Heartworm season in Middle Tennessee runs all year

If you grew up up north, you may remember heartworm prevention as a summer thing. In Nashville it is not. Our mosquitoes are active from March into November and a warm week in January will bring them out. That is why we recommend year-round prevention for every dog and, increasingly, for cats.

Heartworm is spread by a single mosquito bite. The larvae mature into foot-long worms that live in the heart and lungs. In dogs, treatment is possible but hard: months of restricted activity, a series of injections, and a bill that runs into the thousands. In cats there is no approved treatment at all.

Prevention is a monthly chew or a twice-yearly injection, and it costs a fraction of treatment. We test dogs once a year with a few drops of blood so we catch anything that slips through.

If your dog has missed doses, do not just restart. Call us at (615) 833-4423. We will test first, because giving prevention to an infected dog can cause a reaction.