Dog owners urged to take precautions as heartworm cases rise on Island

Dog owners on Prince Edward Island are being encouraged to take precautions to protect their animals from heartworm, as the number of cases takes a big jump.

"We test about 150 dogs per year for canine heartworm, and in the last about five years we've seen that about 50 per cent of the samples that we get are positive for heartworm,"said Dr. NinaGermitsch, a veterinary parasitologist based at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown.

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"We've been doing the testing since the '90s and it would be maybe one, two, threedogs a yearsometimes none," she said."It started increasing in the last 10 years, and really in the last about five years, we've seen a lot of positive cases."

Heartwormdisease occurs when an animal hostingthe parasite develops inflammation that scars and narrows arteries and damages lung tissue. As well as the heart and lungs, the liver and kidney can also be impaired.

When a female mosquito bites an infected animal, theparasite's tiny offspringincubatein the insect and eventually get passed on when the mosquito bites another dog. The second dog wouldn't show symptoms until the larvae mature and the adult heartworms start to do damage.

Germitsch said most of the animals that are being diagnosed with canine heartwormon P.E.I. have been imported from the southern United States, part of a flood of rescue dogs beingbrought into the Atlantic provinces from that region.

She would like to see greater awareness around the potential dangers of the diseaseso that new owners are better informed and can opt to give their pets preventative medication, usually in the form of chewable pills.

"For parasites in general, there are no rules to import animals into Canada. So there's no restrictions, there's no testing, there's no treatment at all," Germitsch said.

"It's very difficult to diagnose, very difficult to treat," she said not to mention being very costly.

Costly, complicated treatment

There are different ways of treating the disease, but Germitsch recommends the protocol from the American Heartworm Society to clinicians, and teaches it to her students.

Dog owners urged to protect their pets as heartworm cases rise

12 months ago

Duration 2:26

The number of heartworm cases on P.E.I. has jumped in recent years, and staff at the Atlantic Veterinary College are urging dog owners to take precautions as a result.

"It's a very lengthy treatment. It's a risky treatment, also an expensive treatment," Germitsch said.

"We would give three different drugs over the course of three months, and then after three months the veterinary needs to give three injections that will actually kill the adult parasite in the heart, to get rid of the parasite in the dog."

The dog's ability to exercise also has to be restricted for up to six months, Germitsch said, to reduce the risk of deadly side-effects like thromboembolism, or blood clots,as the dead parasites are flushed out of the heart.

Germitschsaid the first cases are now being reported in dogs in P.E.I. and New Brunswick that haven't travelled, meaning they contracted the disease locally.

"When we bring in these animals from the southern states that are infected, mosquitoes will pick up the larvae from these dogs, and then they can infect other dogs," shesaid.

"If we keep seeing cases in dogs here, then we definitely need to recommend to all dog owners that they should be giving preventatives throughout the summer."

'Pretty tough on her'

AVC student Chelsea DiGregorio also recommends that P.E.I. dog owners protect their animals against heartworm, after her American Akita survived a bout of the disease while she was living in North Carolina, where her family is from.

DiGregorio, who is in her third year, said dogs are tested on a regular basis in her home state, and that's how she found out that Nova had heartworm.

"My parents were people that just kind of intermittently gave prevention, kind of 'It's not that big of a deal,'" DiGregorio said.

"From then on, it was a lot of money, and six months of treatment for her, and it was pretty tough on her because you have to keep them confined to a really small space

"But she lived through it. Not every dog does. So thankfully she did. And from now on, she's on prevention every month."

DiGregorio thinks Nova contracted heartworm during a family trip in 2019.

"We took one trip for a weekend and that was it, down to my grandma's in Virginia, and I think that's when she got it. So it reallytakes one time, one trip, and that was it."

DiGregoriosaid they are keeping a careful watch on Nova, now nine, to make sure there has been no long-term damage.

"Because wecaught it so early, before she actually had symptoms and signs, we were able to get the worms gone before any long-term effects happened," DiGregorio said.

"A lot of times they see signs and they do have long-term effects, but luckily Nova didn't."

She lived through it. Not every dog does. So thankfully she did.Chelsea DiGregorio, dog owner

DiGregorio hopes her story brings greater awareness to heartworm, and the importance of protecting Island dogs.

"It does worry me a lot because a lot of people are just kind of putting it off'It's not going to happen to me. It's down in Texas and Florida,'" DiGregorio said.

"It only takes one mosquito, and they can live in the house for a while. So in my opinion, everyone should be on prevention 12 months out of the year, but at least during those warmer months when mosquitoes are out. "