Articles: Heartworm disease

Veterinary parasitologist Dr. Michael Dryden of Kansas State University is bugged about mosquitoes, and explains that they transmit a disease called heartworm to dogs and cats. A half a million to a million dogs, he says, are getting heartworm disease. What’s totally sad about this is that heartworm is nearly 100 percent preventable. And the…

Nowadays, there’s a top-10 list for everything. I doubt it ever occurred to David Letterman to create a top-10 for cities with the most heartworm, but he would be thrilled to know there is now such a list. This list is based on the highest percentage increase in positive heartworm test results for dogs and cats…

I speak HERE on my WGN Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show with Amanda Smith, lead author of a recent paper on leptospirosis,  “The Descriptive and Spatio-Temporal Analyses of 45 Canine Leptospirosis Cases from Chicago, 2015-2018” We’re talking about leptospirosis here for two primary reasons: The bacterial disease may infect our dogs and potentially cause…

Heartworm is not something you want your dog to get, one simple explanation for that: Heartworm can be deadly says CEVA Animal Health Veterinary Services Manager Dr. Todd McCracken on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show. McCracken explains how dogs get the disease. He says it’s “100 percent preventable” IF you use a…

Heartworm disease is nearly 100 percent preventable.  Still, according to the American Heartworm Society (AHS), most pet owners don’t use preventatives. Actually, if you want to get technical about all this, in dogs – preventatives don’t completely prevent heartworm – not completely. According to Dr. Stephen Jones, immediate past president of the AHS in a…

Ceva Animal Health announced (as I reported here first) that they are launching MilbeGuard™ (milbemycin oxime) Flavored Tablets, the first FDA-approved generic heartworm preventive in the U.S. MilbeGuard is a monthly, beef-flavored tablet that prevents heartworm disease and treats and controls whipworms (in dogs only), hookworms and roundworms. While Heartworm disease is totally preventable, this…

Experts suggests that because most of the country experienced a cold and rainy start to Spring, mosquito numbers had been down some in many places. However, that’s changed as the buzzers are back and with a vengeance.  For the fourth year in a row, the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) forecasts heartworm infection prevalence to be…

Whenever my time slot has changed at WGN radio or something happens – my first go-to guest, and the person has appeared over 22 years more on my shows than any other is Dr. Sheldon Rubin. So, for my first day in our new sparkling new studio, HEAR Dr. Shelly Rubin on WGN radio. Dr. Rubin’s…

Indeed April showers may bring flowers, but it also brings mosquitoes – and this season experts suggest will exceed a “usual number” due to most of the nation experiencing an extremely wet Spring. Listen HERE to my conversation on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show with Dr. Nora Grant, technical services manager at…

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now says, illnesses from mosquito, tick, and flea bites have tripled in the U.S., with more than 640,000 cases reported during the 13 years from 2004 through 2016.  Nine new germs spread by mosquitoes and ticks were discovered or introduced into the United States during this time. These findings…