A rainy week in Corpus Christi has left behind stagnant water, creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes that can transmit potentially fatal heartworm disease to dogs.
I spoke with local experts about the alarming number of cases in the area and how pet owners can protect their animals.
Scott Bugai, a veterinarian and surgeon at PAAC, said the connection between the weather and the disease is simple.
"The more rain we have, the more mosquitoes we have. The more mosquitoes we have, the more heartworms we have. It's a simple formula," Bugai said.
Cheryl Martinez, CEO of PAAC, said the organization sees a lot of heartworm-positive animals.
"I can tell you just our last clinic, out of 15 animals, over 60% of them were all positive on all the tests, and that was just one of our clinics," Martinez said.
Preventing heartworm does not have to break the bank, but waiting too long can be costly.
"Heartworm prevention might end up costing you about $7 to $10 a month. Treatment is thousands of dollars. I always tell people it's cheaper to prevent than it is to treat it," Martinez said.
For those with standing water or rain barrels in their yards, dropping mosquito dunks into the water can stop mosquito larvae from forming. The dunks are safe for animals and wildlife.
If a dog already has heartworm, the treatment is expensive and requires a difficult recovery process.
"They're on the antibiotics, and then 60 days later is when we start the injections, which are tough because your animal is going to have to be on pretty much cage rest or very restricted activity for months. It's a tough process on them. It's tough on the families," Martinez said.
The easiest way to avoid the difficult treatment is to think ahead.
"If you're going to live in South Texas, you need to have your dogs checked for heartworms and be on some sort of preventative," Bugai said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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