The term heartgard is very close to what it is, a type of guardian for a precious heart. Specifically, it is a medication to protect dogs from heartworm, a particularly nasty creature that can make your beloved pet very sick.

To give you some background on the “opposition,” adult heartworms grow to be about six inches long, and they live in the heart and large blood vessels of a dog. Together, the males and females produce thousands of tiny babies. The one good thing that can be said about the babies, is that they do not grow up in the dog where they were born. The reason is simple; if they did, the poor dog would eventually die! And thus, so would the heartworms. They may be parasites, but the have enough brains to know that that is not in their best interest.

The next step in their life cycle involves a mosquito. When one bites the infected dog, it will suck up some baby heartworms. Then, over the course of the next month, the heartworm babies grow into heartworm teenagers inside the mosquito. Then, when the mosquito bites another dog, it is infected with the teenage heartworms. After about six to seven months, the life cycle is done; the teenage heartworms have developed into adults. At this point, we are back to where we started; the adult male and female heartworms start producing thousands of babies.

One negative aspect of canine heartworm disease is that there are no symptoms at all until the disease is very advanced. At that point, the dog seems to be suffering congestive heart failure: dull coat, lack of energy, coughing, difficulty breathing, fainting spells and an enlarged abdomen. A good pet owner will not wait for symptoms to develop and then treat it. While the disease can be fatal, and the treatment itself does involve some risk, generally the condition can be cured. However, the best thing to do is practice prevention.

This is where Heartgard comes in. It is one of two different oral drugs used for once-a-month heartworm prevention. In cold climates, the medication is not necessary in the wintertime. But, in southern climes, where mosquitoes are a year 'round nuisance, the pill needs to be given every month. Fortunately, Heartgard comes in a chewable tablet, so most dogs do not resist taking it. As any dog owner knows, trying to “Fido” to take a pill when he does not want to, can be a real struggle!