St. Charles Veterinary Clinic is a full-service veterinary medical facility, located in St. Charles, Minnesota. The professional and courteous staff at the St. Charles Veterinary Clinic seeks to provide the best possible medical care, surgical care and dental care for their highly-valued patients. We are committed to promoting responsible pet ownership, preventative health care and health-related educational opportunities for our clients. The St. Charles Veterinary Clinic strives to offer excellence in veterinary care to St. Charles, MN and surrounding areas. Small animal appointment times vary from Monday to Friday. Please take a moment to contact us today, to learn more about our veterinary practice and to find our more information about how the St. Charles Veterinary Clinic can serve the needs of you and your cherished pet.
Sitting in the Starbucks drive-thru thinking about how your pet needs a prescription refill? We’ve all been there. We’re excited to share that we’ve added Vello to the team! Download the app or visit the website for instant access to our staff when you need us.
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
April is National Heartworm Awareness Month
More than a million pets in the United States have heartworms. Let that sink in, because it is one of the most horrible statistics regarding our furry friends. Heartworm affects an animal’s health and quality of life long after the heartworms are gone. These creatures are heartless in what they do. The American Heartworm Society reports that, typically, most pet owners would not knowingly put their pet at risk to become infected with the deadly disease, but millions of these same owners fail to protect their pet from the infestation. For a disease that is easily prevented, there are no excuses.
The American Heartworm Society recommends heartworm testing once a year and using heartworm prevention all year long. Missing just one dose of heartworm prevention can lead to a pet getting infected. If you and your pet are headed to the veterinarian’s office this spring for an annual check-up, be sure you leave the clinic with heartworm prevention!
Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the United States and many other parts of the world. It is caused by foot-long worms (heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs and associated blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure and damage to other organs in the body. Heartworm disease affects dogs, cats and ferrets, but heartworms also live in other mammal species, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, sea lions and—in rare instances—humans. Because wild species such as foxes and coyotes live in proximity to many urban areas, they are considered important carriers of the disease.
The mosquito plays an essential role in the heartworm life cycle. Adult female heartworms living in an infected dog, fox, coyote, or wolf produce microscopic baby worms called microfilaria that circulate in the bloodstream. When a mosquito bites and takes a blood meal from an infected animal, it picks up these baby worms, which develop and mature into “infective stage” larvae over a period of 10 to 14 days.
Then, when the infected mosquito bites another dog, cat, or susceptible wild animal, the infective larvae are deposited onto the surface of the animal's skin and enter the new host through the mosquito’s bite wound. Once inside a new host, it takes approximately 6 months for the larvae to develop into sexually mature adult heartworms. Once mature, heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years in dogs and up to 2 or 3 years in cats. Because of the longevity of these worms, each mosquito season can lead to an increasing number of worms in an infected pet.
Many factors must be considered, even if heartworms do not seem to be a problem in your local area. Your community may have a greater incidence of heartworm disease than you realize—or you may unknowingly travel with your pet to an area where heartworms are more common. Heartworm disease is also spreading to new regions of the country each year. Stray and neglected dogs and certain wildlife such as coyotes, wolves, and foxes can be carriers of heartworms. Mosquitoes blown great distances by the wind and the relocation of infected pets to previously uninfected areas also contribute to the spread of heartworm disease (this happened following Hurricane Katrina when 250,000 pets, many of them infected with heartworms, were “adopted” and shipped throughout the country).
The fact is that heartworm disease has been diagnosed in all 50 states, and risk factors are impossible to predict. Multiple variables, from climate variations to the presence of wildlife carriers, cause rates of infections to vary dramatically from year to year—even within communities. And because infected mosquitoes can come inside, both outdoor and indoor pets are at risk.
For that reason, the American Heartworm Society recommends that you “think 12:” (1) get your pet tested every 12 months for heartworm and (2) give your pet heartworm preventive 12 months a year.
All dogs should be tested annually for heartworm infection, and this can usually be done during a routine visit for preventive care. Following are guidelines on testing and timing:
- Puppies under 7 months of age can be started on heartworm prevention without a heartworm test (it takes at least 6 months for a dog to test positive after it has been infected), but should be tested 6 months after your initial visit, tested again 6 months later and yearly after that to ensure they are heartworm-free.
- Adult dogs over 7 months of age and previously not on a preventive need to be tested prior to starting heartworm prevention. They, too, need to be tested 6 months and 12 months later and annually after that.
- You need to consult your veterinarian, and immediately re-start your dog on monthly preventive—then retest your dog 6 months later. The reason for re-testing is that heartworms must be approximately 7 months old before the infection can be diagnosed.
For more information, visit heartwormsociety.org
