Heartworm Meds for Pets

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about heartworm meds for pets. Now there are some that are for dogs and cats and some that aren't, so always check with your clinic first to find out what the appropriate heartworm medication is. There are also two forms. There are topical forms and oral forms. And so the most commonly used oral forms generally are given once a month and what these products essentially are doing is they are parasiticides and they are trying to kill baby or larval forms of heartworms and they also by default, can take care of hookworms, roundworms and sometimes whipworms depending on the product. So these again are generally done monthly, heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes and so these are given once a month to kill off any larval heartworms that are transmitted by those mosquitoes. Heartworms end up growing over months and infecting the heart and can cause heart failure. And once that heart failure has occurred, you can never go back and their hearts will never regenerate and go back to where they were. So it's very, very important to use heartworm medications. And so check with the veterinary clinic, they can talk to you about these products and what size, these are all done by size, and you need to know what size your pet is for the appropriate size of medication as well and they can work you through that."