Heartworm Pills
Heartworm pills are vitally important to your dog's health. Heartworm pills prevent heartworms from infesting your dog's heart, which eventually causes a somewhat gruesome death. Heartworm pills are easy and relatively inexpensive to obtain for your dog, and could mean the difference between life and death for your pet.
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Function
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Heartworm pills prevent heartworms from infesting your dog's heart. If your dog is bitten by a mosquito carrying the infection, the worm larvae enter the dog's bloodstream. If the dog is not on heartworm pills, then the worms will eventually reach the heart, where they will reproduce at a high speed until the heart swells and eventually fails. Heartworm pills kill the larvae before they can gestate into worms, preventing the infection entirely.
Significance
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Heartworm pills are extremely important because you simply cannot prevent mosquitoes from biting dogs. Even if you use other pest controls, there is no way to prevent all mosquitoes from giving it a shot. All it takes is one bite, and your dog abruptly has a high probability of congestive heart failure and an early death. The only surefire way to prevent heartworm is with heartworm pills.
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Time Frame
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If your dog is infected with heartworm, it may take up to a year to see the first symptoms. After the worms reach the heart and begin to reproduce, however, the dog's health will fail quickly. Dogs develop a soft, persistent cough, may faint after exercising and soon experience congestive heart failure. While this is going on, mosquitoes that bite your dog will carry the worms' larvae to another dog. The larvae gestate in the mosquito for about 10 days, then infect another dog when the bug bites it. Without treatment, your dog will probably die within a few months.
Types
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Heartworm pills come in different sizes based on the size of your dog. The larger your dog is, the larger the heartworm pill will be. Some also contain an internal tick and flea repellent.
Misconceptions
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Some people believe that they only need to medicate their dogs with heartworm pills during seasons when mosquitoes are plentiful. They try to medicate only half the year to save on veterinary expenses. However, it is impossible to determine just how or when your dog can be bitten by an infected mosquito, and gambling in this way is unlikely to pay off since treating heartworm is incredibly expensive. In reality, the only way this is a good budget decision is if you are not going to treat your dog should he become infected--hardly a responsible pet owner decision.
Warning
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Heartworm pills cost between $6 and $15 a month, depending on the size and breed of your dog. It is imperative to factor this expense into your budget before you adopt an animal. If you do not plan to maintain the health of your dog, then you will cause yourself and your family heartache and sadness in the long run.
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