Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes, which are prevalent in the south and all it takes is one mosquito bite (just like all it took was one sperm). I don't know about everybody here in the Albany-Leesburg area, but I had mosquitoes at my house during Thanksgiving! This means year round prevention is necessary, because in a battle of dog vs. heartworm...the heartworms wins everytime!!
Heartworms are treatable, of course it is expensive, so prevention is better for the dog and for your pocketbook!
Here are the heartworm rules:
1. Have your dog tested. If he is negative begin him on the prevention. Test again in 6 months.
2. Give the pill on the same day of the month; give it every month and give it for the rest of the dog's life.
3. Make sure the dog does not spit out the pill nor does he vomit it up.
4. Have your dog tested once a year to make sure there is no prevention failure.
5. Purchase your prevention from a veterinarian.
Rule #4 and #5 go hand in hand. If you purchase your pills from your veterinarian and one of your yearly tests come up positive, the makers of the heartworm pill will pay for your dog to be treated; we will make sure of it! If you purchase your prevention from an online or discount pharmacy, we don't got no dog in the fight...well we do...actually it's your dog, but we have no control over the fight. I guess a better way to say it is you just kicked us off your team. You are on your own!