Heartworm.

All dogs must have heartworm preventative pills. Prevention is just ONE of these pills a month. There are several brands of meds on the market that can be obtained from your vet. (Heartguard, Interceptor) You can even obtain a prescription from your vet and mail order for a lower cost. Price is approx. $6-8 a month. Vets differ on recommendations to either give monthly for all 12 months or give only in the months that mosquito's are present. More and more vets are suggesting year round heartworm pills. An additional benefit is the pills also deworm the GI tract.

Fluffy Dog Rescue is one of a few rescues that will take heartworm positive dogs. We have a local vet that will administer this costly treatment. The dogs are given injections to kill the worm and spend several days at the vet. This is not easy on the dog. The injections are painful. The dog must then be kept on a very low activity protocol for one month. Blood work is then redrawn to confirm success. The dogs are available to be adopted at this time. The dog must receive one preventative heartworm pill every month for two years after the treatment. Fluffy Dog Rescue has had great success with this treatment.

Now for my soapbox. Many people are not giving their dogs this simple heartworm preventative pill. This is such a basic dog care need. I just don't understand the reasons. Are Wisconsin vets not stressing the need? Are people lazy or ignorant? Heartworm in dogs is on the rise in Wisconsin.......please give your dogs heartworm preventive meds.