No, a cat is not the normal host for the heartworm, so it is not possible for them to transmit. The heartworm actually cannot reproduce, so there are no offspring or microfilaria in the bloodstream.

A cat gets a heartworm the same way a dog does, through a blood-borne parasite, through mosquitoes.

A heartworm is something that lives within their bloodstream that lodges in their heart.

Make sure that they're being treated and try to decrease their risk for coming in contact with mosquitoes. So make sure you get rid of any non-moving bodies of water, such as just pots sitting with water in them or just bowls. You want to try to keep those rinsed out and keep those clean. You can also spray your yard with different antibiotics.

Not that we recommend.

Get them their next dose immediately and then we're going to want to recheck that heartworm test in about six months.

It can. It just takes a much longer period of time than the fast kill method that we recommend. So while they're sitting there in that heart during that time, they can actually be causing much more damage.

Yes, I still recommend testing them every year because there are some heartworms that are resistant to these medications.

Heartworm prevention is very effective. As long as the heartworms aren't resistant to the medications, then it will kill all of them.

We usually start puppies at 8 to 12 weeks of age, depending on the type of prevention. Once you adopt a dog, that's when you want to go ahead and get started as well.