Some of our routine surgeries performed include spaying, neutering, lump removal,
cherry eye repair, declawing, and entropion repair. All of our surgeries receive
pain medication. We recommend bloodwork be performed before anesthetizing your pet
to evaluate your pet's ability to handle the anesthesia used.
We have various sizes of kennels for boarding your dog or cat. Our facility is air
conditioned in summer and heated in the winter with inside and outside kennels.
Your pet will be walked twice daily. Of course, your pet will be cared for just
like we care for our pets.
We also provide dentistry services for your pet. Poor oral health not only causes
bad breath it can also be damaging your pets internal organs. We do a complete oral
exam and look for any diseased teeth. If there are any problems seen, such as infected
teeth, these teeth are removed.
Canine heartworm disease begins when a dog is bitten by a mosquito that is carrying
juvenile heartworms. The larvae (juvenile heartworms) are deposited on the skin
where they eventually burrow through and migrate to the bloodstream. The worms eventually
make their home in the pulmonary arteries and heart. The worms incite an inflammatory
response that causes damages to the dog's blood vessels and heart. They also make
it difficult for the heart to pump blood because of the obstruction within the vessels.
Adult heartworms can grow 10-12 inches in length!!!
Signs of Heartworm Disease
Some dogs can go for many years without showing obvious signs of heartworm disease.
This is one important reason why we recommend yearly screening. When a pet does
start experiencing damage to the pulmonary vessels and heart some of the signs we
see include coughing, reluctance to exercise or play. fatigue, weight loss, and
loss of appetite. Eventually if the pet is not treated the heartworms can lead to
heart failure even sudden death.
Testing for Heartworms
There is a simple blood test performed that will detect a heartworm infection in
your dog. The test is performed in house and only takes 10 minutes to have the results.
All dogs older than 6 months of age need to have a heartworm test performed prior
to starting a preventative. Annual testing is recommended for all dogs.
If for some reason, a dog is not properly tested and has missed a dose of medication,
it is possible for an infection to establish yet no microfilariae (immature heartworms)
will be detected. People commonly ask why they must continue annual testing in animals
that are on preventive medication; this is one reason.
Also note: because the heartworm tests on the market either look for microfilariae
or for adult worm proteins, they will not detect infection with immature worms.
This is why it takes 5 to 7 months from the time of exposure to get a valid heartworm
test and this is also why there is no point in testing puppies less than 5 to 7
months of age.
Preventing Heartworms
Once a negative status has been established the dog is placed on a monthly preventative.
Our hospital recommends Sentinel. Sentinel is a beef flavored tablet. Sentinel is
a 5 in 1 value- It not only prevents heartworm, it also prevents hookworms, roundworms,
whipworms and fleas. It is also very important to prevent hookworms and roundworms
because these parasites can by transmitted to you or your family. Your dog should
be given Sentinel once a month all year round.
It is important to give the preventative on a timely schedule. The medications are
eliminated from the dogs body shortly after they are given and do not protect from
future infections. They actually kill any immature heartworms that your pet may
have acquired since his/her last monthly dose.
Prevention is not only much more cost effective but also much safer for your pet
than treating Heartworm disease.
Treating Heartworms
Once a dog is diagnosed with heartworm disease there are several things to consider.
If it is not treated the disease will worsen and cause more damage to your pet.
Unless there is a medical reason that makes your pet a poor candidate for treatment
heartworm positive dogs should be treated. However, the treatment also has the potential
for some serious side effects. As the medication is killing the adult heartworms
there is a possibility that one of the worms may break off and become lodged somewhere
else in your pet's body acting like a clot. This is one reason why your veterinarian
will stress how important it is that you keep your pet calm during around the time
of treatment. The medication that is used (melarsamine hydrochloride) is extremely
effective in eliminating the adult worms; however some dogs are not cleared with
a single treatment.
Cats and Heartworms
While it is true that the feline infection is not as common as the canine infection,
the feline infection has recently been found to be a much more widespread problem
than previously believed. In the past, a common statistic was that within a given
geographic area, the feline heartworm infection rate was approximately 10% of the
canine infection rate. Recent research indicates this is not so; in heartworm endemic
areas, the incidence of feline heartworm infection rivals or surpass FeLv or FIV
infections. An incidence of 2% to 14% of all cats has been reported for endemic
areas, making heartworm a concern for any cat living where there are mosquitoes.
- The cat is not a natural host for the heartworm, which means the migrating larval
heartworm is not likely to complete its life cycle. The migrating worm uses molecular
sign posts to tell it how to get to its host's pulmonary arteries. The worm is prepared
to read CANINE directions and may get lost in the feline body, ending up who knows
where. Most of the larvae that actually make it to the pulmonary artery die soon
afterwards due to the massive immune attack from the feline body. Very few larval
heartworms survive to adulthood in cats.
- Whereas a moderate heartworm infection in a dog would involve 25 to 50 adult heartworms,
infected cats typically have less than six adult worms. Because the feline heart
and blood vessels are so small, these few worms can wreak havoc. In a dog, six worms
or fewer might not be considered worth treating. In a cat, a single worm could easily
represent a lethal infection.
- Whereas worms found in the canine heart can reach lengths up to 14 inches, the average
length of worms found in feline hearts is only 5 to 8 inches long.
- While an adult heartworm can expect to live 5 years in a dog, it will only live
2 to 3 years in a cat, probably due to the cat's strong immune reaction.
The cat's immune system is extremely reactive against heartworms. For this reason,
it is virtually impossible to detect microfilariae (immature heartworms) in an infected
cat. (The cat's immune system removes them too quickly.) Also, symptoms of infection
tend to be more immune-related than heart-failure related. Cats develop more of
a lung disease, complete with respiratory distress, and chronic coughing or vomiting.
Feline heartworm disease is often misdiagnosed as feline asthma. Sudden death may
occur just as it may occur in infected dogs.
In dogs, diagnosis is usually not complicated. A blood sample is tested for proteins
that can only be found in the body of the adult female heartworm. In cats, disease
is not dependent on adult worms so this kind of testing has limited applications.
Furthermore, there may be too few adult worms to generate a positive antigen test.
Our hospital recommends placing your cat on Revolution for a parasite preventative.
It is a topical medication that is applied once a month. It is not only a heartworm
preventative but also prevents fleas, ear mites, hookworm and roundworm infections.
The Bryan Area Animal Hospital is excited to announce the addition of a new Class
IV therapeutic laser. A Class IV therapeutic laser is used for many different conditions
in our pets and helps to reduce pain, reduce inflammation and to accelerate healing.
Until recently Class IV therapeutic lasers have been used more in the human medical
field, specifically in sports medicine. We are currently using it on chronic arthritis,
surgical procedures, hot spots, ear infections and many other painful or inflammed
conditions. Give us a call at 419-636-3848 on how your pet may benefit.
We provide the following procedures/tests in our hospital:
- heartworm test- test for heartworm antigens
- blood analysis - (thyroid, organ function, cushing disease, etc.)
- urinalysis
- cbc - complete blood count
- cystocentesis - urine collection directly from the bladder
- cytology - reading cultures for diagnosis