I, like many other veterinarians believed that heartworm disease was a rare condition in cats and that cats really didn't need to be protected. In the past year what I've learned about feline heartworm and the cases I have treated in my practice have made me change my mind. I now recommend that all the cats in my practice be receiving preventative. Heartworm is truly a problem in cats in this area and you are bound to hear much more about this disease in years to come. I think that within a year or two your friend's veterinarian will be recommending it also.
Veterinarians have always know that cats did get heartworm disease.
Many of us have performed an autopsy on an otherwise healthy cat that died suddenly and were surprised to find heartworms in the heart. Because this happened so infrequently we felt and told our clients that heartworm was a rare condition in cats. Over the past two years it has become increasingly evident that we were wrong. Heartworm is a much more common disease in cats than we ever thought. In the past few years quite a bit of research has been done in an attempt to determine the true incidence of heartworm disease in cats.