A Spring Check Up for Dogs and Cats–Part 1
Every year it is recommended that you take your dog or cat into a veterinarians office for a general exam and preventative measures. And one of the most important things to get checked out is parasites.
Parasites are either living inside your pets such as heartworms, and intestinal worms, or living on the outside like fleas and ear mites. Each spring, both the internal ones and the external ones need to be assessed and your pet needs to be put on a preventative to keep them in check all summer long.
Generally a fecal sample can be taken into your veterinarians office and be examined for intestinal parasites. If you have more than one pet, (in my case 4!), you can mix the fecal samples together because pets living together for any length of time share parasites. If the sample is negative, that means that your pet does not have parasites that are shedding eggs or body segments at this time. And that is good. Stress, pregnancy, and other factors may make the parasites more active, and therefore just because you pet has been tested once this year, doesn’t mean you should not suspect parasites later if your pet starts having problems.
A blood test is used to test for heartworms in both dogs and cats. In dogs, the test actually screens a blood sample for worm babies called microfiliariae. In cats, the test can either be for antibodies against heartworms or antigens/proteins carried by the adult heatworms. Either way, most veterinarians will require a blood test before dispensing the heartworm preventative. In dogs with heartworm, giving the preventative may cause sudden distress and even death of the dog. In cats, because microfiliriae are not common, the preventative does not usually cause such dire results.
Heartworm medications have been developed to be given either monthly, or even daily. Some have intestinal wormers in them, and many are chewable making them more of a treat than a medication. In fact many people opt to keep their pets on preventative year round even in cold climates where mosquitos die off. This will usually let you skip the annual blood test, and if you travel to a warm climate in the winter it makes sense.
Keeping a house bound cat on heartworm preventative is always a question I get asked. And it is really up to the owner. You need to weigh your own needs and expectations to come up with an answer that is right for you.
As an interesting side note, dogs and cats are not the only ones to get heartworm. Other members of the canine family such as wolves, fox and coyote get them as well. Sea lions, and yes even humans can get them–but the findings are mostly noted on autopsy records rather than active medical records. In species that are not natural hosts for heartworms, an occasional worm will live in the heart causing no noticeable symptoms. On post mortem exam they may live for quite some time in a dead body and come crawling out of an incised heart. What a surprise for the medical examiner!