Drug Resistant Heartworms

Here we go.....

This is why I take the extra effort to keep the dogs immune system strong with the Raw Diet and natural methods of worm preventatives.

METAIRIE, La. — A Metairie yellow lab is believed to be the first pet in the United States to be infected by a new drug-resistant strain of heartworms.

According to a news release from veterinarian Dr. Cynthia Benbow’s office, Madie the lab contracted heartworms in 2014 while on monthly heartworm prevention. It was only recently, however, that the case was published in a veterinary journal, Parasites and Vectors.

Benbow’s office sent a blood sample to a veterinarian at the Department of Infectious Diseases at University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine for further testing.

Dr. Ray Kaplan’s lab confirmed that the heartworms were, in fact, drug-resistant, Dr. Benbow’s office said.

The lab named the strain of heartworms “Metairie-2014.”

The new strain is helping researchers at UGA better understand and help solve the problem of drug-resistance in heartworms.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Heartworm

• Heartworms In Dogs/ By Julia Henriques http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-in-dogs-10-things-you-didnt-know/