Prevalence of heartworm in relocated, local and outreach clinic dogs: A Canadian sheltering perspective

摘要

This study reports heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) prevalence in dogs tested by an animal shelter located in a low-prevalence region of Ontario, Canada. From 2015-2018, 4567 unique dogs were tested. The prevalence of heartworm was 3.9 %, with sub-prevalence of 0.3 % (2/662) for dogs surrendered within the Greater Toronto Area (both dogs were originally imported from the US); 6.6 % (130/1,981) for dogs relocated from beyond the Greater Toronto Area; 0% (0/1,668) for dogs tested at the shelter's public veterinary services clinic and 18.4 % (47/256) for owned dogs tested at outreach clinics at a First Nations community in south-eastern Ontario. More than half (54.7 %) of the heartworm-positive dogs originated from Canada. Most heartworm-positive dogs from the US (72/80; 90 %) were transferred from Texas and Georgia.