Blue

Queen

Every year, tens of thousands of dogs die from heartworm disease. You probably know that this deadly disease is transmitted by mosquitoes — a mosquito bites an infected dog, and then bites an unprotected dog. That’s all it takes. Heartbreaking, isn’t it?

It’s expensive and can even be risky to treat a dog with heartworms. Yet it’s so easily prevented with a monthly chewable tablet that most dogs enjoy.

At Operation Kindness, we test all dogs for heartworm disease. If they’re negative, we start them on the preventive and continue it each month until they’re adopted.   If they test positive — like each of the precious dogs above— we treat them.

Last year, Operation Kindness tested 1,103 dogs for heartworms, successfully treated 103 dogs with heartworms, and the preventive was given to an average of 141 dogs and puppies each month.   

As you can imagine, it’s costly to test every dog that comes to Operation Kindness, provide the monthly preventive, and treat those that are infected with heartworms.   Each test costs about $5.25. We spend $60 every week just to provide preventive for the shelter dogs.    And the cost for treating a heartworm-positive dog averages $185-350, depending on the size and overall health of the dog.    That adds up to over $36,737 that Operation Kindness spent last year to test, treat and prevent heartworms in all our dogs.

This February, we’re hoping you’ll take our message to heart:    Help us keep the dogs and puppies at Operation Kindness “heart healthy” by making a donation today.

We know your heart’s in the right place.  So please make a contribution to our Heart-to-Heart campaign.