April 8, 2025 • 36 mins
Heartworm Truths Every Pet Owner Needs to Hear with Dr. Zoo
💔 Heartworm disease is slow, painful, and entirely preventable. So why are pets still dying from it?
In this essential episode of Muddy Paws and Hairballs, Dr. Zoo shares two real-life cases that hit hard: a young German Shepherd in kidney failure at just two years old after his owners stopped prevention, and a rescue terrier whose heart was invaded by worms—leaving euthanasia as the only humane option.
🐾 Here’s what every pet parent needs to understand: Just one mosquito bite can inject microscopic heartworm larvae into your pet. These larvae quietly develop over six months before they’re even detectable—and by the time that lingering cough appears, the damage is often already done.
Adult heartworms don’t just affect the heart. They send offspring into the bloodstream, damaging lungs, liver, and kidneys. And many early signs—like coughing after drinking water—are easy to overlook.
Dr. Zoo also busts the most common heartworm myths:
- “My pet lives indoors.”
- “We don’t have mosquitoes here.”
- “It’s winter—they’re safe now.”
- “I use natural remedies.”
Spoiler: None of these provide real protection. If a mosquito can get inside your house, it can reach your pet—and no natural product has been proven to prevent heartworm infection.
💸 Prevention is simple and affordable: around $5–$7 a month.
💔 Treatment is complex and expensive: $1,000–$6,000+, multiple medications, painful injections, and strict cage rest for weeks. Even after treatment, many pets live with permanent heart damage.
👉 Whether it’s a monthly chewable, a topical, or an injection, heartworm prevention isn’t optional—it’s critical. Dr. Zoo walks us through what heartworms really do, why prevention matters no matter where you live, and how to protect your pet from suffering or worse.
🎧 Tune in to get the facts, clear the confusion, and make the choice that could save your pet’s life.
Shoutouts in this episode:
https://www.heartwormsociety.org/
Family Animal Hospital of Friendswood
Love the show? Please share it with another pet parent who wants less chaos and more clarity. Please leave a 5-star review to help others find real-life, judgment-free advice.
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Contact: Amy@muddypawsandhairballs.com
©Ⓟ 2025 by Amy Castro.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Castro (00:00):
I've heard all the excuses he never missed a dose,
we never see mosquitoes, Ithought my dog was safe because
he's an indoor dog.
And then comes the heartbreak Apet who didn't have to die but
did.
In this episode of Muddy Pawsand Hairballs, my friend Dr Zhu
is back with the truth aboutheartworm disease.
(00:22):
If you think heartwormprevention can wait, you need to
listen to this episode, becausewhen it comes to heartworm, the
biggest mistake you can make isthinking it's not going to
happen to your pet.
Hey there and welcome to MuddyPaws and Hairballs, the podcast
that tells the truth about lifewith pets.
I'm your host, Amy Castro, andjoining me today once again is
(00:43):
my good friend, Dr Zhu, theowner and head veterinarian at
the Family Animal Hospital ofFriendswood and the one who
takes care of my pets and allthe animals at Starlight
Outreach and Rescue.
We've worked together for yearson lots of things trying to
save pets, but the mostfrustrating has been trying to
help pets with heartworm disease, and while we have lots of wins
(01:04):
, we've also had losses, somethat really still hit hard.
So today we're going to breakdown what heartworm disease
really is, how it spreads and,most importantly, how you can
stop it before it's too late.
Let's get into it.
So, Dr Zhu, you and I have seenthe tragic outcomes and also
good outcomes, but what are someof the ones that really stand
(01:27):
out to you, where you say, gosh,this was just so preventable,
yeah, yeah.
Dr. Zoo (01:30):
Well, I can tell you I have a personal pet story or an
owned pet story and then arescue pet story.
Okay and so, and because you doexpect these things with rescue
dogs, you know that no one'scared for them, they've been on
the street.
But a client of mine that hadbrought in the cutest little
(01:51):
German Shepherd puppy and we gotthrough all the puppy shots and
we went through some teenagerthings.
You know that pet had done sogood and then they moved and
life got busy or whateverhappens that they decided after
some time or maybe forgot aftersome time, to continue that pet
that we started on heartwormprevention very young they had
stopped their heartwormprevention.
So here we are.
The pet is only two and a half,still a very young dog.
(02:11):
But they come back into ourclinic lives and they're like oh
hi, we haven't seen you a longtime.
Oh yes, we haven't been onprevention for a while.
We do heartworm testing, uh,which is, in this case it was
included on our blood work thatwe also send out and we found
that he had heartworms at ayoung age, at two years old, and
it only takes six months forthat to show up, and we'll talk
(02:32):
about that later on for sure.
But along with that blood workit came back that his kidneys
were failing as well, and at atwo-year-old.
That's not a common thing wesee for kidneys to be failing at
two years.
We see that a lot in seniorpets.
So doing some research intowhat was going on, we found out
the heartworms were connected tothis.
(02:52):
So heartworms when you haveboth male and female they can
create baby worms we callmicrophallaria, and they're
literally just floating aroundthe bloodstream, these little
stringy foreign items, and thekidneys are a little net, and so
they get stuck in the kidneys.
And this is why, at such ayoung age, he ended up with
kidney failure and unfortunatelywe ended up having to let him
(03:14):
go at a very young age as well,and so that was one story that
really hurt my heart.
I'm a German Shepherd's lover asfar as dogs go.
I have three of my own, and tosee his little young life cut
off so early definitely was asad one.
And then, more recent, on oneof my rescue cases, a little
terrier guy named Cole.
He and his little friend havebeen running the streets for a
(03:37):
while and they were both youngdogs, probably each less than
three we say probably becausewe're guessing at their rescue
and their age and at the first,at the rescue, he did so well
and they fed him and they gothim nice and strong and we were
getting ready to do heartwormtreatment on him.
But one particular day she, therescue or the foster lady,
knows he was not doing well andbrought him in.
His gums were super pale and wefound that the heartworms that
(04:02):
usually live in the vesselsaround the heart had actually
gotten sucked right into theheart and he had a stage of the
disease called Cable syndrome.
And Cable syndrome.
There's only really one verygood cure for it, and it's an
emergency cardiac surgery wherethey, just like in people, will
put in a catheter all the waydown through the veins and into
the heart and pull those wormsout During that procedure.
(04:23):
If any one single of thoseworms breaks, the dog can have
an anaphylactic reaction and dieright in the middle of that
procedure.
So it's not one that a lot ofpeople want to even take a risk
of putting their pet through.
And then in this case, with therescue, of course my finances
are an issue, and so it was justsomething we couldn't do, and
so we had a euthanized call forthat reason as well.
So cable syndrome, kidneydisease there's a lot of
(04:45):
sequelae that can happen, thatcan cause animals to die from
heartworms, not always just aheart issue, for example, yeah.
Yeah, so those are some sadcases.
You know, of course, with cullthey rescued as quick as they
could.
But if the education had beenthere, maybe for the previous
owners, maybe they would haveeven kept their pet and maybe
had them on prevention.
That wouldn't have been a deal.
Or maybe, you know, with ourGerman Shepherd's friend Thor,
(05:08):
you know, I just thought we hadeducated but maybe, you know, we
didn't impress it enough.
So now it does stimulate me andmy team to make sure.
You know, hey, you know, thismonthly prevention you can get
it as low as you know, $5 or $6a month is worth it.
You know, because you don'twant your dog that you're
expecting to have.
You know, 10 years or more todie at two.
Amy Castro (05:31):
Yeah Well, and like you mentioned the, you know the
issue that people they start offmaybe on track and then they
get off track or they forget, orthey forget to renew it or
whatever, and then everybody hasa reason for it.
But can you you that I don'tknow if you said this in the
episode or if you said it before, but that they don't really
live in the heart, that theylive in the vessels outside the
(05:52):
heart?
How do they get?
Dr. Zoo (05:52):
there?
That's a good question.
So they have this veryelaborate life cycle with seven
stages.
I mean quite a few stages oflife.
But we'll start with where theyfirst get in contact with it,
and that's a mosquito bite.
Okay, so only mosquitoes aretransmitting, only mosquitoes
can transmit them.
And one thing, and we'll get toit later.
(06:13):
As we describe this, you know,sometimes people will say I
rescued a heartworm positive dog.
Is a mosquito going to bite himand then give it to the other
dog?
That's not how that works.
Actually, the worm has to livein the mosquito from a positive
dog and then it multiplies overor changes its larval stages,
that is, over several weeksbefore it actually will become
(06:34):
infectious.
And most of the time, if amosquito is, let's say, in your
home or whatever, it's going todie before then.
Or let's say, a mosquito bitessomeone, a dog from the, the
outside world, it's going to gosomewhere else, it's not going
to usually come back and bitethis other pet.
That being said, it's not likean instantaneous bites one and
then injects yeah, like avampire, like a vampire.
Suddenly you're a vampire, soyeah.
(06:56):
So once that mosquito gives acertain larval stage and
actually that little baby wormgets injected into the animal's
muscle or skin tissue, it takessix months of it migrating
throughout the body before itactually becomes an adult worm
that lives in the heart oraround the heart.
The pulmonary vessels, arteriesand veins around the heart is a
(07:16):
perfect place for these wormsto get their food, which is your
pet's blood for one.
And then of course, what's inthe serum in that blood can be
things like oxygen and carryingthat sort of thing, as well as
proteins, and it absorbs allthose things.
And if it meets its boyfriendor girlfriend or husband or wife
in there, then, if you have onemale and one female, they'll
actually start making anotherkind of larval stage called the
(07:39):
microphallaria.
Those become a certain stage.
That's when a mosquito canpotentially bite a dog and pick
it up from a dog, and then lateron it'll go through several
stages inside the mosquito weekslater.
Amy Castro (07:51):
But the whole time that's happening you're
oblivious, so you're kind of atrisk all the time.
Dr. Zoo (07:55):
Yeah, you see no signs of it.
And I think we do hear lots ofpeople say he doesn't go out
much or he will get to thatwe're going to get to the BS
reasons people have.
Of course, we just always wantto put ourselves in a most
positive situation or positivelight and we make an excuse
essentially.
But if we're really logicalabout it, we'll figure out that
it's not the way to bury yourhead in the sand.
(08:17):
It's better to be aware and gookay, look, I can skip Starbucks
this month and I can definitelyhave my heartworm permission
instead.
Yeah, exactly, so, yeah, sothey live.
Adult worms live mostly in thevessels near and around the
heart.
The microflaria or the otherlarval stages are migrating
through the muscle tissues andagain, they can migrate through
(08:37):
the kidneys.
They can migrate into the liver.
Anywhere your blood flows, themicroflaria will flow through
too, so we will see sometimeschanges in those other organs as
well.
So it can cause multi-organfailures.
Amy Castro (08:52):
So what are usually the first?
I mean other than a positivetest.
Let's say, somebody didn't testtheir pet.
What's the progression of thedisease in the animal?
That's a good question.
Dr. Zoo (09:01):
It starts off with just like this little hacking cough
Sounds like they're clearingtheir throat, you know, and we
might just say, oh, he drank hiswater too fast or he was
pulling on the leash, or hisallergy season, or, you know,
maybe he got a little kennelcough or something like that.
But then it's just persistent,maybe months or years.
It might just be this littleannoyed little cough going on.
(09:23):
Really it can go on.
It can go on that long and thenyou know, depending on how many
worms they get, like, forexample, a cat can get homes too
.
Amy Castro (09:31):
Yeah, I want to.
Dr. Zoo (09:32):
I want to definitely get on that they might only get,
you know, two, three, fourheartworms, but that their
little tiny body, that's a hugeload for them.
A big dog might get two, threeor four heartworms and and then,
let's say, they move somewherewhere there's not many
mosquitoes.
They stop getting new worms,let's say, but they'll still
have almost like an allergicreaction to it.
That's what causes that cough.
(09:54):
The lung tissue itself getsswollen and inflamed and angry
and that's where we get thislittle irritated cough.
But dogs can easily have 50,100 heartworms and clog up those
vessels and then pieces of lungcan be dying.
We've seen it all, that's forsure.
So, yeah, so at first it's alittle insidious cough and then
(10:14):
the most common thing after thatis true heart failure, because
the blood circulation reallydepends on how much pressure is
in that circulatory system.
Your heart is a pump and ofcourse all the pipes going in
and out of that need to be cleanand clear, just like our sewage
system.
If it gets clogged it's goingto back up.
That can happen.
If it backs up in the wrongplace, you can get fluid in your
lungs.
If your blood backs up in thewrong place, you can get fluid
(10:37):
in your abdomen or reallybecause your liver starts to
leak fluid out of it.
Again.
We talked about how the wormscan get in there.
And so sometimes people willcome in with their dogs at the
later stages in true heartfailure congestive heart failure
we call that.
Or then sometimes we see theseother weird sequelae not weird,
but you know unfortunately sideeffects of the micro filaria,
like the kidney disease or theheart cable syndrome, where it's
(11:00):
very sudden instead of slow andcity it's changed, but it can
be dormant looking or you maynot pick up on it for years.
A dog has heartworms and theearliest that a test can show up
is six months.
And again we talked about howwhen the mosquito first bites it
takes six months for that wormto go through.
Let's say it bites and somehowand this has happened it only
(11:22):
has male worms.
The test tests for a certainfemale hormone.
So I've had dogs test negativeand we're still suspicious of
heartworms.
They have maybe signs of thiscough or heartworm disease.
Or maybe we take an x-ray andwe see the heart is misshapen.
That can indicate heartwormdisease.
I put the test is coming upnegative.
Sometimes the reason is becauseit's just male worms.
Amy Castro (11:44):
And will it come up?
Because one of the things thatI hear people you know make
excuses or they don't do theannual test.
Oh, do I really need to do thisevery year?
Like, to me, that is a goodreason to do it every year,
Because would it catch?
Dr. Zoo (11:57):
it the next year, eventually, especially if we
don't for some reason put themon heart prevention, they might
catch it the next year.
Or maybe one of the babies thatwas still developing and hadn't
fully developed yet was female.
Then it would show up.
There are other ways that wecan find it, like an echo or a
heart ultrasound in certaincases.
And then there's anotherinteresting phenomenon where a
(12:18):
dog can be negative becausetheir own body has created
antibodies to try to combat theworms, although unfortunately it
doesn't do much for getting ridof the worms.
But what it ends up doing is itgets in the way of the test and
it can block the test, and soyou can get a negative from that
.
And there's another specialtest you can send out to the
laboratory to confirm whether ornot you know man, it quacks
(12:39):
like a duck.
It sounds like a duck, it'sprobably heartworms, but for
some reason my in-house testisn't working.
Let send it off to thelaboratory.
Another reason why it'simportant about testing every
year is we do have resistantheartworms coming up, that
they're resistant to heartwormprevention.
It seems to be the way with allkinds of diseases, all the
fungal.
Everything is getting tougherto combat and the world is
(13:00):
trying to kill us.
Amy Castro (13:01):
Yeah apparently it's a dangerous world out there
people, it's a dangerous world.
Dr. Zoo (13:05):
And so, yeah, especially from the Mississippi
Valley, in that area we've beenseeing this population of
heartworms that is resistant tosome of our good, old-fashioned
heart preventions.
Heartguard, a very popularbrand, has been around a long
time.
We're seeing some resistance tothat particular ingredient from
those areas.
And with the way our world, wetravel, we travel with our pets,
(13:25):
yeah, we're spreading it aroundeventually and rescue.
You know, we do send animalsall over the place nowadays.
You yourself have traveled tothe East Coast with one before.
Amy Castro (13:34):
Well, I remember growing up on the East Coast and
when I worked at a vet, allthrough high school and college,
it was like heartwormprevention was given seasonally
yeah, like you started in thespring and you stopped in the
fall and winter.
And it's like I remember Idon't know if it was you that
said this I think it was youthat told me it's not a matter
of if your dog is going to getinfected with it, it's just a
(13:58):
matter of when, because,especially here in Texas and
depending upon where you arelistening in the world, you know
there's probably a gazillionmosquitoes floating around with
it, and so your dog is going toget injected with it basically,
absolutely.
Dr. Zoo (14:11):
It's spreading around the world and it's a very safe
and easy preventative, so I dothink it's worth covering them
for that risk Plus.
You're going to cover otherthings which we'll probably get
to later on too with aprevention.
An interesting thing we learnedabout in vet school was a
population of seals out ofCalifornia were bringing
heartworms back and forth fromAlaska to California Because
(14:33):
being in California, they'rekind of iffy about heartworm
prevention.
Amy Castro (14:36):
Because it's so dry.
Dr. Zoo (14:37):
It's so dry, but there are certain pockets where they
could get exposed, yeah, and Ididn't realize.
Amy Castro (14:44):
I mean, obviously the whole thing about cats
getting it is relatively recent.
Dr. Zoo (14:48):
I mean that wasn't a thing back in my day, we didn't
push prevention, honestly,because I think we had a hard
time proving it to owners oranybody else whether their cat
had gotten it.
And still, testing cats forharm is very hard.
Yeah so it's not the sametesting process.
It's a similar kind of test butbecause they might only have
one, two or three, they're morelikely to have a single sex
(15:10):
infection, like just an all-maleinfection.
So false negative we get a lotof false negatives.
Yeah, so, honestly, most of thetime when we actually find out a
cat has heartworms, they'vealready started to have heart
disease and that's awful.
And so then we're doing it,working backwards, like okay,
now we have heart disease, couldit be because of a heartworm,
and let's find out.
And then maybe we're doingechoes or ultrasounds.
If the heartworm test is up,then come up with a special
(15:32):
heartworm test that we send tothe lab.
They do this Basically theyalter the temperature and gene
nature of the proteins and sothe test is a little more
sensitive when we send it to thelab.
Yeah, so for cats, honestly,without a on heartworm
prevention 24-7 or basicallyevery month of the rest of their
(15:52):
lives, just as a precautionarything.
And, as you know, things likerevolution that's a very popular
brand have flea prevention,tick prevention, ear mite
prevention and um and heartwormprevention and intestinal worm
prevention.
You know which cats?
You know I'm gonna eat yourdirt out of your plant pot.
No, I don't go outside, but I'mgonna eat that so they can pick
up parasites through there.
So you're kind of coveringeverything with revolution.
Amy Castro (16:11):
And that's good to know.
So I want to talk about theexpense, because that's one of
the myths.
But all of these things thatyou're talking about, once an
animal has it, that's a lot,that you're putting your animal
through A lot of procedures, alot of testing Don't always work
out.
Yeah, a lot of testing Don'talways work out.
Yeah, a lot of money, and itcould be prevented with a
monthly pill or a every sixmonths shot or a topical or
(16:33):
something.
Dr. Zoo (16:34):
Oh yeah, dogs, too won't take pills sometimes, so
they have topicals for dogs,yeah.
And so, yeah, you can do, andwe even have a shot that lasts
six months or a year, dependingon what life is conducive to you
know, or because, let's say,you're a mom with three kids,
are you going to remember togive that monthly pill, or chew
every month, maybe?
Amy Castro (16:52):
not Barely remember to pick up your kids from school
, for God's sake.
Dr. Zoo (16:55):
Oh yeah, I have children and offspring, yeah, so
maybe consider the shot or askyour doctor for that sort of
thing.
So there's a lot of ways towork around what we call
compliance.
You know the study of whetheror not people are actually able
to give medicines that arerecommended or are required for
keeping their pet healthy.
So the good thing is, if youwant to be competitive or
(17:17):
relevant in business, you haveto come up with a new method
that's better to get people tobe able to do that in a
confusing way.
So the shot, the topicals, thechews, the pills yeah, there's
lots of ways to do it.
Amy Castro (17:28):
It's kind of like me with flossing my teeth.
I'm terrible about flossing myteeth, but I'll use those little
flossy sticks.
Dr. Zoo (17:33):
They're so much easier, they're so much easier, I agree
, and you can keep them in yourpurse and you can do it right
after you eat.
Yeah, exactly.
Amy Castro (17:41):
So I'm on the same boat as you.
Convenience is definitely goodthrough, but let's I mean you
talked about those two animalsthat died and obviously you were
able to humanely euthanize butlet's you know if somebody needs
any more motivation and we'regoing to do some myth busting,
but tell us what the death islike.
It's because I know it's badand it's really bad suffering.
Dr. Zoo (17:59):
Yes, congestive heart failure.
I hate to use this analogy butit's probably the truest thing
and I do use it when I need toexplain to owners.
You're drowning in your ownfluids.
Essentially, if your bloodcan't flow because the worms are
blocking your blood flow, thatblood, or the little sort of the
filtrate of it, called plasma,will build up in your lungs in
(18:21):
particular, and your lungs arelike a sponge and they just want
to hold on to fluid.
So if you just if anyone hasexperienced like pneumonias or
COVID, of course, and that sortof thing if you just have 10%,
15%, 20% bad lung, that feelsawful.
But when all your lung isaffected with fluid I mean, if
it was a person, they wouldprobably think I would rather
die.
If it's an animal, they don'tknow how to deal with that.
(18:44):
So sometimes we have to step into help them.
Basically, we're allowing ourpet to slowly drown in suffering
, so we don't want an excuse forthat it's terrible, yeah, and
we don't want to hide our headin the sand for that, because
then let's say they do pass orwe put them down.
Then there's years of regretsafter that and that's a whole.
Amy Castro (19:03):
You need to start the psychological therapy
session type of I just did anepisode on grief, psychological
therapy session type of just didan episode on grief, but you
know, but most of this episodeon grief that we did was you did
everything you could and youstill felt like shit.
Yes, well, how about if yourealize it is really your fault?
Yeah, I mean, I hate to saythat I have to be the ugly
person but we all make mistakesand we learn from them.
Dr. Zoo (19:22):
But this is your chance to learn before your pet ever
has to even experience anythinglike this.
Yeah, we don't want that foryour pet for sure.
So let's talk about the myth.
Was that for your pet?
Amy Castro (19:31):
yeah, for sure.
So I went out to the and Istole some of these from the
american heartworm society,which I am wonderful website
yeah, and I'm gonna put thatlink to that website because you
want to know anything aboutheartworms, there's I mean,
they've got infographics and allkinds of information I was
gonna tell you there's a reallyin-depth like if you want to
nerd out on it video, but theymake it very entertaining.
Dr. Zoo (19:51):
It's, of course, it's a cartoon on YouTube that kind of
goes off of AHA's thing as well, so I'll send that to you if
you want to look at it.
Amy Castro (20:00):
Yeah, okay, put that in there.
So some of the myths thatpeople believe, which you know.
So it's not just I'mintentionally neglecting my pet,
but I didn't think it couldhappen, because and I want you
to kind of bust some of thesemyths.
So one of them is, you know,like the example that you gave
it was on prevention I skipped amonth and suddenly my animals
got heartburn.
(20:20):
He's never missed a dose.
Dr. Zoo (20:21):
Yeah, that's a tough one, yeah for sure.
The way these work is that theyreach back for usually 30 days
if you're doing like a pill or achew.
So if you miss a month youdon't get that reach back of
killing whatever was in thesystem that got infected in the
last 30 days.
Also, once the mosquito bitesthis particular larva stage the
(20:43):
heartworm prevention is onlykilled one or two of those, but
then it'll start to change againto the next Marvel stage and
even though it's not in theheart, yet again the heart
reprimand won't be able to killit because it's past the stage
of which we're.
So you've got to kind ofcontinually give.
You have to give itcontinuously at the 30-day mark
if it's that kind of product.
Again, that's why theinjections can be super helpful,
because people do get busy,forget, miss a month or whatever
(21:06):
it might be, and then again thetest takes six months for it to
show up.
So let's say in that one monththat you missed, the mosquito
did bite and inject a heartwormand it got past where you
couldn't treat it with the nextdose.
You won't know for six months,if you even know at the
six-month mark because maybe hisannual vaccine visit to the vet
doesn't fall where that is, ormaybe you don't go that year or
(21:26):
whatever which you should, butthings like that happen, and so
then those worms have a chanceto become multiple and large and
start to block blood flowaround the heart.
Amy Castro (21:35):
Yeah, I know we would never have this excuse in
Texas, but we didn't see anymosquitoes so we didn't think we
needed to.
Dr. Zoo (21:43):
Yeah, I know you have out-of-state listeners Out of
the country.
I've got people all over theworld.
I love that, which, yeah, thatis an excuse.
And the thing is, are youreally on guard, watching for
every mosquito to come throughyour house or your window?
No, of course not.
Watching for every mosquito tocome through your house or your
window?
No, of course not.
My most dreaded of all, and it'sprobably one of your myth
buster things the indoor onlyone.
(22:04):
Oh yeah, that was my next one,that's the best next one,
because in an exam room often Ihave to tell the story to people
.
I'm like, oh, he's indoor onlyall the time.
Okay, well, have you ever laidin bed and heard that buzzing
noise?
That mosquito comes and you'reslapping your face and you're
slapping everything trying tokill the mosquito in the middle
of the night.
It happens to your dog and cattoo, and it happens more to your
(22:25):
dog and cat because they have alittle heat-seeking device and
they're going to find thembefore they're going to find you
.
Good target.
So, yeah, they're the perfecttarget.
And usually when the pet issleeping they're very, very
still, so a mosquito can biteright through that unhaired area
around the nose and on the ear.
It's the easiest target,although they can find their way
through skin, because that'show they survived millennia?
Amy Castro (22:45):
Yeah, exactly, since dinosaur ages.
They lasted longer than thediners, of course, right, yes,
yeah, so that's again bad excuse.
We live in the city, we don'tlive in the country.
There's mosquitoes in my city,anywhere.
Dr. Zoo (22:55):
City, I mean anywhere standing water can be, obviously
, is where mosquitoes canmultiply.
You know this, I'm sure, in theand there's luckily.
You know the cities know thistoo, so that a lot of times the
the cities will offer differentkind of mosquito control
programs but no one's coming toyour house to do mosquito
control programs.
So you leave that one plant potout, because you potted your
other plants and you left it out, the rain collected.
(23:15):
You're gonna have a nice littlebatch of mosquitoes come up
yeah very shortly, within awithin a couple of weeks.
Amy Castro (23:19):
Yeah, and it only takes one.
Dr. Zoo (23:20):
Yes, it does.
Amy Castro (23:21):
What about the skipping in the winter?
I mean, that's a lot.
A lot of people think they canstill do that.
Dr. Zoo (23:26):
Definitely not in our area and again, because of the
way that animals have traveledas much as we have traveled
around the world, there's quitea risk.
So if it's my pet, I woulddefinitely keep them all year
round.
You may find that certainveterinarians in certain pockets
may advise that, but definitelytalk to your vet about that,
because they know what theprevalence is in their area.
(23:46):
But even Alaska, for example,they get tons of mosquitoes in
the summertime and so they Imean they're the coldest ones
that I could think of out therethey're going to need heart
permission.
Amy Castro (23:56):
Yeah, Okay, what about natural?
There's some people thatbelieve they've got you know,
someone told them on Facebook orthey read it.
You saw a TikTok video wheresomebody said spray your dog
with you know, whatever.
Yeah.
Dr. Zoo (24:08):
Citronella, I've seen it all, you know.
Yeah, I've seen it all.
Unfortunately, what happenswith natural things in
particular is that they're verylow cost or expense, and I think
there's an attraction, kind ofsubconscious, to that, and then
also because they're not makinghuge profits with some natural
things.
I don't think they.
They don't do studies on thosethings really very well, and so
(24:29):
a lot of it's anecdotal.
Or you know my grandma in Italy, you know.
Amy Castro (24:33):
Or just because your dog didn't get heart, because
I've had people tell us that tooin rescue.
They're like we will deny youfor adoption if your animal's
not on prevention, and it's like, well, I'll go get it tested.
Oh, it was negative, so it'slike no, you just.
It's kind of like a russianroulette.
Exactly, you're playing russianroulette.
It's just like saying I'venever worn my seat belt and I'm
not dead yet correct.
But yet all the people that weknow exactly.
Dr. Zoo (24:55):
Yes, unfortunately, that's not logic.
It's not.
It's just really an excuse tosay, oh, this is okay and I
don't want to change.
But the reality is that, yes,those natural ones don't work or
they're not proven to work.
And why take that risk whenthere's very safe prescription
type?
Amy Castro (25:11):
options for that sort of thing.
You mentioned that people willuse those because it's cheaper.
I mean, it's cheaper for me tobuy a little thing of cinnamon
than a heartworm thing.
Well, you know.
Or people that will sayheartworm prevention is too
expensive.
Let's talk about the cost ofprevention versus treatment and
we already talked about thesuffering cost for your pain.
Dr. Zoo (25:32):
But let's you can't put a dollar on that.
Amy Castro (25:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Dr. Zoo (25:35):
But yeah, prevention has gotten, just like all other
products that are out in theworld.
Medication-wise, there's a lotof generics out there.
The studies were done on theingredients in those generics,
so we know that they're going towork.
Before coming on, I just wenton to all the popular medical
websites where you can orderyour prescriptions and for a
small dog like less than 25pounds, you can easily order
(25:57):
something in the $28 to $30range for six months of
protection.
So that's $5 or $6 a pill.
Yeah, that's no excuse rightthere.
And I spent more at Starbucks onmy white chocolate, mocha 20,
whatever.
You can't get anything out andabout.
Do I need those empty caloriesversus saving my pet's life?
Probably not.
Do I need those empty caloriesversus saving my pet's life?
(26:20):
Probably not.
I probably should just go aheadand get the generic heartworm
prevention, which actually theone that I looked at did include
intestinal worm prevention aswell.
So two for one.
And then I looked up one again,a generic one.
I just looked for the lowestcost that I knew would be
effective for a 50 to 100-pounddog and it was like $6 or $7 per
month per pill.
So really very affordable.
(26:42):
Don't go to mcdonald's thatmonth one time and you'll be
fine and probably you'll saveyour own life.
Yeah, save your pen.
And so I mean there cost was.
There's not an excuse.
There really isn't, and there'sso many resources out for
people who may be like going tothe vet in the heartworm test
and exam.
Maybe that adds to cost, and Irealize that that's important.
You have to calculate thosethings and there's, of course,
(27:03):
I'm a vet, so I'm going topromote that you should go to
your vet and get a good,complete exam for other reasons,
but if it's like not doing itat all, then there are plenty of
outreach programs.
We have here Apparently AnimalResource Center, we have the
Animal Alliance, have snap andsnip and emancipate.
There's so many places whereyou can get a heartworm test and
(27:24):
a prescription for heartwormmedicines for very low cost.
Amy Castro (27:27):
Yeah, it doesn't have to turn into a full-blown.
It doesn't have to, yeah yeah,for me.
Dr. Zoo (27:31):
I love animals.
I want to advocate for them.
If you're not coming to me as avet and you need to go to a
resource center, I'd rather yougo there because I want your pet
to have the protection that itneeds and it doesn't take much
really cost-wise.
It might take some of your timebut again it's worth it.
If you want your pet to bearound for the long expectancy
of its life, yeah, becausecartons will definitely cut that
(27:51):
short, yeah.
Amy Castro (27:52):
So what about people that say I'm not going to
bother with the expense now,I'll just treat it when they get
it If they get it, yeah.
Dr. Zoo (28:04):
Yeah, talk about how much that, not even just the
monetary cost, although thatstimulates our decisions a lot,
so we have to talk about that.
Amy Castro (28:07):
Let's talk about that, but then also talk about
the process, cause I thinkpeople realize it's not just I
go in, I get a pill and it fixesit.
Dr. Zoo (28:13):
That's right, exactly it is a two to six month
treatment, depending on whichway you go with that.
And as long as those worms arein there they're creating damage
.
You know A we just talked abouthow it takes at least six
months to discover it's eventhere.
So they're in there, damagingthe pet for six months.
Then let's say if you even gotit tested right away and decided
to treat it right away, thenyou're adding two to six more
(28:35):
months of those worms beingpresent and damaging your pet's
heart, kidneys, kidneys, liver,all those things.
And then let's say and this hashappened many a time I've
treated a dog for heartworms,maybe they were age three, four.
We got rid of the heartworms,they learned their lesson, they
kept their pet on heartwormprevention.
But at age seven, eight, nine,their dog goes into heart
failure anyways, because thedamage has been done.
(28:57):
Damage has been done and thatis the saddest, because they
have their regrets.
They have already decided.
I'm never going to make thatmistake again, but it will
sometimes those consequencesstill follow us.
Yeah, yeah, we don't want thatwith.
Definitely prevention is muchbetter cost wise.
Easily a thousand to twothousand or so here in our area,
but certainly if you're up onthe east coast I've seen five
(29:17):
thousand dollars, six thousanddollar estimates.
Yeah, if it's a very seriouscase where they're already in
heart failure and they're goingto need things like heart
medicines the rest of theirlives or follow-ups with a
cardiologist or a specialist, Imean that can go way higher than
$5,000 or $6,000.
So cost-wise definitely not theway to go versus your $5 or $6
or $7 a month minimum.
If you get the fancier stuffthat has flea and tick
(29:41):
prevention and air miteprevention in it, great.
I mean, yes, you're going topay more, but fleas, ticks and
those sort of things bring germsto people too that can be
deadly from cat's friend's fever, lyme disease, absolutely.
So, yeah, there's a lot ofbenefits for people too.
When your pet is on heartwormprevention, usually it's going
to be all encompassing hookwormsand roundworms.
Actually, the intestinalparasites are also contagious to
(30:03):
people, unfortunately.
Yeah, so again, double benefit,you know, for you, for your pet
, you know, if you got kids, Imean, definitely want to
consider something like that.
Yeah, um, and so cost-wisedefinitely worth it to prevent
versus treat.
Amy Castro (30:16):
Yeah, yeah and then the process of treatment.
Like I know, we've gone throughthat several times with rescue
pets, I I don't think peoplerealize that you know well, why
don't you just go ahead and gothrough the?
You know, the shot, the walking, the cage breast?
I mean, it's a process.
Dr. Zoo (30:31):
Yeah, so once you decide, okay, I'm going to treat
this pet.
First, they have to be on anantibiotic for 30 days that
weakens the worms.
Then after that we decide atthat 30-day mark we're going to
run some tests Like let's makesure your heart is fine, make
sure your kidneys, your liverare fine, before we basically
give a worm killing injectioninto the lower back muscles,
absorbed into the pet, andthat's done at day 60.
(30:54):
So it's 30 days of antibiotics,30 days of making sure the
animal does well after theantibiotic and doing those
important tests.
First injection happens at the60-day mark.
30 days from that we'll do asecond and third injection, back
to back, so you'll have a totalof three injections.
Every time we do theseinjections it's two to four
weeks of very strict cage restbecause you're killing these
(31:15):
worms, they're loosening fromthese vessels and they could
likely get stuck in otherimportant places, not to mention
the lung, but also the heart,the kidneys and liver.
We've talked about that butbasically when they're dead
they're more likely to befloating around and getting
stuck.
So if your pet gets overexcitedand who's not going to get
excited when mom comes home fromwork?
You know that sort of thing.
They can literally dislodge apiece of worm and have a stroke
(31:37):
and die.
They can have basically a heartattack.
You could say they coulddefinitely clog up the liver or
kidney, something like that.
So we offer sedatives.
You're giving your pets pillstwo to three times a day, not
only just to keep them calm butto reduce the side effects of
those pieces of dead wormfloating around in the system.
And then you have to still waitsix months from that to know if
the treatment was successful.
(31:58):
You have to still wait sixmonths from that to know if the
treatment was successful.
You have to test them sixmonths later.
Now the good news is that thetreatments are pretty effective.
Yes, there might be some sideeffects.
Definitely better than the wayold school we use arsenic-based
products.
We don't do that anymore, butjust the fact that the worms are
(32:20):
dying and chunks of worms arefloating around the body is very
risky still too.
So yeah, especially because wedo discover this in young dogs
that are two or three years old.
They want to bounce off thewall and you have to no, no, no,
stay calm.
Two to four weeks, get a crateand a kennel.
Amy Castro (32:28):
And yeah, just just so everybody hears that I mean
we're talking about.
Your dog is in that crate like24 seven.
You open the crate, you put aleash on, you walk it slowly
outside, you let it pee in thegrass, you turn around, you put
it back in the cage.
No jumping on the sofa, nojumping on the bed, no running
around the house with anybodyelse.
I mean it's a nightmare.
(32:50):
It's a lifestyle change, yeah.
And to the fact that you're nowgoing to have to sedate your
pet because you're going to haveto stick it in a box yeah,
because you don't want it topossibly die of a stroke
instantly, yeah.
So it's quite an ordeal foryour family, for your pet, and
then, you know, add the expenseand the long-term damage.
I mean, it's just ridiculous toput yourself through that.
Dr. Zoo (33:10):
Definitely prevention is, let's say, the ounce of
prevention is worth a pound ofgear.
In this case for sure.
Amy Castro (33:20):
So I would hope that by now anybody that's listening
to this episode or watchingthis episode is fully convinced
and has no doubt whatsoever thatthis is the way to go with
their pet Just prevent theheartworms, give the monthly or
the annual shot, whatever itmight be.
So if there's just one kind offinal thought, or if you've got
a couple of final thoughts thatyou want to leave people with
about heartworm prevention,because it is heartworm
prevention month or at leastheartworm awareness month,
(33:42):
Heartworm awareness yes.
Dr. Zoo (33:44):
It's both.
It is both, and the reason isbecause this is where we're
really getting a mosquitooutbreak, so this is the time
where they're going to be morelikely to catch it, although, as
you know, in Texas it's likeall year round.
I can tell you for sure, inJanuary I was bitten by a
mosquito.
Amy Castro (33:58):
Oh yeah, I'm already seeing them already and it's
funny that we're recording thistoday, because when we're done,
in about an hour or so, I've gota mosquito prevention person
coming.
I don't want to kill all thebugs in the yard, right, but the
mosquitoes were committing thison the air.
The mosquitoes were so bad lastyear I used to wear my bee suit
when I would go out to mow,because they eat me up.
I must put up a lot.
Dr. Zoo (34:19):
You're right, they're heat seekers Exactly.
Well, if you're mowing andgetting all sweaty?
Yeah, no doubt about that.
Yeah, I mean I think the keytakeaways we talked about, but
I'm just going to summarize them.
It's not that expensive,there's ways to get it and the
appropriate ways.
It includes testing every year,as well as at least getting one
of the generic formats, andthat prevention is definitely
(34:41):
better than having to treat.
So an ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure.
Yeah and yeah, and we want yourpet to live a long, healthy
life.
That cats and dogs are prone tothat.
And for cats and seals andother animals, big cats too,
yeah, tigers and lion they keep.
You got a tiger.
If you work in a zoo, you'reprobably probably using
heartworm prevention.
(35:01):
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
Yeah, I had a consult with afew at the Houston Zoo about
that and they're like oh, yeah,it's prevention everywhere,
cause we were talking aboutanother case.
But anyway, that being said,that was my first question.
They're like, oh, yeah, that'severy month, for sure.
Yeah, they're on it For sure.
Yeah, they're on it.
They probably use ProHart.
Now, the shot that lasts Mightbe easier for a tiger or a lion.
(35:21):
Probably so.
Yeah, probably so.
Can't just put it in peanutbutter?
There goes my arm.
Amy Castro (35:26):
There, you go.
Dr. Zoo (35:27):
I could only imagine.
Amy Castro (35:29):
Well, like I said, I hope that people are fully
convinced at this point.
I will be admitting right nowwhich I hate to admit I've never
given my cats because I've kindof done that it's indoors thing
.
But I think now I'm going tochange that whole philosophy.
Dr. Zoo (35:42):
And there's a generic version.
Especially when you do rescue,I know, the cats multiply in
your life.
So yeah, absolutely yeah,there's generics now of those
things.
Yeah, definitely recommend it.
Yeah, okay, you'll hit all thebenefits with it.
Amy Castro (35:55):
Well, dr Zhu, once again I appreciate you being
here on the show to share this.
It's always fun to be here.
I know we have a good time, butI think it's just such an
important message and when I sawit pop up on my calendar that
it's, like I said, heartwormAwareness Month, I thought who
can I get to come on the show atthe last minute to come help?
Dr. Zoo (36:12):
me Anytime, anytime, especially for heartworm disease
.
Amy Castro (36:14):
That's a big one, yeah, we see it a lot around
here well, I appreciate it allright thank you, yeah, thanks
for listening to another episodeof muddy paws and hair balls
and we will see you next week.
Thanks for listening to muddypaws and hair balls.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
(36:36):
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
I've heard all the excuses he never missed a dose,
we never see mosquitoes, Ithought my dog was safe because
he's an indoor dog.
And then comes the heartbreak Apet who didn't have to die but
did.
In this episode of Muddy Pawsand Hairballs, my friend Dr Zhu
is back with the truth aboutheartworm disease.
(00:22):
If you think heartwormprevention can wait, you need to
listen to this episode, becausewhen it comes to heartworm, the
biggest mistake you can make isthinking it's not going to
happen to your pet.
Hey there and welcome to MuddyPaws and Hairballs, the podcast
that tells the truth about lifewith pets.
I'm your host, Amy Castro, andjoining me today once again is
(00:43):
my good friend, Dr Zhu, theowner and head veterinarian at
the Family Animal Hospital ofFriendswood and the one who
takes care of my pets and allthe animals at Starlight
Outreach and Rescue.
We've worked together for yearson lots of things trying to
save pets, but the mostfrustrating has been trying to
help pets with heartworm disease, and while we have lots of wins
(01:04):
, we've also had losses, somethat really still hit hard.
So today we're going to breakdown what heartworm disease
really is, how it spreads and,most importantly, how you can
stop it before it's too late.
Let's get into it.
So, Dr Zhu, you and I have seenthe tragic outcomes and also
good outcomes, but what are someof the ones that really stand
(01:27):
out to you, where you say, gosh,this was just so preventable,
yeah, yeah.
Dr. Zoo (01:30):
Well, I can tell you I have a personal pet story or an
owned pet story and then arescue pet story.
Okay and so, and because you doexpect these things with rescue
dogs, you know that no one'scared for them, they've been on
the street.
But a client of mine that hadbrought in the cutest little
(01:51):
German Shepherd puppy and we gotthrough all the puppy shots and
we went through some teenagerthings.
You know that pet had done sogood and then they moved and
life got busy or whateverhappens that they decided after
some time or maybe forgot aftersome time, to continue that pet
that we started on heartwormprevention very young they had
stopped their heartwormprevention.
So here we are.
The pet is only two and a half,still a very young dog.
(02:11):
But they come back into ourclinic lives and they're like oh
hi, we haven't seen you a longtime.
Oh yes, we haven't been onprevention for a while.
We do heartworm testing, uh,which is, in this case it was
included on our blood work thatwe also send out and we found
that he had heartworms at ayoung age, at two years old, and
it only takes six months forthat to show up, and we'll talk
(02:32):
about that later on for sure.
But along with that blood workit came back that his kidneys
were failing as well, and at atwo-year-old.
That's not a common thing wesee for kidneys to be failing at
two years.
We see that a lot in seniorpets.
So doing some research intowhat was going on, we found out
the heartworms were connected tothis.
(02:52):
So heartworms when you haveboth male and female they can
create baby worms we callmicrophallaria, and they're
literally just floating aroundthe bloodstream, these little
stringy foreign items, and thekidneys are a little net, and so
they get stuck in the kidneys.
And this is why, at such ayoung age, he ended up with
kidney failure and unfortunatelywe ended up having to let him
(03:14):
go at a very young age as well,and so that was one story that
really hurt my heart.
I'm a German Shepherd's lover asfar as dogs go.
I have three of my own, and tosee his little young life cut
off so early definitely was asad one.
And then, more recent, on oneof my rescue cases, a little
terrier guy named Cole.
He and his little friend havebeen running the streets for a
(03:37):
while and they were both youngdogs, probably each less than
three we say probably becausewe're guessing at their rescue
and their age and at the first,at the rescue, he did so well
and they fed him and they gothim nice and strong and we were
getting ready to do heartwormtreatment on him.
But one particular day she, therescue or the foster lady,
knows he was not doing well andbrought him in.
His gums were super pale and wefound that the heartworms that
(04:02):
usually live in the vesselsaround the heart had actually
gotten sucked right into theheart and he had a stage of the
disease called Cable syndrome.
And Cable syndrome.
There's only really one verygood cure for it, and it's an
emergency cardiac surgery wherethey, just like in people, will
put in a catheter all the waydown through the veins and into
the heart and pull those wormsout During that procedure.
(04:23):
If any one single of thoseworms breaks, the dog can have
an anaphylactic reaction and dieright in the middle of that
procedure.
So it's not one that a lot ofpeople want to even take a risk
of putting their pet through.
And then in this case, with therescue, of course my finances
are an issue, and so it was justsomething we couldn't do, and
so we had a euthanized call forthat reason as well.
So cable syndrome, kidneydisease there's a lot of
(04:45):
sequelae that can happen, thatcan cause animals to die from
heartworms, not always just aheart issue, for example, yeah.
Yeah, so those are some sadcases.
You know, of course, with cullthey rescued as quick as they
could.
But if the education had beenthere, maybe for the previous
owners, maybe they would haveeven kept their pet and maybe
had them on prevention.
That wouldn't have been a deal.
Or maybe, you know, with ourGerman Shepherd's friend Thor,
(05:08):
you know, I just thought we hadeducated but maybe, you know, we
didn't impress it enough.
So now it does stimulate me andmy team to make sure.
You know, hey, you know, thismonthly prevention you can get
it as low as you know, $5 or $6a month is worth it.
You know, because you don'twant your dog that you're
expecting to have.
You know, 10 years or more todie at two.
Amy Castro (05:31):
Yeah Well, and like you mentioned the, you know the
issue that people they start offmaybe on track and then they
get off track or they forget, orthey forget to renew it or
whatever, and then everybody hasa reason for it.
But can you you that I don'tknow if you said this in the
episode or if you said it before, but that they don't really
live in the heart, that theylive in the vessels outside the
(05:52):
heart?
How do they get?
Dr. Zoo (05:52):
there?
That's a good question.
So they have this veryelaborate life cycle with seven
stages.
I mean quite a few stages oflife.
But we'll start with where theyfirst get in contact with it,
and that's a mosquito bite.
Okay, so only mosquitoes aretransmitting, only mosquitoes
can transmit them.
And one thing, and we'll get toit later.
(06:13):
As we describe this, you know,sometimes people will say I
rescued a heartworm positive dog.
Is a mosquito going to bite himand then give it to the other
dog?
That's not how that works.
Actually, the worm has to livein the mosquito from a positive
dog and then it multiplies overor changes its larval stages,
that is, over several weeksbefore it actually will become
(06:34):
infectious.
And most of the time, if amosquito is, let's say, in your
home or whatever, it's going todie before then.
Or let's say, a mosquito bitessomeone, a dog from the, the
outside world, it's going to gosomewhere else, it's not going
to usually come back and bitethis other pet.
That being said, it's not likean instantaneous bites one and
then injects yeah, like avampire, like a vampire.
Suddenly you're a vampire, soyeah.
(06:56):
So once that mosquito gives acertain larval stage and
actually that little baby wormgets injected into the animal's
muscle or skin tissue, it takessix months of it migrating
throughout the body before itactually becomes an adult worm
that lives in the heart oraround the heart.
The pulmonary vessels, arteriesand veins around the heart is a
(07:16):
perfect place for these wormsto get their food, which is your
pet's blood for one.
And then of course, what's inthe serum in that blood can be
things like oxygen and carryingthat sort of thing, as well as
proteins, and it absorbs allthose things.
And if it meets its boyfriendor girlfriend or husband or wife
in there, then, if you have onemale and one female, they'll
actually start making anotherkind of larval stage called the
(07:39):
microphallaria.
Those become a certain stage.
That's when a mosquito canpotentially bite a dog and pick
it up from a dog, and then lateron it'll go through several
stages inside the mosquito weekslater.
Amy Castro (07:51):
But the whole time that's happening you're
oblivious, so you're kind of atrisk all the time.
Dr. Zoo (07:55):
Yeah, you see no signs of it.
And I think we do hear lots ofpeople say he doesn't go out
much or he will get to thatwe're going to get to the BS
reasons people have.
Of course, we just always wantto put ourselves in a most
positive situation or positivelight and we make an excuse
essentially.
But if we're really logicalabout it, we'll figure out that
it's not the way to bury yourhead in the sand.
(08:17):
It's better to be aware and gookay, look, I can skip Starbucks
this month and I can definitelyhave my heartworm permission
instead.
Yeah, exactly, so, yeah, sothey live.
Adult worms live mostly in thevessels near and around the
heart.
The microflaria or the otherlarval stages are migrating
through the muscle tissues andagain, they can migrate through
(08:37):
the kidneys.
They can migrate into the liver.
Anywhere your blood flows, themicroflaria will flow through
too, so we will see sometimeschanges in those other organs as
well.
So it can cause multi-organfailures.
Amy Castro (08:52):
So what are usually the first?
I mean other than a positivetest.
Let's say, somebody didn't testtheir pet.
What's the progression of thedisease in the animal?
That's a good question.
Dr. Zoo (09:01):
It starts off with just like this little hacking cough
Sounds like they're clearingtheir throat, you know, and we
might just say, oh, he drank hiswater too fast or he was
pulling on the leash, or hisallergy season, or, you know,
maybe he got a little kennelcough or something like that.
But then it's just persistent,maybe months or years.
It might just be this littleannoyed little cough going on.
(09:23):
Really it can go on.
It can go on that long and thenyou know, depending on how many
worms they get, like, forexample, a cat can get homes too
.
Amy Castro (09:31):
Yeah, I want to.
Dr. Zoo (09:32):
I want to definitely get on that they might only get,
you know, two, three, fourheartworms, but that their
little tiny body, that's a hugeload for them.
A big dog might get two, threeor four heartworms and and then,
let's say, they move somewherewhere there's not many
mosquitoes.
They stop getting new worms,let's say, but they'll still
have almost like an allergicreaction to it.
That's what causes that cough.
(09:54):
The lung tissue itself getsswollen and inflamed and angry
and that's where we get thislittle irritated cough.
But dogs can easily have 50,100 heartworms and clog up those
vessels and then pieces of lungcan be dying.
We've seen it all, that's forsure.
So, yeah, so at first it's alittle insidious cough and then
(10:14):
the most common thing after thatis true heart failure, because
the blood circulation reallydepends on how much pressure is
in that circulatory system.
Your heart is a pump and ofcourse all the pipes going in
and out of that need to be cleanand clear, just like our sewage
system.
If it gets clogged it's goingto back up.
That can happen.
If it backs up in the wrongplace, you can get fluid in your
lungs.
If your blood backs up in thewrong place, you can get fluid
(10:37):
in your abdomen or reallybecause your liver starts to
leak fluid out of it.
Again.
We talked about how the wormscan get in there.
And so sometimes people willcome in with their dogs at the
later stages in true heartfailure congestive heart failure
we call that.
Or then sometimes we see theseother weird sequelae not weird,
but you know unfortunately sideeffects of the micro filaria,
like the kidney disease or theheart cable syndrome, where it's
(11:00):
very sudden instead of slow andcity it's changed, but it can
be dormant looking or you maynot pick up on it for years.
A dog has heartworms and theearliest that a test can show up
is six months.
And again we talked about howwhen the mosquito first bites it
takes six months for that wormto go through.
Let's say it bites and somehowand this has happened it only
(11:22):
has male worms.
The test tests for a certainfemale hormone.
So I've had dogs test negativeand we're still suspicious of
heartworms.
They have maybe signs of thiscough or heartworm disease.
Or maybe we take an x-ray andwe see the heart is misshapen.
That can indicate heartwormdisease.
I put the test is coming upnegative.
Sometimes the reason is becauseit's just male worms.
Amy Castro (11:44):
And will it come up?
Because one of the things thatI hear people you know make
excuses or they don't do theannual test.
Oh, do I really need to do thisevery year?
Like, to me, that is a goodreason to do it every year,
Because would it catch?
Dr. Zoo (11:57):
it the next year, eventually, especially if we
don't for some reason put themon heart prevention, they might
catch it the next year.
Or maybe one of the babies thatwas still developing and hadn't
fully developed yet was female.
Then it would show up.
There are other ways that wecan find it, like an echo or a
heart ultrasound in certaincases.
And then there's anotherinteresting phenomenon where a
(12:18):
dog can be negative becausetheir own body has created
antibodies to try to combat theworms, although unfortunately it
doesn't do much for getting ridof the worms.
But what it ends up doing is itgets in the way of the test and
it can block the test, and soyou can get a negative from that
.
And there's another specialtest you can send out to the
laboratory to confirm whether ornot you know man, it quacks
(12:39):
like a duck.
It sounds like a duck, it'sprobably heartworms, but for
some reason my in-house testisn't working.
Let send it off to thelaboratory.
Another reason why it'simportant about testing every
year is we do have resistantheartworms coming up, that
they're resistant to heartwormprevention.
It seems to be the way with allkinds of diseases, all the
fungal.
Everything is getting tougherto combat and the world is
(13:00):
trying to kill us.
Amy Castro (13:01):
Yeah apparently it's a dangerous world out there
people, it's a dangerous world.
Dr. Zoo (13:05):
And so, yeah, especially from the Mississippi
Valley, in that area we've beenseeing this population of
heartworms that is resistant tosome of our good, old-fashioned
heart preventions.
Heartguard, a very popularbrand, has been around a long
time.
We're seeing some resistance tothat particular ingredient from
those areas.
And with the way our world, wetravel, we travel with our pets,
(13:25):
yeah, we're spreading it aroundeventually and rescue.
You know, we do send animalsall over the place nowadays.
You yourself have traveled tothe East Coast with one before.
Amy Castro (13:34):
Well, I remember growing up on the East Coast and
when I worked at a vet, allthrough high school and college,
it was like heartwormprevention was given seasonally
yeah, like you started in thespring and you stopped in the
fall and winter.
And it's like I remember Idon't know if it was you that
said this I think it was youthat told me it's not a matter
of if your dog is going to getinfected with it, it's just a
(13:58):
matter of when, because,especially here in Texas and
depending upon where you arelistening in the world, you know
there's probably a gazillionmosquitoes floating around with
it, and so your dog is going toget injected with it basically,
absolutely.
Dr. Zoo (14:11):
It's spreading around the world and it's a very safe
and easy preventative, so I dothink it's worth covering them
for that risk Plus.
You're going to cover otherthings which we'll probably get
to later on too with aprevention.
An interesting thing we learnedabout in vet school was a
population of seals out ofCalifornia were bringing
heartworms back and forth fromAlaska to California Because
(14:33):
being in California, they'rekind of iffy about heartworm
prevention.
Amy Castro (14:36):
Because it's so dry.
Dr. Zoo (14:37):
It's so dry, but there are certain pockets where they
could get exposed, yeah, and Ididn't realize.
Amy Castro (14:44):
I mean, obviously the whole thing about cats
getting it is relatively recent.
Dr. Zoo (14:48):
I mean that wasn't a thing back in my day, we didn't
push prevention, honestly,because I think we had a hard
time proving it to owners oranybody else whether their cat
had gotten it.
And still, testing cats forharm is very hard.
Yeah so it's not the sametesting process.
It's a similar kind of test butbecause they might only have
one, two or three, they're morelikely to have a single sex
(15:10):
infection, like just an all-maleinfection.
So false negative we get a lotof false negatives.
Yeah, so, honestly, most of thetime when we actually find out a
cat has heartworms, they'vealready started to have heart
disease and that's awful.
And so then we're doing it,working backwards, like okay,
now we have heart disease, couldit be because of a heartworm,
and let's find out.
And then maybe we're doingechoes or ultrasounds.
If the heartworm test is up,then come up with a special
(15:32):
heartworm test that we send tothe lab.
They do this Basically theyalter the temperature and gene
nature of the proteins and sothe test is a little more
sensitive when we send it to thelab.
Yeah, so for cats, honestly,without a on heartworm
prevention 24-7 or basicallyevery month of the rest of their
(15:52):
lives, just as a precautionarything.
And, as you know, things likerevolution that's a very popular
brand have flea prevention,tick prevention, ear mite
prevention and um and heartwormprevention and intestinal worm
prevention.
You know which cats?
You know I'm gonna eat yourdirt out of your plant pot.
No, I don't go outside, but I'mgonna eat that so they can pick
up parasites through there.
So you're kind of coveringeverything with revolution.
Amy Castro (16:11):
And that's good to know.
So I want to talk about theexpense, because that's one of
the myths.
But all of these things thatyou're talking about, once an
animal has it, that's a lot,that you're putting your animal
through A lot of procedures, alot of testing Don't always work
out.
Yeah, a lot of testing Don'talways work out.
Yeah, a lot of money, and itcould be prevented with a
monthly pill or a every sixmonths shot or a topical or
(16:33):
something.
Dr. Zoo (16:34):
Oh yeah, dogs, too won't take pills sometimes, so
they have topicals for dogs,yeah.
And so, yeah, you can do, andwe even have a shot that lasts
six months or a year, dependingon what life is conducive to you
know, or because, let's say,you're a mom with three kids,
are you going to remember togive that monthly pill, or chew
every month, maybe?
Amy Castro (16:52):
not Barely remember to pick up your kids from school
, for God's sake.
Dr. Zoo (16:55):
Oh yeah, I have children and offspring, yeah, so
maybe consider the shot or askyour doctor for that sort of
thing.
So there's a lot of ways towork around what we call
compliance.
You know the study of whetheror not people are actually able
to give medicines that arerecommended or are required for
keeping their pet healthy.
So the good thing is, if youwant to be competitive or
(17:17):
relevant in business, you haveto come up with a new method
that's better to get people tobe able to do that in a
confusing way.
So the shot, the topicals, thechews, the pills yeah, there's
lots of ways to do it.
Amy Castro (17:28):
It's kind of like me with flossing my teeth.
I'm terrible about flossing myteeth, but I'll use those little
flossy sticks.
Dr. Zoo (17:33):
They're so much easier, they're so much easier, I agree
, and you can keep them in yourpurse and you can do it right
after you eat.
Yeah, exactly.
Amy Castro (17:41):
So I'm on the same boat as you.
Convenience is definitely goodthrough, but let's I mean you
talked about those two animalsthat died and obviously you were
able to humanely euthanize butlet's you know if somebody needs
any more motivation and we'regoing to do some myth busting,
but tell us what the death islike.
It's because I know it's badand it's really bad suffering.
Dr. Zoo (17:59):
Yes, congestive heart failure.
I hate to use this analogy butit's probably the truest thing
and I do use it when I need toexplain to owners.
You're drowning in your ownfluids.
Essentially, if your bloodcan't flow because the worms are
blocking your blood flow, thatblood, or the little sort of the
filtrate of it, called plasma,will build up in your lungs in
(18:21):
particular, and your lungs arelike a sponge and they just want
to hold on to fluid.
So if you just if anyone hasexperienced like pneumonias or
COVID, of course, and that sortof thing if you just have 10%,
15%, 20% bad lung, that feelsawful.
But when all your lung isaffected with fluid I mean, if
it was a person, they wouldprobably think I would rather
die.
If it's an animal, they don'tknow how to deal with that.
(18:44):
So sometimes we have to step into help them.
Basically, we're allowing ourpet to slowly drown in suffering
, so we don't want an excuse forthat it's terrible, yeah, and
we don't want to hide our headin the sand for that, because
then let's say they do pass orwe put them down.
Then there's years of regretsafter that and that's a whole.
Amy Castro (19:03):
You need to start the psychological therapy
session type of I just did anepisode on grief, psychological
therapy session type of just didan episode on grief, but you
know, but most of this episodeon grief that we did was you did
everything you could and youstill felt like shit.
Yes, well, how about if yourealize it is really your fault?
Yeah, I mean, I hate to saythat I have to be the ugly
person but we all make mistakesand we learn from them.
Dr. Zoo (19:22):
But this is your chance to learn before your pet ever
has to even experience anythinglike this.
Yeah, we don't want that foryour pet for sure.
So let's talk about the myth.
Was that for your pet?
Amy Castro (19:31):
yeah, for sure.
So I went out to the and Istole some of these from the
american heartworm society,which I am wonderful website
yeah, and I'm gonna put thatlink to that website because you
want to know anything aboutheartworms, there's I mean,
they've got infographics and allkinds of information I was
gonna tell you there's a reallyin-depth like if you want to
nerd out on it video, but theymake it very entertaining.
Dr. Zoo (19:51):
It's, of course, it's a cartoon on YouTube that kind of
goes off of AHA's thing as well, so I'll send that to you if
you want to look at it.
Amy Castro (20:00):
Yeah, okay, put that in there.
So some of the myths thatpeople believe, which you know.
So it's not just I'mintentionally neglecting my pet,
but I didn't think it couldhappen, because and I want you
to kind of bust some of thesemyths.
So one of them is, you know,like the example that you gave
it was on prevention I skipped amonth and suddenly my animals
got heartburn.
(20:20):
He's never missed a dose.
Dr. Zoo (20:21):
Yeah, that's a tough one, yeah for sure.
The way these work is that theyreach back for usually 30 days
if you're doing like a pill or achew.
So if you miss a month youdon't get that reach back of
killing whatever was in thesystem that got infected in the
last 30 days.
Also, once the mosquito bitesthis particular larva stage the
(20:43):
heartworm prevention is onlykilled one or two of those, but
then it'll start to change againto the next Marvel stage and
even though it's not in theheart, yet again the heart
reprimand won't be able to killit because it's past the stage
of which we're.
So you've got to kind ofcontinually give.
You have to give itcontinuously at the 30-day mark
if it's that kind of product.
Again, that's why theinjections can be super helpful,
because people do get busy,forget, miss a month or whatever
(21:06):
it might be, and then again thetest takes six months for it to
show up.
So let's say in that one monththat you missed, the mosquito
did bite and inject a heartwormand it got past where you
couldn't treat it with the nextdose.
You won't know for six months,if you even know at the
six-month mark because maybe hisannual vaccine visit to the vet
doesn't fall where that is, ormaybe you don't go that year or
(21:26):
whatever which you should, butthings like that happen, and so
then those worms have a chanceto become multiple and large and
start to block blood flowaround the heart.
Amy Castro (21:35):
Yeah, I know we would never have this excuse in
Texas, but we didn't see anymosquitoes so we didn't think we
needed to.
Dr. Zoo (21:43):
Yeah, I know you have out-of-state listeners Out of
the country.
I've got people all over theworld.
I love that, which, yeah, thatis an excuse.
And the thing is, are youreally on guard, watching for
every mosquito to come throughyour house or your window?
No, of course not.
Watching for every mosquito tocome through your house or your
window?
No, of course not.
My most dreaded of all, and it'sprobably one of your myth
buster things the indoor onlyone.
(22:04):
Oh yeah, that was my next one,that's the best next one,
because in an exam room often Ihave to tell the story to people
.
I'm like, oh, he's indoor onlyall the time.
Okay, well, have you ever laidin bed and heard that buzzing
noise?
That mosquito comes and you'reslapping your face and you're
slapping everything trying tokill the mosquito in the middle
of the night.
It happens to your dog and cattoo, and it happens more to your
(22:25):
dog and cat because they have alittle heat-seeking device and
they're going to find thembefore they're going to find you
.
Good target.
So, yeah, they're the perfecttarget.
And usually when the pet issleeping they're very, very
still, so a mosquito can biteright through that unhaired area
around the nose and on the ear.
It's the easiest target,although they can find their way
through skin, because that'show they survived millennia?
Amy Castro (22:45):
Yeah, exactly, since dinosaur ages.
They lasted longer than thediners, of course, right, yes,
yeah, so that's again bad excuse.
We live in the city, we don'tlive in the country.
There's mosquitoes in my city,anywhere.
Dr. Zoo (22:55):
City, I mean anywhere standing water can be, obviously
, is where mosquitoes canmultiply.
You know this, I'm sure, in theand there's luckily.
You know the cities know thistoo, so that a lot of times the
the cities will offer differentkind of mosquito control
programs but no one's coming toyour house to do mosquito
control programs.
So you leave that one plant potout, because you potted your
other plants and you left it out, the rain collected.
(23:15):
You're gonna have a nice littlebatch of mosquitoes come up
yeah very shortly, within awithin a couple of weeks.
Amy Castro (23:19):
Yeah, and it only takes one.
Dr. Zoo (23:20):
Yes, it does.
Amy Castro (23:21):
What about the skipping in the winter?
I mean, that's a lot.
A lot of people think they canstill do that.
Dr. Zoo (23:26):
Definitely not in our area and again, because of the
way that animals have traveledas much as we have traveled
around the world, there's quitea risk.
So if it's my pet, I woulddefinitely keep them all year
round.
You may find that certainveterinarians in certain pockets
may advise that, but definitelytalk to your vet about that,
because they know what theprevalence is in their area.
(23:46):
But even Alaska, for example,they get tons of mosquitoes in
the summertime and so they Imean they're the coldest ones
that I could think of out therethey're going to need heart
permission.
Amy Castro (23:56):
Yeah, Okay, what about natural?
There's some people thatbelieve they've got you know,
someone told them on Facebook orthey read it.
You saw a TikTok video wheresomebody said spray your dog
with you know, whatever.
Yeah.
Dr. Zoo (24:08):
Citronella, I've seen it all, you know.
Yeah, I've seen it all.
Unfortunately, what happenswith natural things in
particular is that they're verylow cost or expense, and I think
there's an attraction, kind ofsubconscious, to that, and then
also because they're not makinghuge profits with some natural
things.
I don't think they.
They don't do studies on thosethings really very well, and so
(24:29):
a lot of it's anecdotal.
Or you know my grandma in Italy, you know.
Amy Castro (24:33):
Or just because your dog didn't get heart, because
I've had people tell us that tooin rescue.
They're like we will deny youfor adoption if your animal's
not on prevention, and it's like, well, I'll go get it tested.
Oh, it was negative, so it'slike no, you just.
It's kind of like a russianroulette.
Exactly, you're playing russianroulette.
It's just like saying I'venever worn my seat belt and I'm
not dead yet correct.
But yet all the people that weknow exactly.
Dr. Zoo (24:55):
Yes, unfortunately, that's not logic.
It's not.
It's just really an excuse tosay, oh, this is okay and I
don't want to change.
But the reality is that, yes,those natural ones don't work or
they're not proven to work.
And why take that risk whenthere's very safe prescription
type?
Amy Castro (25:11):
options for that sort of thing.
You mentioned that people willuse those because it's cheaper.
I mean, it's cheaper for me tobuy a little thing of cinnamon
than a heartworm thing.
Well, you know.
Or people that will sayheartworm prevention is too
expensive.
Let's talk about the cost ofprevention versus treatment and
we already talked about thesuffering cost for your pain.
Dr. Zoo (25:32):
But let's you can't put a dollar on that.
Amy Castro (25:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Dr. Zoo (25:35):
But yeah, prevention has gotten, just like all other
products that are out in theworld.
Medication-wise, there's a lotof generics out there.
The studies were done on theingredients in those generics,
so we know that they're going towork.
Before coming on, I just wenton to all the popular medical
websites where you can orderyour prescriptions and for a
small dog like less than 25pounds, you can easily order
(25:57):
something in the $28 to $30range for six months of
protection.
So that's $5 or $6 a pill.
Yeah, that's no excuse rightthere.
And I spent more at Starbucks onmy white chocolate, mocha 20,
whatever.
You can't get anything out andabout.
Do I need those empty caloriesversus saving my pet's life?
Probably not.
Do I need those empty caloriesversus saving my pet's life?
(26:20):
Probably not.
I probably should just go aheadand get the generic heartworm
prevention, which actually theone that I looked at did include
intestinal worm prevention aswell.
So two for one.
And then I looked up one again,a generic one.
I just looked for the lowestcost that I knew would be
effective for a 50 to 100-pounddog and it was like $6 or $7 per
month per pill.
So really very affordable.
(26:42):
Don't go to mcdonald's thatmonth one time and you'll be
fine and probably you'll saveyour own life.
Yeah, save your pen.
And so I mean there cost was.
There's not an excuse.
There really isn't, and there'sso many resources out for
people who may be like going tothe vet in the heartworm test
and exam.
Maybe that adds to cost, and Irealize that that's important.
You have to calculate thosethings and there's, of course,
(27:03):
I'm a vet, so I'm going topromote that you should go to
your vet and get a good,complete exam for other reasons,
but if it's like not doing itat all, then there are plenty of
outreach programs.
We have here Apparently AnimalResource Center, we have the
Animal Alliance, have snap andsnip and emancipate.
There's so many places whereyou can get a heartworm test and
(27:24):
a prescription for heartwormmedicines for very low cost.
Amy Castro (27:27):
Yeah, it doesn't have to turn into a full-blown.
It doesn't have to, yeah yeah,for me.
Dr. Zoo (27:31):
I love animals.
I want to advocate for them.
If you're not coming to me as avet and you need to go to a
resource center, I'd rather yougo there because I want your pet
to have the protection that itneeds and it doesn't take much
really cost-wise.
It might take some of your timebut again it's worth it.
If you want your pet to bearound for the long expectancy
of its life, yeah, becausecartons will definitely cut that
(27:51):
short, yeah.
Amy Castro (27:52):
So what about people that say I'm not going to
bother with the expense now,I'll just treat it when they get
it If they get it, yeah.
Dr. Zoo (28:04):
Yeah, talk about how much that, not even just the
monetary cost, although thatstimulates our decisions a lot,
so we have to talk about that.
Amy Castro (28:07):
Let's talk about that, but then also talk about
the process, cause I thinkpeople realize it's not just I
go in, I get a pill and it fixesit.
Dr. Zoo (28:13):
That's right, exactly it is a two to six month
treatment, depending on whichway you go with that.
And as long as those worms arein there they're creating damage
.
You know A we just talked abouthow it takes at least six
months to discover it's eventhere.
So they're in there, damagingthe pet for six months.
Then let's say if you even gotit tested right away and decided
to treat it right away, thenyou're adding two to six more
(28:35):
months of those worms beingpresent and damaging your pet's
heart, kidneys, kidneys, liver,all those things.
And then let's say and this hashappened many a time I've
treated a dog for heartworms,maybe they were age three, four.
We got rid of the heartworms,they learned their lesson, they
kept their pet on heartwormprevention.
But at age seven, eight, nine,their dog goes into heart
failure anyways, because thedamage has been done.
(28:57):
Damage has been done and thatis the saddest, because they
have their regrets.
They have already decided.
I'm never going to make thatmistake again, but it will
sometimes those consequencesstill follow us.
Yeah, yeah, we don't want thatwith.
Definitely prevention is muchbetter cost wise.
Easily a thousand to twothousand or so here in our area,
but certainly if you're up onthe east coast I've seen five
(29:17):
thousand dollars, six thousanddollar estimates.
Yeah, if it's a very seriouscase where they're already in
heart failure and they're goingto need things like heart
medicines the rest of theirlives or follow-ups with a
cardiologist or a specialist, Imean that can go way higher than
$5,000 or $6,000.
So cost-wise definitely not theway to go versus your $5 or $6
or $7 a month minimum.
If you get the fancier stuffthat has flea and tick
(29:41):
prevention and air miteprevention in it, great.
I mean, yes, you're going topay more, but fleas, ticks and
those sort of things bring germsto people too that can be
deadly from cat's friend's fever, lyme disease, absolutely.
So, yeah, there's a lot ofbenefits for people too.
When your pet is on heartwormprevention, usually it's going
to be all encompassing hookwormsand roundworms.
Actually, the intestinalparasites are also contagious to
(30:03):
people, unfortunately.
Yeah, so again, double benefit,you know, for you, for your pet
, you know, if you got kids, Imean, definitely want to
consider something like that.
Yeah, um, and so cost-wisedefinitely worth it to prevent
versus treat.
Amy Castro (30:16):
Yeah, yeah and then the process of treatment.
Like I know, we've gone throughthat several times with rescue
pets, I I don't think peoplerealize that you know well, why
don't you just go ahead and gothrough the?
You know, the shot, the walking, the cage breast?
I mean, it's a process.
Dr. Zoo (30:31):
Yeah, so once you decide, okay, I'm going to treat
this pet.
First, they have to be on anantibiotic for 30 days that
weakens the worms.
Then after that we decide atthat 30-day mark we're going to
run some tests Like let's makesure your heart is fine, make
sure your kidneys, your liverare fine, before we basically
give a worm killing injectioninto the lower back muscles,
absorbed into the pet, andthat's done at day 60.
(30:54):
So it's 30 days of antibiotics,30 days of making sure the
animal does well after theantibiotic and doing those
important tests.
First injection happens at the60-day mark.
30 days from that we'll do asecond and third injection, back
to back, so you'll have a totalof three injections.
Every time we do theseinjections it's two to four
weeks of very strict cage restbecause you're killing these
(31:15):
worms, they're loosening fromthese vessels and they could
likely get stuck in otherimportant places, not to mention
the lung, but also the heart,the kidneys and liver.
We've talked about that butbasically when they're dead
they're more likely to befloating around and getting
stuck.
So if your pet gets overexcitedand who's not going to get
excited when mom comes home fromwork?
You know that sort of thing.
They can literally dislodge apiece of worm and have a stroke
(31:37):
and die.
They can have basically a heartattack.
You could say they coulddefinitely clog up the liver or
kidney, something like that.
So we offer sedatives.
You're giving your pets pillstwo to three times a day, not
only just to keep them calm butto reduce the side effects of
those pieces of dead wormfloating around in the system.
And then you have to still waitsix months from that to know if
the treatment was successful.
(31:58):
You have to still wait sixmonths from that to know if the
treatment was successful.
You have to test them sixmonths later.
Now the good news is that thetreatments are pretty effective.
Yes, there might be some sideeffects.
Definitely better than the wayold school we use arsenic-based
products.
We don't do that anymore, butjust the fact that the worms are
(32:20):
dying and chunks of worms arefloating around the body is very
risky still too.
So yeah, especially because wedo discover this in young dogs
that are two or three years old.
They want to bounce off thewall and you have to no, no, no,
stay calm.
Two to four weeks, get a crateand a kennel.
Amy Castro (32:28):
And yeah, just just so everybody hears that I mean
we're talking about.
Your dog is in that crate like24 seven.
You open the crate, you put aleash on, you walk it slowly
outside, you let it pee in thegrass, you turn around, you put
it back in the cage.
No jumping on the sofa, nojumping on the bed, no running
around the house with anybodyelse.
I mean it's a nightmare.
(32:50):
It's a lifestyle change, yeah.
And to the fact that you're nowgoing to have to sedate your
pet because you're going to haveto stick it in a box yeah,
because you don't want it topossibly die of a stroke
instantly, yeah.
So it's quite an ordeal foryour family, for your pet, and
then, you know, add the expenseand the long-term damage.
I mean, it's just ridiculous toput yourself through that.
Dr. Zoo (33:10):
Definitely prevention is, let's say, the ounce of
prevention is worth a pound ofgear.
In this case for sure.
Amy Castro (33:20):
So I would hope that by now anybody that's listening
to this episode or watchingthis episode is fully convinced
and has no doubt whatsoever thatthis is the way to go with
their pet Just prevent theheartworms, give the monthly or
the annual shot, whatever itmight be.
So if there's just one kind offinal thought, or if you've got
a couple of final thoughts thatyou want to leave people with
about heartworm prevention,because it is heartworm
prevention month or at leastheartworm awareness month,
(33:42):
Heartworm awareness yes.
Dr. Zoo (33:44):
It's both.
It is both, and the reason isbecause this is where we're
really getting a mosquitooutbreak, so this is the time
where they're going to be morelikely to catch it, although, as
you know, in Texas it's likeall year round.
I can tell you for sure, inJanuary I was bitten by a
mosquito.
Amy Castro (33:58):
Oh yeah, I'm already seeing them already and it's
funny that we're recording thistoday, because when we're done,
in about an hour or so, I've gota mosquito prevention person
coming.
I don't want to kill all thebugs in the yard, right, but the
mosquitoes were committing thison the air.
The mosquitoes were so bad lastyear I used to wear my bee suit
when I would go out to mow,because they eat me up.
I must put up a lot.
Dr. Zoo (34:19):
You're right, they're heat seekers Exactly.
Well, if you're mowing andgetting all sweaty?
Yeah, no doubt about that.
Yeah, I mean I think the keytakeaways we talked about, but
I'm just going to summarize them.
It's not that expensive,there's ways to get it and the
appropriate ways.
It includes testing every year,as well as at least getting one
of the generic formats, andthat prevention is definitely
(34:41):
better than having to treat.
So an ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure.
Yeah and yeah, and we want yourpet to live a long, healthy
life.
That cats and dogs are prone tothat.
And for cats and seals andother animals, big cats too,
yeah, tigers and lion they keep.
You got a tiger.
If you work in a zoo, you'reprobably probably using
heartworm prevention.
(35:01):
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
Yeah, I had a consult with afew at the Houston Zoo about
that and they're like oh, yeah,it's prevention everywhere,
cause we were talking aboutanother case.
But anyway, that being said,that was my first question.
They're like, oh, yeah, that'severy month, for sure.
Yeah, they're on it For sure.
Yeah, they're on it.
They probably use ProHart.
Now, the shot that lasts Mightbe easier for a tiger or a lion.
(35:21):
Probably so.
Yeah, probably so.
Can't just put it in peanutbutter?
There goes my arm.
Amy Castro (35:26):
There, you go.
Dr. Zoo (35:27):
I could only imagine.
Amy Castro (35:29):
Well, like I said, I hope that people are fully
convinced at this point.
I will be admitting right nowwhich I hate to admit I've never
given my cats because I've kindof done that it's indoors thing
.
But I think now I'm going tochange that whole philosophy.
Dr. Zoo (35:42):
And there's a generic version.
Especially when you do rescue,I know, the cats multiply in
your life.
So yeah, absolutely yeah,there's generics now of those
things.
Yeah, definitely recommend it.
Yeah, okay, you'll hit all thebenefits with it.
Amy Castro (35:55):
Well, dr Zhu, once again I appreciate you being
here on the show to share this.
It's always fun to be here.
I know we have a good time, butI think it's just such an
important message and when I sawit pop up on my calendar that
it's, like I said, heartwormAwareness Month, I thought who
can I get to come on the show atthe last minute to come help?
Dr. Zoo (36:12):
me Anytime, anytime, especially for heartworm disease
.
Amy Castro (36:14):
That's a big one, yeah, we see it a lot around
here well, I appreciate it allright thank you, yeah, thanks
for listening to another episodeof muddy paws and hair balls
and we will see you next week.
Thanks for listening to muddypaws and hair balls.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
(36:36):
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
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