Heartworm: Are you worried about it?

THE BREGMAN VETERINARY GROUP 

www.BregmanVetGroup.com

All dog owners worry about the health of their canine friend. Heartworms can be a dangerous disease they can catch. Heartworm can be transmitted from mosquitoes to dogs when the infected mosquito bites your dog and the heartworm larvae enters their body. Over time, the larvae mature and travel to the heart and lungs, where it can potentially lead to death.

With ProHeart 6, pet owners should have nothing to worry about.

A single injection by your veterinarian is all you need to protect your dog for six continuous months. This medication is proven safe in dos or varying sizes and breeds.

ProHeart 6 should be used, with caution, in dogs with pre-existing allergic disease, including previous vaccine reactions, food allergy, atopy, and flea allergy dermatitis. Dogs should be tested for heartworm disease prior to being treated with ProHeart 6. If your dog tests positive for adult heartworms, your veterinarian should treat the infection with the appropriate medication before administering ProHeart 6.

There are some possible side effects to using this medication. They range from lethargy, seizures, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, pale/bleeding gums, and in some cases, may cause death. There could also be severe allergic reactions that could occur, like facial swelling, itching, difficulty breathing and possibly your dog collapsing. Be sure to keep a close eye on them for 24 hours after they have received this medication because any of the above mentioned signs could show that your dog is having a severe allergic reaction.

If you have any questions regarding this medication and want to get your dog checked for heartworm disease, please give us a call at one of our Bregman Vet Hospitals so we can see your pet right away and give them a thorough check up.

Lazy Pets Are Putting on Weight

THE BREGMAN VETERINARY GROUP 

www.BregmanVetGroup.com

Some pets that you see lying around the house all day are very overweight and are eating too much food with no enough exercise. More than one in seven cats and dogs in the state of Ohio are obese or overweight, according to a new report.

 Pets that pack on the pounds are more likely to develop debilitating medical conditions that can reduce their quality of life and result in hefty veterinarian bills for owners (http://goo.gl/T0IhD).

According to experts on this issue, pet owners should learn to recognize the signs of animal obesity and help their pets get healthier through better eating habits and a lot more exercise.

Some owners gave their pets table scraps and without the proper exercise, the pounds can really add up. Pets that are obese have a greater chance of having arthritis, kidney disease and cancer, and these diseases can significantly shorten their life span.

Frequent trips to the vet, although checkups are always a mainstay, can become more costly if your pet is overweight as testing needs to be done, and that can really put a dent in your wallet. Pet prescriptions can also become very pricey, over a period of time.

Take your pet for a walk every day when you get home from work, or once you wake up in the morning. Not only will it benefit your pet, but it will also benefit you as well.

If you feel that your pet is too overweight or obese and need to see a doctor, call us at one of our Bregman Vet Hospitals and we can schedule an appointment to see your pet.

Pet ID Tags Get Great New Look

THE BREGMAN VETERINARY GROUP 

www.BregmanVetGroup.com

How many times have you had that feeling where you are calling your dog to come in from being outside and you get a little worried? You go outside to look for them and you notice that the backyard gate is slightly open and your pooch is strolling around the neighborhood. If that happens way too often, it’s time to invest in something that can help you find your pet quickly.

Issaquah-based company PetHub has produced link tags that include a QR code – the barcode-like symbol that can be scanned with a smartphone to load a website – and an address for an individualized web page, which the owner can update as needed. It’s like a Facebook profile for your pet, says PetHub founder Tom Arnold, a place to store and share information about an animal (http://goo.gl/f9dqj).

When PetHub won the Dog Fancy Magazine Editor’s Choice Award last December, it helped get their product out to the public. In the first three months of 2012, the company sold about 30,000 tags. The main purpose of these tags is to contact the owner if someone finds their pet, and to find out if the pet needs any specific medications. 

Starting today, these tags will have a hotline number to call where operators can help connect the person who found the stray dog to the owners. Although the tags that were sold before today’s date don’t have the number listed, the websites do.

If you have any questions about tracking devices for your pets, you can give us a call at one of our pet hospitals and we can assist you in any way possible.

Keep Your Pets Cool This Summer

With the summer months’ right around the corner, we all must keep a close eye on ourselves and our pets as the heat could get the best of us.

Every year, hundreds of pets die because they are left in parked cars, tethered outside without shade and water, or exercised in hot, humid weather. This is a serious threat in the state of Florida (http://goo.gl/Gna69).  Short-nosed breeds, such as Pugs, Boston Terriers, Bulldogs and Pekingese, are more apt to getting heat stroke because panting in these breeds is less-effective in decreasing body temperature compared to other dogs.

 

The normal temperature for a dog or cat is about 101.5 degrees, plus or minus 1-2 degrees. If your pet’s temperature reaches 105 degrees, call our offices immediately as elevated body temperatures can cause multi-organ failure leading to possible death.

The symptoms of heat stroke include restlessness, panting, drooling, bright red gums, behavior changes and difficulty breathing. If you believe that your pet is experiencing these types of symptoms, call us right away. 

One dangerous thing to do is to put your pet in an ice-cold bath. This could cause constriction of the blood vessels in the skin and could trap the heat inside your pets’ body. Do not leave your pet unattended if you believe it may have heat stroke for 24 hours as symptoms that are mentioned above may not occur until later in the day.

Don’t leave your pets in the car, even if you are running a quick errand. Leave them home in a nice temperature and environment. Do the safe thing!