This airborne disease is most often transmitted at boarding facilities, grooming shops, and parks, but your puppy can also contract it in his own yard. This is an extremely painful, debilitating bacterial disease that is transmitted by ticks. It was first discovered in 1975, and has since been reported in at least 47 states, including Kansas. Symptoms usually include severe pain, lameness, fever, depression, loss of appetite, and arthritis. A heartworm test.
Infected mosquitoes transmit parasitic larvae when they bite a dog.
Testing for heartworms consists of drawing a blood sample. We start puppies out on heartworm medication, and then test at about one year of age. This procedure is done at about six months of age. The operation is done under the same sterile conditions used for human surgeries, in a surgery suite with our veterinarians wearing cap, gown, mask, and gloves. The incision is rechecked and sutures are removed 10 days later at no charge.