We all love our pets. Often times they essentially become a part of the family. To put it into perspective, 63% of dog owners and 58% of people with cats even give their pet Christmas presents, according to a poll from PetFinder.com.

Unfortunately, the love we feel for our pets means that when they get sick, we end up feeling sick. And one of the leading sicknesses in both cats and dogs are heartworms. As many as one million dogs test positive for heartworms every year. So how can you prevent them from being infected? Here are a few steps to follow:

1. Don’t wait: Rather than waiting to see symptoms in your pet, find a veterinary clinical diagnostics laboratory to perform tests early on your pet. Puppies under seven months of age can begin taking heatworm prevention treatment with a canine heartworm antigen test, even though it takes at least six months for a dog to test positive after being infected.
2. Watch for mosquitoes Believe it or not, dogs and cats are infected with hearworms from being bitten by mosquitoes carrying the virus. Obviously you won’t be able to stop them from going outdoors, but you can still purchase pet friendly drug spray to thwart off the nasty pests. Make sure that it is pet friendly. They love to groom themselves and the last thing you want is them licking up hazardous chemicals.
3. Remain vigilant:

The occasional visit to the vet is not enough to to be sure that your pet is healthy. It’s recommended that dogs should be tested six months after their initial veterinary clinical diagnostics, and then again six months later. After this point they can be tested yearly.