It is estimated that 70 to 80 million dogs and 74 to 96 million cats are owned in the United States.
According to a PetFinder.com poll, Christmas is the favorite time to gift pets with 63% of dog owners and 58% of people with cats receiving them as presents. With these adorable animals comes a lot of responsibility. They need to have vaccinations and treatments regularly.
There are veterinary diagnostics companies that can test for potential problems. It is much cheaper to practice preventive medicine for pets rather than waiting until they have a real problem. In fact, one million dogs are estimated to be heartworm positive in the United States each year. Heartworm treatment can cost up to $1,000 which makes giving a monthly preventive test a definite bargain in comparison.
Puppies under seven months of age can be started on heartworm prevention without a heartworm test but should be tested six months after your initial visit, tested again six months later and yearly after that to ensure they are heartworm-free. it takes at least six months for a dog to test positive after it has been infected. Veterinary diagnostics companies test for the canine heartworm antigen.
In addition to cats and dogs, two million people own horses in America. They need constant care also. When horses are exposed to equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), they may develop severe, acute signs of disease and may die within two to three weeks. It is best to take them to veterinary diagnostics companies regularly to ensure they are healthy. A tiny 1/5 of a teaspoon of blood from a chronic case of EIAV during a feverish episode contains enough virus to infect 10,000 horses. That is a scary prospect when you have become emotionally attached to your horse.
By far, the majority of horses are inapparent carriers. They show no overt clinical abnormalities as a result of infection. They survive as reservoirs of the infection for extended periods and have dramatically lower concentrations of EIAV in their blood than horses with active clinical signs of the disease. Interestingly, only one horsefly out of six million is likely to pick up and transmit EIAV from this horse.
If you have a cat, dog or horse, be sure to regularly check your animal with the use of veterinary diagnostics companies for their and your own welfare.