blog for detailed information on both dog and cat heartworm disease.

Sadly, in spite of all of the effective heartworm preventatives on the market heartworm disease is actually on the rise in the United States. One out of every 200 heartworm tests performed in veterinary clinics is positive. Click to view the American Heartworm Society’s heartworm incidence map.

So why is this parasitic disease rising in the US? The answer is compliance.

Heartworm preventatives are >99% effective if administered consistently. CONSISTANCY is key. If even one dose is skipped in a monthly preventative protocol, your pet can contract heartworms, and starting back a month or two later will not stop the disease. At VOTS, we also offer ProHeart12, a ONCE A YEAR heartworm prevention injection (for dogs only). We recommend this one during your dog’s annual vaccine and heartworm test visit. One and DONE! You don’t have to remember the monthly dose.

VOTS sells the most effective heartworm preventatives on the market- all at discounted pricing (including ProHeart 12)! If buying a year supply all at once is too large of a purchase, sign up for our preventative subscription service where we send the preventatives right to your door.

Forgetting to give a monthly pill is easy… we are all guilty of this. That’s why the VOTS Team offers monthly subscription reminders, discounted monthly and yearly preventatives, and a subscription service that mails your preventatives right to your door! We’ve got your pet covered… The next step for protecting your beloved pet is just a VOTS visit away.

Thanks for reading our Pet Parents Blog! We hope this information empowers you to make informed decisions about your pet’s health. Please visit our resource center for more tips and educational tools.