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Heartworm Life Cycle Illustration

Heartworm Life Cycle Illustration

Heartworm transmission and development are complex and can be challenging to explain. The AHS has created illustrations to help you educate staff members and clients about the following:

  • The role of mosquitoes in the heartworm life cycle and how they transmit heartworms to pets
  • The difference between dogs, as primary hosts, and cats and ferrets, which are susceptible to heartworm infection but atypical hosts
  • How and when heartworm preventives work
  • The gap in time between when pets become infected and when they can test positive on a heartworm antigen test
  • The lifespan of heartworms in different pets

Depending on whether you are training veterinary staff members or educating pet owners, the life cycle illustrations below can be used to help you explain transmission, prevention, testing and treatment of this important parasite.

The American Heartworm Society has updated the heartworm life cycle for use in the veterinary clinic and for pet owners.

Both versions are available in either color or black and white. Click on the life cycle you would prefer to download and print.

Heartworm Life Cycle (Pet Owners)

Heartworm Life Cycle (Pet Owners)

Category: Heartworm Awareness Month Posters
Canine | Feline | Prevention | Diagnosis | Life Cycle | Veterinary Professionals | Pet Owners

Download PDF
Heartworm Life Cycle (Veterinary Professionals)

Heartworm Life Cycle (Veterinary Professionals)

Category: Heartworm Awareness Month Posters
Canine | Feline | Prevention | Diagnosis | Life Cycle | Veterinary Professionals | Pet Owners

Download PDF

The colors are changing but your clients’ heartworm prevention programs shouldn’t. To help spice up your client outreach programs this fall, the AHS has created a new set of posters you can print or post on your social pages.

To keep this message front and center with your clients, we’re sharing a set of new posters you can print OR post on your Facebook or Instagram page.

  • To save or print a poster, just click on the image below, then click on the “download” button and save the PDF file.
  • To save a poster for use on your social pages, simply open the downloaded poster, then right click on the file and follow the menu instructions to save the file as a JPEG image.

For more client tools, be sure to visit the Resource Center. And if you don’t already, make sure you’re sharing our Facebook and Instagram posts!

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