Protect Your Pet From Heartworm

Heartworm season is upon us. Warmer weather has found its way into the Upper Valley and as the thermometer climbs, our daydreams about long, lazy days sipping lemonade out in the garden are finally becoming a reality. But the warmth brings out the bugs and the bugs bring on the risk of heartworm. During this season, please remember that mosquito bites do more than cause irritation; they have the potential to sicken or even kill your furry best friend.

As the name implies, heartworms are a parasite that take up residence in the heart of an infected dog or cat. But how, you may ask, does a pet acquire such a disgusting disease? Think back to that day sipping lemonade in the garden, with Fluffy at your side. You may not have realized that at that moment Fluffy was actually a sitting-duck for heartworm. Transmission takes place when, for example, the mosquito bites your neighbor’s pet, who happens to be infected, and then comes over and bites your pet. The mosquito, while feeding on her meal of blood, also transmits infected larvae into Fluffy’s bloodstream. These “baby” heartworms then spend about four months traveling around the body, growing through several larval stages and finally reach adulthood in the heart. At this stage, what was once a microscopic larvae can now reach up to 11 inches long as an adult. The worms will now clog the heart and connected vessels and, if left untreated, will lead to heart failure and death.

Both cats and dogs are vulnerable to heartworm disease, although it tends to be more common in canines. This is due to the fact that cats are not natural hosts for heartworm, which means that a cat’s body does not provide as ideal an environment for the development of larvae. The cat’s immune system is also very sensitive to the invading worms and migrating larvae will tend to get lost in the cat’s body, usually ending up in the lungs where they are destroyed by the immune system. This can cause problems for felines because the residue can accumulate in the lungs causing inflammation and may sometimes result in a fatal allergic-type reaction. These respiratory issues are often diagnosed as cat asthma in heartworm-positive cats.

So how do we know if a pet is infected? The process, which should be administered by a Veterinarian, is relatively simple and begins by drawing a small blood sample from the leg. For dogs, a test is run on the sample that will detect the presence of adult heartworms. However, because cats will generally have very few heartworms that survive in their bloodstream, the quantity may not be enough to trigger a positive result on this particular test so a different test is administered for cats that analyzes different components in the blood. The test will give results indicating that a cat is either infected, has immature worms in its body, or has a past infection. To clarify if the cat has a current infection, further signs of the disease are looked at through radiograph or ultrasound.

Prevention is the key for stopping the spread of heartworm. We recommend that all dogs in the Upper Valley be on a six-month preventative heartworm medication. This means that heartworm medication should be administered once a month for the entire season (May through October.) If pets are brought to warmer climates during the winter months, a year-round treatment schedule is recommended.

Owners who faithfully treat their pets for heartworm generally do not need to be tested every spring. For regular patients, heartworm treatment can simply be picked up at the clinic during your annual checkup. For patients who have had any lapse in the administration of preventative medication are required to be tested before resuming treatment.

-Dr. Dan Kelly

Come SHARE the HARVEST with us!

Here in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont, we work hard to preserve our old-fashioned sense of community and take pride in being neighborly. Knowing the names of the people you meet on the street or being greeted by a wave and a smile as you step out the front door is part of what makes this a great place to call home. During every snow storm, many of my own neighbors in Hartford Village will faithfully bundle up and venture outside to clear not only their own driveways, but the driveways of the folks who live up and down the entire street. It's gestures like these that are so simple, and yet say so much about who we are as a community.

It is in this spirit of "taking care of your own," that West Lebanon Feed & Supply is launching our Share the Harvest program. The endeavor is designed to collect freshly grown fruits, vegetables, and eggs for needy families here in our area and we will act as a drop center for donations which will be turned over to our partners at the Willing Hands organization for distribution throughout our community.

As a way to encourage folks to participate in Share the Harvest, we are currently offering a 20% discount on all garden seeds with a commitment to donate 10 percent of your 2009 edible crop yield. For our poultry-raising customers, we are offering two free baby chicks (in addition to a minimum order of 8 birds) with a commitment to donate 2-dozen eggs per month for 1 year following the commencement of egg production.

Most of us would probably agree that helping to provide food for the growing number of needy families in our area is important. What many of us may not realize is that the majority of local organizations providing food for the hungry are confined to offering non-perishable items simply because of the many limitations involved in safely handling meat, produce, and dairy products. Because of this, the food that is provided is not always the most nutritionally-balanced assortment.

Since 2005, Willing Hands has been working to supplement the distribution of non-perishables with produce collected locally that might otherwise go to waste. Our partnership with Willing Hands via Share the Harvest will not only provide the addition of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to the program, but will incorporate the distribution of fresh eggs, one of the most nutritionally complete and safe-to-handle protein sources available.

"We are very excited about our Share the Harvest programs," says West Lebanon Feed & Supply owner Curt Jacques. "It's a wonderful opportunity for our customers to rally together and provide a great source of fresh foods to our neighbors in need. We sincerely hope that anyone in our area who is planning to raise chickens or grow a crop would strongly consider participating in this effort. We know times are tough, but we're all in this together...and it's our support of one another that has always made and will continue to keep the Upper Valley community strong."

Anyone interested in participating in the West Lebanon Feed & Supply SHARE the HARVEST program can sign up by visiting our store. You do not have to take extra chicks or discounted seeds in order to help. We welcome your contributions. Thanks for your support and happy growing!