Whole health is an initiative put forth by the American Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association to improve the health of people and pets alike. Parasite Prevention is an essential component to the whole health initiative.
We know that certain diseases can be transferred between pets and people. We call these zoonotic diseases. One such disease is the transference of parasites from our pets to humans, which can cause, among other things, blindness in people.
Not only do we have our own health to concern ourselves with, but of course the health of our pets.
While the risk for serious complications associated with parasites for pets in Idaho is low, parasites present a real threat to our pets, which can be life-threatening. Dr. Hunt is currently treating a dog for adult heartworm infestation right now. His patient is in exercise confinement for 6 months, will need painful injections over the next 3 months and will need a handful of other medications throughout a 6 month period. This treatment should be effective and is usually safe. Unfortunately, it is the best solution there is to offer, and unfortunately, serious complications of the heartworm infestation may still lead to significant harm and or death despite the best treatment available.
A proactive parasite monitoring and prevention program is essential to minimizing these unfortunate, though unlikely, complications.
Preventing Parasites
At Intermountain Pet Hospital, we believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is especially true with respect to parasite infestations. To monitor for parasites, we support the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC)’s recommendation of annual intestinal parasite and heartworm testing as well as their recommendation of a regular parasite preventative.
While there are many parasite preventatives to choose from, we feel that the ProHeart 6 injection has a superior parasite preventive capacity over monthly oral preventative tablets. The advantage of ProHeart 6 is that it eliminates the responsibility of remembering to give a tablet every month. Instead, a single injection every 6 months will protect you and your pet from intestinal parasites and heartworm alike.
If you have questions and are interested in what parasite prevention resources are available to you, please feel free to contact us to make an appointment.
