Don’t skip heartworm prevention for your feline friends, vets warn
Don’t skip heartworm prevention for your feline friends, vets warn
2024-09-02
Heartworm prevention medication – is it friend or foe? That’s the question being asked by Taiwan’s cat lovers. According to an online rumor, heartworm pills can cause neurological harm or even death in certain cats. But now veterinarians are setting the record straight.
Here at the vet’s office, a reluctant cat gets checked for heartworm, as its parents try to soothe it.
Cat owner
I think we do one of these full-body exams once a year. I’ve heard that heartworm is very hard to treat.
According to an online rumor, heartworm prevention medication can cause neurological harm or even death in certain cats. But veterinarians are quick to clarify. They say the risk is limited to a small number of cats with a rare genetic issue. And not all cats with the genetic issue will react badly.
Wong Jun-yue
Taiwan Academy of Veterinary Internal Medicine president
We’re getting one or two phone calls about this every day. It’s a pretty common concern at vet clinics. But the actual occurrence rate of this specific reaction is not high. It’s between 1 in 10,000 and 3 in 10,000.
The fatality rate of feline heartworm disease is nearly 100%, yet very few cat owners take precautions. Vets estimate only about 10% to 15% of cat owners regularly use preventative medication. In a 2015 survey, 22.8% of untreated dogs contracted heartworm, compared to just 6.7% of cats. This may explain why many cat owners are less vigilant.
Tsai Yi-lun
Veterinary medicine professor
Heartworm is a mosquito-borne parasite that’s fairly common in Taiwan. Whether it’s our warm temperatures or humid climate, we have the ideal conditions for mosquitoes. So both dogs and cats can contract heartworm relatively easily here.
Experts say that both dogs and cats are vulnerable to heartworm, which can be detected using ultrasounds or blood tests. Although feline heartworm disease can be managed, there is currently no effective treatment. Experts stress that when it comes to heartworm, the best way to protect a pet is prevention.
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"基因缺陷貓"不能用心絲蟲藥? 獸醫:極少數有特殊反應
2024-09-02
貓狗感染心絲蟲，是寵物飼主的夢魘，但不少人認為貓咪感染心絲蟲機率低，而輕忽風險，加上近期網路盛傳，驅蟲藥物恐怕導致部分基因缺陷的貓咪神經中毒、甚至死亡，讓不少貓咪飼主輕視了心絲蟲風險，獸醫師認為，只有極少數貓咪會由於基因缺陷而有特殊反應，而且貓咪感染心絲蟲致死率極高，接近100％，提醒注意相關風險。
小貓咪來看門診做心絲蟲檢查，儘管露出擔心害怕神情，飼主極力安慰。
[[貓咪飼主]]
“感覺一年就一次，來做個全身體檢。聽說是不是得了(心絲蟲)不太容易治好”
貓奴界討論重點，放在心絲蟲驅蟲藥物，恐怕會造成貓咪神經中毒、甚至死亡，但獸醫師澄清這是指特定基因缺陷貓咪，而且並非所有這類貓咪用藥都出現神經問題。
[[台灣貓科醫學會理事長 翁浚岳]]
“每一天大概都有一兩通電話諮詢，比例蠻高的，所以在門診上面，都會被諮詢到，這(特殊反應)發生比例真的不高，因為大概只有萬分之一，到萬分之三左右的比例”
儘管貓咪罹患心絲蟲的致死率接近百分之百，預防心絲蟲的貓咪飼主還是少的可憐，臨床觀察只有約10到15%飼主定期為貓咪投藥，加上2015年統計，台灣寵物沒有預防心絲蟲的話，狗狗染病盛行率22.8%，貓咪只有6.7%，相差甚遠，讓飼主們對心絲蟲預防興趣缺缺。
[[屏科大獸醫學院獸醫學系教授 蔡宜倫]]
“心絲蟲牠是一個由蚊子所媒介的一種線蟲的疾病，在台灣算是蠻常見的，不管是溫度、濕度等等，是非常適合蚊子存在的，所以這樣的一個媒介就會讓心絲蟲，牠在不管是狗、貓，都是蠻容易受到感染的”
學者指出，在台灣犬貓都容易得到心絲蟲疾病，臨床獸醫師也有超音波和抽血快篩等等武器能對付心絲蟲，即便現階段貓咪感染心絲蟲無藥可醫，但病情依然能得到控制，因此預防心絲蟲，狗奴貓奴都不能大意。
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