Dear Dr. Woof:

Another Chicken

Dear Chick:

As you know, you take your pills during and until about two months after the mosquito season because the disease is transmitted from dog to dog only through the bite of a mosquito. When a contaminated mosquito bites a dog it passes infective larvae into the dog. Your preventative medication stops the larvae from maturing, a process that takes about 5 or 6 months. However, if taken by a dog who is harboring mature heartworms, the medication could prove fatal. So, for your continued good health, it is essential that your doctor be absolutely certain that you test negative before you resume your medication each spring. If you did have heartworm a different type of treatment and medication would be prescribed.

Summer 1988