The Importance of the Yearly Heartworm Test

I get asked by my clients many times, why do we need to do the heartworm exam every year?. Some people may actually believe that this is some sort of scheme for us to make money running unnecessary tests. Well, this is no scheme and the annual heartworm test is really necessary. Here's an example. Recently one of our long term patients came to visit us for the annual preventative exam, parasite checks and indicated vaccines. This dedicated client had given heartworm preventative monthly for 10 years, and for 10 years the heartworm exam came back negative. This year though, the test came back positive. This dog has heartworm disease, a life threathening condition. Thanks to yearly testing, we caught it early and we'll begin treatment as soon as possible and hopefully everything will go well. Moral of the story: yearly heartworm exams are REALLY IMPORTANT!

Final Note: Heartworm preventatives are 99% effective in preventing heartworm disease and they are guaranteed by the manufacturer. The manufacturer would have payed for the heartworm treatment for this dog, but the owner bought the preventative in an online pharmacy, thus voiding any guarantee made by the pharmaceutical company. The costs incurred in treating heartworm disease will range from $600 to $800. I will talk about this on my next blog.