Just a few drops

As we have mentioned previously, heartworm disease is a progressive and serious disease which can become fatal if undetected and/or left untreated. Yearly heartworm testing is recommended, even for those pets receiving heartworm prevention, to help detect disease early on. Most patients do not show symptoms of disease early on.

Heartworm disease is detected via a blood test - often a test can be performed in the veterinary office however sometimes a sample has to be sent to an outside lab for confirmation ( often the case in cats because, of course, they cannot be simple!).  The test works by detecting the presence of heartworm proteins  within the blood stream. For dogs, a positive on the in house test is usually confirmatory however in cats, a secondary test must be sent out to the lab to determine if they are actively infected or just retaining antibodies from previous exposure. 

Annual testing is recommended, even if your pet is on yearly heartworm prevention. This test helps to ensure that the prevention is working and there have been no lapses in protection - let's face it, we all know at least 1 dog who spits the pill out when mom or dad aren't looking.  Heartworm prevention is highly effective however nothing is 100%  and we want to ensure your pets are not at risk. Beyond that, most heartworm prevention manufacturers will stand behind their products IF purchased through a licensed veterinarian and a yearly heartworm test is performed - this means that if Fido is taking his heartworm prevention each and every month but he tests positive, the manufacturer will often pay for a large portion (if not all) of his heartworm treatment. It's just a nice, peace-of-mind measure that by following your veterinarian's recommendation your pet is covered - both medically and financially.

We hope that you learned a little something through our heartworm disease poll - stay tuned for more questions and check out www.chestnutarborvet.com for more information regarding our hospital and the difference in veterinary care.