Protect Your Pet from Heartworm Disease and Other Outdoor Parasites

Mosquitoes that cause heartworm disease and fleas, ticks and other outdoor parasites that make pets sick are plentiful during the spring and summer, especially in San Diego, CA.

Protecting your pet from heartworm disease and flea and tick infestation mainly involves having a heartworm treatment and tick prevention plan. It also requires partnering with a veterinary clinic that offers full-service emergency and wellness care for pets by an expert veterinarian.

Heartworm Treatment for Pets

Regular heartworm treatment may be the best preventative care to protect pets. Infected mosquitoes bite and infect pets with heartworm larvae that cause heartworm disease. This serious disease may severely damage the heart and lungs of dogs and cats. Left untreated, it can cause death.

Your veterinarian may suggest using mosquito repellant when pets go outdoors and deworming pets with a monthly dose of medication such as pills, chewable or injections. Stronger medications or surgery may be required to destroy heartworm in pets severely infected.

Flea and Tick Prevention Tips

Fleas and ticks living in the warmth of San Diego attach themselves to the fur, skin, and flesh of dogs and cats and suck their blood. Pets that are not routinely examined for these bloodsuckers can become sick or develop Lyme disease. Certain ticks cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a potentially fatal illness. These tick prevention tips may help keep pets healthy:

• Regularly search pets for fleas and ticks
• Use a flea comb or tweezers to remove hard-to-remove ticks
• Apply liquid spot-on tick control products on the skin of pets
• Use tick control sprays, powders, shampoos, or collars
• Give oral tablets such as "adulticides" to kill adult flea and ticks
• Keep grass and shrubs around the home low
• Prevent pets from roaming to woody areas
• Clean and disinfect areas and bedding where pets live and play
• Take pets to a veterinarian if necessary

Contact Our Local Veterinarian Today

Tierrasanta Veterinary Hospital in San Diego, CA, offers care in a pet-friendly environment. To request a non-emergency appointment, contact us at 858-224-9459 or book one online. Our expert veterinarian, Dr. Michelle Schexneider, provides emergency care, heartworm treatment, routine wellness care, and other veterinary services.