Dr. Merrianne Burtch of Pacific Veterinary Specialists and her Birchbark Foundation having an in-depth discussion of heartworm disease with PetRadio's David Coursey.

While the disease is not common in Santa Cruz County, a hot-spot of persistent cases has been discovered in the Boulder Creek/Zayante area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Dogs living in that area should be tested for heartworms and then treated or placed on heartworm preventive medication, as recommended by your vet. The outbreak is not large enough to show up on this progressive heartworm incidence map.

Dr. Burtch uses a heartworm preventative monthly with her dog. All dog owners should consider it, if only because prevention is so much less expensive than curing the heartworm disease. Ask your vet.

Link to the American Heartworm Society as referred to by Dr. Burtch.

Heartworm Prevention for Dogs

Heartworm Medicine for Dogs