Editor, Times-Union: I work for a veterinarian clinic. I want to ask the Warsaw area to please put your pet on tick and flea protection. We have a patient at my clinic with Lyme disease. She got it from a tick.
It wasn’t her owner’s fault, but it is a painful disease for pets. The joints get swollen, they lose their appetite, they have difficulty breathing, when they walk the legs are stiff and the back is arched. The dog is really sweet and would be a wonderful pet if it wasn’t for the Lyme disease.
It is also important to have your pet on heartworm preventative. If heartworms aren’t taken care of and prevented, it becomes into a disease. The worm will become an adult and block some parts of the heart. Therefore, it makes the heart work harder.
Here are the stages of heartworms:
Stage I – Lowest risk – young healthy dogs with minimal heartworm disease evident on X-rays and all other tests are normal.
Stage II – Moderately affected dogs – some coughing is noticed, some difficulty breathing, changes are seen on X-rays, and blood work may reveal some kidney and/or liver damage.
Stage III – Severely affected dogs – the patient has weight loss, coughing, difficulty breathing, more damage visible on X-rays, and blood tests shows kidney and/or liver damage.
Stage IV – Vena Cava Syndrome or Caval Syndrome – the dog is collapsing in shock, all of the above abnormalities are more intense and the dog is dying. They are initially treated with surgical jugular removal of some worms if possible. There is no guarantee this treatment will be successful and many patients with Caval Syndrome die in spite of treatment.
Please protect your pets as you would protect yourself.
