Heartworm testing in dogs is a simple process that involves only a few drops of blood. In many hospitals, it can be done extremely quickly, often in a matter of a few moments. Currently available heartworm tests are accurate and reliable.
What Dogs Should be Tested for Heartworms?
Any dog over the age of six months should be tested for heartworms. Dogs younger than six months of age do not generally need to be tested for heartworms but should be placed on heartworm preventive medication. The reason for the recommendation to test dogs six months of age and older for heartworms is due to the fact that it takes heartworms four to six months to mature and be detectable with heartworm testing. Prior to six months of age, it is nearly impossible for a dog to have a positive heartworm test.
Most dogs should be tested every 6-12 months for heartworms, even if receiving heartworm prevention medicine. There are many reasons for this:
- dog owners may not be compliant with giving medication as directed, often without being aware of the fact
- dogs may not be compliant about taking medications administered by dog owners, particularly if the medication is oral
- heartworms are less likely to cause serious damage if heartworm disease is detected early
- heartworm treatment is likely to be safer and more effective if heartworms disease is detected early
Annual Heartworm Testing is Necessary Because Sometimes Owners are Non-Compliant
All of us lead busy lives and it is not difficult to forget small things in our daily routines, particularly when the item is one that is done on a monthly basis. Sometimes, the time just gets away from us and we do not realize that it has been more than a month since we administered the heartworm preventive medicine to our dog. Other times, we may not have the heartworm medicine readily available and may need to postpone a dosage until we are able to get to the veterinary office to purchase the heartworm medicine or wait for it to come in the mail. Another scenario might involve two dog owners, each of which believes the other has administered the heartworm preventive medicine for the dog when the truth is that the dog has not yet received the heartworm preventive medicine. Whatever the reason, sometimes life takes over, other events occur and the heartworm preventive medicine does not get administered to the family dog, leaving the dog susceptible to heartworm infection and disease.
Annual Heartworm Testing is Necessary Because Sometimes Dogs are Non-Compliant
We have all seen dogs that did not like to take medication. Dogs can be very clever, often appearing to have swallowed medicine which in fact has not been swallowed. Chewable flavored heartworm preventive medicines make this less likely, but still not impossible.
In addition, it is not impossible for a dog to vomit shortly after taking medicines of any type. Vomiting may the result of eating grass, chewing on plants, ingesting other foreign objects, viral infections, an “upset stomach”, and a host of other reasons. While occasional vomiting in itself may not be serious, if the dog vomits shortly after receiving the heartworm preventive medicine, he may also vomit the heartworm preventive medicine along with the rest of the stomach contents. Vomiting like this would be no different than if the dog never swallowed the heartworm preventive medicine and would result in the dog being susceptible to heartworm infection and disease.
Annual Heartworm Testing Provides Early Diagnosis of Heartworm Infection and Disease
Heartworm infection in dogs can lead to serious damage of the heart and can lead to heart failure and other symptoms. However, this damage does not take place overnight. When heartworm infection is detected soon after infection, the time the heartworms have to damage the heart is shortened.
Early diagnosis of heartworm infection is achieved by testing for heartworms annually. Annual heartworm testing can allow earlier treatment, reducing the chance of serious damage to the heart of the infected dog.
Annual Heartworm Testing Allows Early Treatment of Heartworm Infections
Treatment of heartworms in dogs is safer now than it was previously. However, heartworm treatment is still not without risk. Heartworm treatment which is performed early in the course of disease before serious illness is observed is safer for the dog, with less risk of adverse side effects occurring. Treatment of heartworms is also more likely to be successful early in the course of disease, again because of the lower risk of adverse side effects.
Annual heartworm testing allows earlier treatment of heartworm disease by allowing earlier detection of disease. For this reason, many veterinarians recommend yearly (or sometimes semi-yearly) heartworm testing for most dogs.
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It is nice to definitely locate a blog where the blogger is polished. Thanks for creating your blog.
I have considered adding video and may do so in the (hopefully near) future. I just need to figure out how the technology works first
If heartworm testing is going to be required on a yearly basis, it should be affordable. Those living on a very limited income (those on disability, social security, etc) have a difficult enough time providing the medication for their pets. Throw in the cost of the testing in addition to the preventative care, and it is not difficutlt to see why so many people are giving up their dogs, even deserting them. It is also interesting that the heartworm medication manufacturers guarantee the treatments. Good luck collecting on that guarantee. They will simply blame the dogs’ owners for not administering the medication properly. What a way for vets to rake in more money. We used to treat dogs for heartworms with only on etest performed when we first obtaine the pet. Now we are told that’s not good enough. Funny thing…it was good enough for my dogs who lived to be 10, 14, 16, 21…and didn’t die from heartworms.
Patrice, I can certainly understand your frustrations. The cost of owning a pet can be high and I understand completely that some people may have difficulty finding the finances, especially in today’s economy. And believe me, I sympathize with those in that situation. For most of us, our pets are important parts of our lives and we don’t like to think about not being able to offer them the very best care. As a veterinarian, when a client finds themselves in that situation, I do my best to work within their budget whenever possible. I know there are a lot of my colleages that do too.
You are right that some dogs will never develop heartworms. Some will never develop heartworms even if they don’t take preventive medication. But that doesn’t mean the potential does not exist for infection. And it also doesn’t relieve my colleagues and I, as veterinarians, of the responsibility of advising our clients of this fact.
I’ve been practicing veterinary medicine for well over 20 years now and the recommendation during that time period has always been to test annually for heartworms. So, this is not a new recommendation. In my professional opinion, performing only one heartworm test over a dog’s entire lifetime has never been “good enough”. Testing annually for heartworms is a preventive procedure that is recommended because of the fact that heartworms can cause major damage to a dog’s organ systems. This damage can occur before clinical signs appear and treatment is much more likely to be successful if infection is detected in the early stages, before clinical signs appear. It’s not all that different than regularly testing blood pressure for a human patient that is taking blood pressure medication, for example. You test the blood pressure to make sure the medication is doing it’s job. No doctor would ever think of starting a patient on blood pressure medication without ever testing the patient’s blood pressure again, even knowing the patient is religiously taking the medication. Heartworm medications are quite effective in most situations to the best of our knowledge. But no medication is 100% effective. And recently, concerns have been raised about heartworm resistance to heartworm preventive medications in certain areas of the country. So, annual testing is just a safeguard to keep your dog as healthy as possible.
In all honesty, Patrice, heartworm testing is not a huge profit center, at least not in my practice. We don’t charge that much more than what it costs us to do the test for our patients. If I really wanted to “rake in more money”, I could do that easily by not recommending heartworm testing or prevention and then treating the heartworm positive dogs that come to me. Believe me, that would be much more profitable. But, it’s not about the money. It’s about what’s best for the pet.
I’m interested in hearing about your experiences with the manufacturers of heartworm preventive medicines. I personally have never had problems with them not honoring their obligations relating to the guarantee. Admittedly, I’ve only had the situation arise a handful of times (thankfully) and usually in regards to intestinal parasite claims and not heartworm claims. In those rare instances, the manufacturers were quite concerned and helpful and they paid the fees as promised. If you have had other experiences, please do share them with us. I’d love to hear about them and it would be valuable to pass this type of information along to other readers as well.
Thank you, Patrice, for taking the time to share your opinions. I appreciate that you have addressed some important points that many pet owners worry about.
Thank you for posting this article containing valuable information. I take my dog to the vet for a check once in a fortnight as he is quite young.
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