FAQ.

This is a great question and a very frequently asked question! Heartworm disease is a disease that is easily preventable but painful and expensive to treat. Heartworm disease comes from a simple mosquito bite. If you think about it, mosquitos don't have boundaries that prevent them from entering the home, as they definitely won't set off your house alarm. In addition to mosquitos being able to easily enter the home, unlike up north, in Florida, we do not have a “mosquito season,” and these pesky insects are around all year long. Any time your pet goes outside, even if just for 1-2 minutes to potty, there is a chance they could be bitten by a mosquito. All it takes is one infected mosquito to infect your fur baby with this painful and deadly disease. For more information on heartworm disease, visit the American Heartworm Society at: https://www.heartwormsociety.org/

When it comes to fleas, think of it this way: do you treat your home for termites even though you don't see them and/or they are not currently damaging your home? Prevention is best! Why wait for your fur baby to be infested with fleas before treating it? Flea allergy dermatitis (a skin contact allergy) is also very common in pets. A common myth is that in order for your pet to have a flea allergy, you would see the fleas on your pet. This is often not the case with a flea allergy. The most common allergy from the flea is its salvia, meaning once a flea bites, your pet can break out and have a terrible skin reaction, even if the flea is no longer on your pet. This will cause your pet to itch like crazy and can develop into a skin infection, including hair loss, hot spots, and a very uncomfortable pet. Again, prevention is the best way to keep your pets healthy and their veterinary costs to a minimum.

Unfortunately, this depends on what your pet ate. We encourage you to call our hospital to discuss this with our staff. Please keep in mind that there is often nothing that can be done over the phone and that it does require a visit to the office so our veterinarian can perform a thorough examination to see how your pet is currently doing.

Although veterinarians are very knowledgeable, there are many things they may not be able to anticipate. There are so many things that can be toxic to pets, and that's why pet poison hotlines were created. Pet poison hotlines have a very large database and can let you know if your pet needs to see the veterinarian based on what was ingested and how much was ingested. For more information on Pet Poison Hotline, visit https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/ or https://www.aspca.org/pet- care/animal-poison-control.