That's a good question and one that I think has gotten lost in the shuffle over the years. The answer to the question is, no, they're not very common in cats. And there's a couple of reasons why. First off, I want to share with you some figures, just to impress upon you how much of a different disease this is in dogs and cats. First off, if you took 100 dogs and gave them heartworm disease in a lab, you would pretty much have 100% of those dogs test positive for heartworms in a matter of a few months. This is because dogs are the natural hosts for heartworm disease. Cats are not, but they can contract it. The same study was presented to me as if you took 100 cats and exposed them to heartworms; you’re probably going to get anywhere between 5 and 15 of those guys come up positive. This is because they’re much more naturally resistant to the disease.

The other thing that I always thought was interesting, in dogs, especially in larger dogs, it’s not unusual to have a considerable population, 20, 30, maybe even more than that, worms that reside in the heart of a dog. Whereas in cats, it's much smaller. One or two worms in a cat, and you typically have a pretty significant, I would argue, life-threatening infection in a cat.

It's not common for that reason. Cats are naturally resistant to it to some degree, but I would also argue that it is a much more serious disease if they do contract it.

Again, depending on the type of procedure, I generally tell owners not to feed them immediately when they go home. They might be hungry, as, in many procedures, they're fasted, or we've withheld their food. But when they do that, sometimes they go home, and they gorge and then vomit, and then you get concerned and call us. Generally, after you get them home for a few hours, feed them about 50% of what you would normally feed them. If they don't eat, that's okay. I'm not too concerned about that. If they eat and act hungry, don't feed them anymore for three or four hours later. Let that food settle because they're kind of like kids; they don't always know what's best for them, and they might overeat.

I don't generally tend to change food, because again, you don't want to add in one more factor that can cause an upset stomach, but let's say they had a dental procedure and had several extractions; we might talk about softening their food during that time.

I think that the breathing rate is a big one. You want to make sure the dog isn’t having any difficulty or labored breathing. Monitor their activity level. Does the dog respond to you? Are they aware of what's going on? Those would be two big ones that would be a little more obvious than others.

One of the most important things is to keep them in a quiet, less stressful environment. You staying calm will help them stay calm. If you're worrying, they might become more anxious because of that. Make sure that you ask all the questions before you take your dog home. Sometimes it's hard to remember all those questions, so write down any questions you might have. We tend to write down go-home instructions because when we talk to you, and when people talk to me, I don't always retain that, so I like to have a piece of paper just like this, where I can reference and look at it. That has important information on how to take care of your pet. You want to make sure that if they had an incision or any stitches, they're not licking or chewing at those.

They might be drowsy; they might be a little drunk. One thing that we talk to clients about is we think about if we're in pain, if we were hurt or we have pain, we might be vocal about that. Pets aren't necessarily vocal when they're in pain because they want to hide that, and so if your pet goes home. They’re very vocal; that might be a side effect of the anesthesia where they don't necessarily know what's going on, and they're more vocal because they're a little confused versus that they're painful. That's one thing that's important to remember.