Major threats to your pup’s health, heartworms, and intestinal worms are highly preventable with routine care

Our clients across St. Johns and greater northeast Florida have peace of mind. The talented and dedicated team at Bluestar Pet Hospital & Grooming is in your (and your pet’s) “corner.” Our veterinary practice is built on a foundation of preventive pet care. Furthermore, getting your pet on a consistent, regular, healthy vaccine schedule is fundamental to this preventative approach.

While vaccinations and deworming are essential to the health of both cats and dogs, here we will specifically take a closer look at some of the biggest threats to canines from worms. 

Internal parasites and heartworm 

Intestinal worms like roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms can infect your canine companion. The complications of these parasitic infections range from diarrhea and malnutrition to respiratory problems and life-threatening blood loss. Worms can infect and feast on the intestinal lining, robbing our canine friends of the vital nutrients they need to fuel their bodies and be healthy. Some of these parasites, such as roundworms and hookworms, are “zoonotic” and can also present risks to the human members of your household. 

Practicing good hygiene and sanitation helps prevent larvae from coming in contact with dogs and people and contaminating soil, water, bedding, and other surfaces. 

Heartworms are passed from dog to dog via mosquitoes. When a mosquito feeds off an infected canine, the young heartworms develop into infective larvae that spread to the next canine when the mosquito feeds again. Heartworm infections are serious. They can wreak havoc on the blood vessels, resulting in respiratory and cardiovascular disease. 

Protect and prevent 

We provide tailored recommendations on parasitic testing and management and preventives for your pet, as well as other precautions for you and your household to take to remain healthy. 

We may order simple fecal tests to confirm the presence of worms and to rule out other problems. We can also discuss the ideal dewormer for dogs and get them on an appropriate deworming program. Sometimes, heartworm preventives are a “double threat” and may also prevent intestinal or other internal parasitic/worm infections. 

Blood tests and additional testing of the chest and heart may be ordered to detect the presence of heartworms and accurately diagnose heartworm disease. There is treatment available to kill adult and developing heartworms safely; however, heartworm is highly preventable, and we highly suggest this route instead! 

We can recommend the right FDA-approved heartworm preventive formulation for your pup. It should be noted that dogs need testing on an ongoing and consistent basis because preventives do not eradicate adult heartworms. So, we need to test proactively to ensure adults were not present, which could have resulted in a heartworm infection. Furthermore, this continuous testing and monitoring help ensure that we are prescribing the appropriate medication for your pet. 

Call (904) 720-4275 with questions and to schedule an appointment at Bluestar Pet Hospital & Grooming. Be sure to ask about our affordable in-house wellness plans for puppies and dogs.

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