Need care after hours? We’re here for you! Urgent Care now available Mondays & Fridays from 5PM – 9PM.
Need care after hours? We’re here for you! Urgent Care now available Mondays & Fridays from 5PM – 9PM.
Advanced heartworm protection that safeguards your pet’s heart and lungs — ensuring your companion’s long-term health and vitality through every season.
Don't gamble with your pet's heart health. Trust Sacramento's experienced veterinary team to provide effective heartworm protection
Pet heartworm prevention encompasses a comprehensive approach to protecting dogs, cats, and other companion animals from heartworm disease – a potentially fatal condition caused by parasitic worms (known as heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels. At Broadway Veterinary Hospital, we provide complete heartworm prevention services, including heartworm test procedures, prescription heartworm preventatives, and ongoing monitoring tailored to each pet’s specific needs.
Heartworm disease is spread by mosquitoes, which are abundant in Sacramento’s warm climate. When a bite from infected mosquitoes delivers infective heartworm larvae to your pet, these larvae can mature into adult heartworms — foot-long worms that cause severe damage to the heart, lungs, and arteries. These parasitic heartworms can grow throughout blood vessels and extend into other organs, restricting blood flow and causing life-threatening complications. This serious condition can result in heart failure, severe lung disease, and potentially death if left untreated. Preventing heartworm disease is significantly easier, safer, and more affordable than heartworm treatment for an established heartworm infection.
Our veterinarians understand the environmental factors and risk factors that contribute to heartworm risk in the Sacramento area, allowing us to develop targeted heartworm prevention strategies for your pet. The American Heartworm Society recommends year-round heartworm prevention due to our region’s extended mosquito season and the devastating consequences of this disease.
At Broadway Veterinary Hospital, we offer comprehensive heartworm prevention services designed to protect your pet throughout their lifetime. We begin with thorough heartworm test procedures, requiring only a small blood sample for an antigen test to establish your pet’s current status before starting preventative heartworm medication. For dogs, we recommend annual testing even when on heartworm preventives, as this provides crucial early detection if a dog tests positive or if prevention fails. For infected dogs, testing protocols are essential, and for cats, testing approaches are tailored to their unique biology and health considerations.
We provide access to the most effective, veterinarian-approved heartworm prevention medications available. These prescription monthly medication options come in various forms including monthly chewable tablets, topical solution applications, and injectable options that provide extended protection. Each heartworm medication is formulated with a specific active ingredient designed to eliminate heartworms before they reach the adult stage, and our veterinarians will help select the right heartworm preventative based on your pet’s weight range and lifestyle. Unlike over-the-counter products, our prescribed preventatives offer reliable protection backed by veterinary medicine research and safety studies conducted by organizations like the American Heartworm Society.
Our heartworm prevention medications are carefully selected to provide maximum protection, with one dose per month offering comprehensive defense against heartworms. Whether you prefer topical products or oral medications, we ensure that just one dose administered consistently keeps your pet protected throughout the year. For pets that may have difficulty with oral medications, topical solution options provide an excellent alternative, delivering protection through just one dose applied to the skin.
Our approach includes seasonal risk assessment based on Sacramento’s climate patterns and mosquito activity levels that could leave your dog unprotected. We combine heartworm preventative measures with comprehensive parasite control to address multiple threats simultaneously, often incorporating protection against intestinal parasites, fleas, and ticks in a single preventative product. This integrated approach simplifies pet care while providing broad-spectrum protection for millions of dogs and cats in our community. Even indoor pets can be at risk from heartworms, as mosquitoes can enter homes and transmit the disease, making prevention essential for all pets regardless of lifestyle.
For pets diagnosed with heartworm infection, we offer advanced treatment protocols and supportive care throughout the recovery process. Our in-house diagnostic capabilities and experienced medical team ensure prompt detection and effective management of this serious condition.
When administered correctly and consistently, heartworm prevention medications are extremely effective—typically over 95-99% effective at preventing heartworm disease. The key is giving the monthly medication on schedule without missing doses, as even one missed dose can leave your dog unprotected during that period and allow infected mosquitoes to transmit heartworm larvae to your pet. The American Heartworm Society recommends year-round prevention to ensure continuous protection, especially in areas like Sacramento where mosquito activity extends throughout much of the year. These heartworm medications work by eliminating heartworms before they can mature to the adult stage, preventing the damage that adult heartworms cause to the heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
If your dog tests positive for heartworm infection through an antigen test, we will develop a comprehensive treatment regimen tailored to your pet’s specific condition. Heartworm treatment involves careful veterinary supervision as heartworm disease progresses through various stages. The treatment protocol typically includes medications to eliminate adult heartworms and heartworm larvae, along with strict activity restriction—limiting your dog to only minimal walking with no moderate activity—to prevent complications as the heartworms die. As heartworm disease in dogs advances, it can result in causing severe lung disease, persistent cough, weight loss, swollen belly from excess fluid, and other complications affecting other organs, which is why early detection through regular heartworm test procedures is so important for affected pets. Successful treatment requires multiple medications administered over several months, with ongoing monitoring of your dog’s condition throughout the process.
Yes, cats can contract heartworm disease, though it manifests differently than in dogs. While cats are not natural hosts for heartworms and typically have fewer adult worms, even a single bite from infected mosquitoes can lead to severe disease. Heartworm disease in dogs is more commonly diagnosed, but feline heartworm can be equally serious, potentially causing severe lung disease, persistent cough, and respiratory distress that compromises oxygen delivery to other organs. Because heartworm treatment options are limited for cats and carry significant risks—with no safe protocol for eliminating adult heartworms in felines—heartworm prevention is even more critical for feline companions. We offer heartworm preventative options specifically formulated for cats, including both oral and topical products designed for their unique weight range and physiology.
Sacramento’s mild climate creates an extended mosquito season, meaning mosquitoes that transmit heartworm larvae through bites are active for much of the year. The American Heartworm Society recommends continuous year-round heartworm prevention rather than seasonal protection because gaps in coverage leave your pet vulnerable to heartworms. Additionally, the heartworm life cycle means that larvae transmitted during a brief unprotected period can mature into adult heartworms—foot long worms that cause severe damage—over several months. Consistent heartworm prevention medications protect against this risk and often provide concurrent protection against other parasites and intestinal parasites. Even indoor pets require protection, as mosquitoes can easily enter homes and transmit heartworms to unprotected pets.
Early-stage heartworm infection may show no obvious symptoms, which is why regular heartworm test procedures using a small blood sample for an antigen test are essential for all dogs and at-risk pets. As heartworm disease progresses, symptoms may include persistent cough, fatigue after minimal or moderate activity, decreased appetite, and difficulty breathing as the condition advances to causing severe lung disease. In moderate to advanced heartworm disease, affected animals show more pronounced symptoms including significant weight loss, exercise intolerance even with moderate activity, and labored breathing.
In advanced cases, affected pets may develop heart failure, exhibit a swollen belly due to excess fluid accumulation in the abdomen, and show significant weight loss despite adequate nutrition. Infected dogs with substantial numbers of adult worms—sometimes dozens of these foot long worms—blocking blood vessels face life-threatening complications as normal circulation is restricted and other organs are deprived of oxygen. The most severe presentation, caval syndrome, occurs when a large mass of heartworms blocks the major blood vessels between the heart and liver, requiring emergency surgical removal of the adult heartworms to save the dog’s life. This underscores why preventing heartworm disease through consistent use of heartworm prevention products and heartworm preventives is far preferable to treatment of an established infection.
We offer several types of heartworm prevention medications to suit different pets and owner preferences. Oral medications are available as monthly chewable tablets that many dogs readily accept as treats, with formulations designed for different weight ranges to ensure proper dosing. Topical solution products provide an alternative for pets that resist oral medications, with applications applied directly to the skin once monthly. Injectable heartworm preventives offer extended protection lasting six or twelve months, eliminating the need for monthly administration. Each heartworm medication contains ingredients specifically selected to eliminate heartworms at early life stages, and many heartworm preventatives also protect against other threats. Our veterinarians will recommend the most appropriate heartworm medication based on your pet’s weight range, lifestyle, and individual needs, ensuring optimal protection for dogs, cats, and animals in your household.
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Whether it’s preventive care or complex procedures, we’re here to provide exceptional treatment at every stage of your pet’s life.
Your pet’s health is our expertise, which is why local news outlets like Fox40 News and Good Day Sacramento regularly invite Dr. Sam Varon to share essential pet care information, from emerging health concerns to answering everyday pet questions. When you choose Broadway Veterinary Hospital, you’re choosing care backed by expertise that Sacramento trusts.
Our experienced veterinarians have been protecting Sacramento pets from parasitic diseases for nearly five decades. Dr. Sam Varon brings expertise in companion animal care with focus on cardiac health, understanding the mechanisms that prevent the progression from heartworm larvae to adult worms. Dr. Sasha Hazelton’s background in emergency medicine provides valuable insight for complex cases involving heartworm disease in dogs and other animals, while Dr. Pietro Catini’s experience with both large and small animals adds depth to our approach to preventing heartworm disease.
Our team stays current with the latest advancements in heartworm prevention medications and heartworm treatment protocols through continuing education, following guidelines from the American Heartworm Society. With nearly 50 years of service to the Sacramento community, we’ve helped thousands of pets live healthier, heartworm-free lives through consistent prevention and early intervention.
We understand that one pet may require different medications than another, which is why we customize our prevention recommendations based on each individual pet’s weight range, lifestyle, and health status. Whether you have one pet or multiple animals in your household, we ensure all receive appropriate protection with heartworm preventatives suited to their specific needs.
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