Pet Parasite Prevention in Greenwood

There are many parasites that can harm your dog or cat all year around. The most common are fleas, ticks, heartworms, and also intestinal parasites like roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, tapeworms, and giardia. At Vista Hills Animal Hospital, we are here to help with pet parasite prevention.

Protecting Your Pet from Fleas and Ticks

Fleas can cause serious issues like anemia and infection, and can carry other parasites like tapeworms. Ticks, like fleas, can also cause the above issues, but they also carry diseases like Lyme disease, which can cause life-long lasting effects. It is important to keep your pet on monthly flea/tick prevention year-round, especially since Indiana does not have a cold enough winter to kill off these parasites. To cover these parasites we carry both Credelio and Advantage Multi for dogs, and Revolution for cats. Ask about rebates when combining them with heartworm prevention.

PPet Parasite Prevention in Greenwood, IN
Happy dog playing outside and protected from parasites

Heartworm Disease and Prevention

Heartworms are also detrimental to your dog or cat’s health and important to prevent. Immature heartworm larvae called microfilaria are passed through mosquitoes. A common misconception is that your dog or cat has to be outside to get heartworms, which is definitely not true. How many times have you yourself been bitten by a mosquito inside your house? Also, like fleas and ticks, mosquitoes do not go away with our Indiana winters.

We carry several options for heartworm prevention including Interceptor Plus, Advantage Multi (which also covers fleas), and Revolution. These options include some intestinal pet parasite prevention as well. Intestinal parasites are easy to prevent, but can be expensive to treat, so keeping your pet on prevention helps keep down your pet costs!

Giardia

Giardia is unlike many other parasites in that it is a protozoan parasite. It can cause diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss and lethargy, or show signs only intermittently or not at all. This parasite is caused by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated feces. We can run a stool sample with an extra test for this if you think your pet may have Giardia.

Many of these parasites are zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted to humans and can cause severe conditions such as blindness and brain damage. Please keep yourself and your pet protected and call us if you have any questions about pet parasite prevention!

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"Great place!!!!! Would recommend to anyone!!! They care about your fur animals and are truly there to help."

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