This is a story about my friend, Magi, the Great Dane.
Magi’s dad loved her, but he was busy, so sometimes he’d forget to give her that treat she loved every month. Fast forward a couple of years. Magi’s dad had to get rid of her, but she was lucky and got adopted by a nice, tall girl who wanted a nice, tall dog and fell in love with Magi! Magi’s mom knew my mom, so we got to play together. When we’d wrestle she’d cough and was slow, but I just thought it was because she was old. Magi’s mom took her to the vet. When the test came back everyone looked sad. The mosquito had given Magi some kind of disease that made her heart bad. She had to get a bunch of yucky shots and medicine.
Magi felt better for a while, but then she started to slow down and cough again. The disease the mosquito gave her messed up her heart enough that it couldn’t be fixed. Magi’s tall mom cried a lot and we were all sad. Man, I hate mosquitoes.
Heartworm disease is spread by over 70 species of mosquitoes. It affects indoor and outdoor dogs, strays and beloved pets. It takes only a single mosquito, but only monthly preventative to stop it. In surveys, 50% of owners forgot or were late giving heartworm preventative. For this reason, annual testing of your dog is crucial! Dogs that have the disease for years, like Magi, can have irreversible damage.
Bruiser is a 5-year old male Great Dane that lives and works with Dr. Alyssa Travis.
Would you like to Baffle Bruiser?
Simply send us an e-mail with your pet care questions and Bruiser will do his best to answer them.
If your question is good enough, who knows, maybe you’ll make it into next months’ Bruiser Babbles!
by: Bruiser Travis