Articles: Heartworm disease

It’s not the destruction that Hurricane Laura left in her wake, it’s the mosquitoes. There are so many swarms of mosquitoes that they’re so abundant and overwhelming that they’re killing livestock and horses – even wildlife – leaving them anemic after so many blood withdrawals. Louisiana has initiated a spraying program. Currently, reports indicate that…

Dr. Michael Dryden is a veterinary parasitologist and Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Parasitology Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at Kansas State University. On my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show, he notes mosquitoes are here and there and everywhere, and they carry heartworm disease. Up to a million dogs are still getting life-threatening…

There are SO many pet food myths and we at least try to clear some some of these HERE on Steve Dale’s Pet World, WGN Radio. Listen as I speak with Merrick Pet Care lead veterinarian Dr. RuthAnn Lobos. The thing is that online, it seems everyone is an expert and real facts are tossed…

Heartworm disease in dogs and cats is greatly preventable, yet so many pet parents don’t give their pets a preventive product that will prevent the potentially deadly disease spread by mosquitoes. Also, there are some pockets of resistance to chewable products. In response researchers from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom are working…

Immediate past President of the American Veterinary Medical Association Dr. John de Jong offers an update on what we know about COVID-19 and our pets (and what we don’t know) on Steve Dale’s Pet World, WGN Radio. Listen HERE  Mostly, though, we chat about dog bite prevention. Dr. John de Jong explains why most dog…

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…