At Alpine Animal Hospital we pride ourselves on providing the most up to date and relevant medical information for your feline and canine family members. With that goal in mind, new studies on the increasing prevalence of heartworm and tick-borne diseases on the Western Slope of Colorado has led us to adjust our recommendations to annual testing and year-round prevention for these potentially fatal and easily preventable diseases.
So how is this information relevant to us here in the Roaring Fork Valley? Even if you and your dog are not leaving the valley, there are plenty of people and organizations bringing dogs here from all over the country, and unfortunately, they may be bringing their parasites with them. Garfield and Pitkin counties do have heartworm cases reported, and we are also home to mosquito species that serve as heartworm carriers. A 2019 study recommends that “veterinarians in Colorado should no longer base heartworm testing and prevention recommendations on only historic heartworm risks and prevalence (Drake 2019).” The authors encourage veterinarians to follow the recommendations laid out by the American Heartworm Society.
https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-019-3473-0
The American Heartworm Society recommends that dogs be tested once a year for heartworm and be provided with a monthly heartworm preventative year-round. Since heartworm is increasing in Colorado, we as a team think that testing your dog and providing year-round prevention regardless of whether they leave the valley or not is the best way to ensure they do not contract heartworm and are protected from a variety of intestinal parasites.
The heartworm prevention medication we typically prescribed contains other deworming medications that treat a wide range of intestinal parasites. This means that if heartworm prevention is given year-round that your dog will be protected from roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms. The hookworms, roundworms, and tapeworms that our dogs get can infect us as well. These parasites are transmitted by fecal-oral contact. This is especially important for households with young children who put their hands in their mouths after playing outside. The most effective way to prevent the transmission of these zoonotic (animal to people) parasites is to provide monthly prevention.
In conclusion, heartworm is increasing and changing in Colorado, and so we want to increase and change our testing and prevention efforts to best protect the dogs in our community. Giving a monthly heartworm preventative year-round protects against heartworm and intestinal parasites that can infect humans. We hope that this information helps you make the most informed choice about heartworm and parasite prevention for your furry family member so you can hit the parks and trails with no worries about worms!