Heartworm Testing

Mosquitos are a major risk to your pet’s health because they are carriers for heartworms.

Internal and external parasites can make your pet (and in some cases, your family) sick. Using preventative medications appropriate for your pet’s lifestyle is important in the prevention of these diseases. We also perform yearly heartworm/tick-borne disease blood testing for our patients as well as fecal parasite testing.

Fleas and ticks also have the potential to transmit a number of different diseases (including Lyme, Anaplasma, and others) and are active when the temperature is above 0 to 4 degrees Celsius. Prevention is key in order to keep your pet healthy, and prevent live ticks from being carried into your personal environment.

If a dog or cat has heartworms, what symptoms should I look for?

Your pet may experience some, all or none of the following:

• Decreased appetite and/or weight loss
• Mild to persistent cough
• Fatigue
• Exercise intolerance

How does a dog or cat get heartworms?

Mosquitoes are the vector for the transmission of heartworms and a serious infection called heartworm disease. Intestinal parasites can also be transmitted from the soil, exposure to other animal feces or raw meats. We recommend parasite prevention in all pets either seasonally or year-round, depending on your pet’s lifestyle.

What are the treatment options for heartworms?

While treatment for a dog or cat infected with heartworm disease is possible, it is also risky, challenging and expensive. For this reason, prevention is the safest and most cost-efficient choice you can make for your pet.

Why is recovery for heartworm treatment so challenging?

Treatment for life-threatening heartworm disease is involved and expensive, making prevention and early detection very important. Prevention against heartworms is important from June 1 to November 1 each year. The disease is fortunately not particularly common in this area, but we do see positive cases each year.