by The Sydney Animal Hospital is recommending all dogs be put on preventive medication after diagnosing a six-month-old puppy with heartworm.
Heartworm is a highly infectious disease spread through mosquito bites.
Larvae from the bites mature into a worm that lives inside the dog’s heart.
The Animal Hospital’s Charlotte Ramey says the disease is potentially life-threatening.
She adds although the disease was caught in the puppy before it started showing symptoms, it will still need treatment for a year.
The last detected case of heartworm in Cape Breton was in 2011.
Ramey says that case and the new one were both found in dogs from the Lingan Road area.
She goes on to say heartworm is an emerging disease in Cape Breton.