Heart-worm disease is a terrible and dangerous disease for dogs & can happen in cats & ferrets. I personally have never heard of it in ferrets, most likely because they are indoor animals & usually not exposed to mosquitoes that spread the disease. Not saying it can’t happen because mosquitoes do sometimes get inside the house. If an infected (host) mosquito bites a dog, cat or ferret the larvae start to grow inside your pet. If they continue to grow they can eventually kill the pet. The worms can damage the heart & lungs, put a lot of pressure on the organs.
A pet must be Heart-worm tested before any heart-worm preventative is given. If preventative is given to a dog that is positive for the disease you can cause the worms to go into the lungs & it can kill a dog. This disease can be hard on a pet’s heart, & lungs if not treated & allowed to continue. The treatment can be dangerous for the pet & is quite expensive so prevention is best & a lot cheaper. Cats may not be hit as hard by this disease, but talking to your Vet about the best way to prevent it is best.
Treatment of Heart-worm disease is done by a Vet & often several injections are needed, blood work & follow-up blood-work & an overnight stay(maybe two) at the Vet for monitoring. When a dog is treated they need to be quiet for approx 4-8 weeks after 1st injection (another reason dogs need to know how to be OK when crated), walked on a leash as they can’t run, or play without risk of death, if the dying heart-worms move to fast they can move into the lungs. I have fostered a few dogs who had to go through treatment, & it is not easy on the dog or the humans.
The good thing is that it is a preventable disease with a preventative product made for the species & the size (weight) of the pet. Heart-worm disease can happen to any dog or cat but from my research appears to be less likely to attack a healthy pet. I think its because mosquitoes can tell/smell or somehow know which are easier targets. It’s another good reason to keep your pet at a good healthy weight & fed a high quality diet. I am not a Vet, nor do I work for a Vet, but I have done a lot of research and spoken with several Vets over the years(20+ years in rescue & more as a pet owner/caregiver).
I lean towards the natural/holistic side of medicine & my pets see an Integrative Vet who practices Eastern/Western medicine (holistic/natural & traditional medicine). I have seen an Integrative Vet for a long time, after many many seizures my dog was transferred to a 24 Hr ER Vet clinic that had an Integrative Vet. She was the 1st person in about 7 years who was able to help my dog live seizure free (maybe a couple focal seizures, but not grand malls anymore). I became a believer & started my journey into a more natural way to treat & help my pets &myself. I believe God gave us what we need naturally, we just need to find out what it is & use it. I know there is a need for the practice of traditional medicine, but I prefer to try natural/holistic whenever I can.
Where I live the months of May thru Nov are when we have a risk of mosquitoes or fleas, so I personally don’t give heart-worm preventative year round. I am very disciplined & put a reminder on my calendar to give their preventative on a schedule. This is very important whether you give 1/2 the year or year round. Missing months can put your pet at risk & you should retest before you start up again with heart-worm preventative. I test my dogs in April & start Heart-worm Preventative in early May. Dogs that are 7 months & older should be tested for heart-worm disease. Once I know my dogs are heart-worm disease free (a negative blood test) I start them on Interceptor Plus the first week in May. I usually purchase it online to save money & not all Vets offices carry Interceptor Plus. I use this product because my first dog as an adult was a dog who had seizures & his Vet whom he saw told me this was the only one she would recommend using. There was less of a chance of a seizure reaction with this due to the ingredients being “safer”. A prescription is required in order to buy heart-worm preventatives whether you purchase from Chewy.com. or 1800petmeds, or another online store. Most of these places will contact your Vet’s office for a negative test result & then ship your product. I give the Interceptor Plus every 6 weeks from May-Dec. the medicine kills larvae from the previous month so give thru Dec in case an infected mosquito got them in Nov.
I hope you found this helpful & informative, feel free to contact me if you have questions or have a subject I should consider blogging about. echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com
Echoing Great Pet Care 