I recently lost the sweetest, most adorable little 1 1/2 year old cinnamon girl to heartworm disease. Ashley was only with me for 2 months and seemed perfectly healthy. It had been an instant bond the day I picked her up. We played one Sat night,she was sleeping Sun morning and when I came home from work she was dead. Her previous owners had not protected her and it was too late by the time I got her. I used to wonder if it was a little overprotective to treat my guys for heartworms since the risk seemed so small but that question was answered for me the hard way. My guys hearts will stay protected and mine will never recover. Fuzzy hugs, Yvonne [Posted in FML issue 4634]