Educating pet owners about heartworm prevention is important every year for practices to help protect pets from heartworm disease. Yet here’s why educating pet owners about heartworm prevention is extra important this year during Heartworm Awareness Month.
Less Than Half of U.S. Dog Owners Regularly Buy Heartworm Preventives
According to the American Heartworm Society, less than half of U.S. dog owners regularly buy heartworm preventives, and lack of awareness is a big reason. According to Veterinary Practice News, dog owners simply don’t know they should.
Compounding this, heartworm disease is spreading. A few examples:
- Recently, the Companion Animal Parasite Group (CAPC) reported that U.S. heartworm infections continue to increase in number, with the greatest number of cases in the southeastern U.S. and Mississippi River Valley. Yet the CAPC notes on its heartworm page that “cases are appearing with increasing frequency in traditionally low-prevalence areas such as California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.”
- In an August 2020 article by the AVMA, Chris Duke, DVM and president of the American Heartworm Society, also cited California as a state with rising heartworm numbers, as well as Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis, and small cities in Oklahoma.
- On Feb. 9th, 2021, Pet Parasite Forecasts showed high heartworm disease infection risks across the U.S. west coast and in interior states like Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota.
In Canada, it’s a similar story.
All this simply means it’s more important than ever that veterinary practices educate clients during Heartworm Awareness Month about the importance of giving their pets a heartworm preventive.
How do you easily do this when practices are busier than ever?
Download Our Free Heartworm Awareness Kit
Given the continuing pressures and workflow challenges faced by veterinary practices, download our free Heartworm Awareness Kit to save time, increase efficiency, and strengthen your veterinary team’s role as animal health educators.
Available for a limited time, our kit includes:
An infographic with heartworm prevention tips for clients.
An educational handout for clients—Heartworm Disease: Synopsis of a ClientEd Handout—that you can print and hand to clients at curbside or send by email.
Three social media images ready to post on Facebook to further educate your clients about the importance of heartworm prevention.
Download your free kit
