Why do dogs need to be blood tested before starting heartworm medication?
answer Before starting a preventive program, all dogs should be tested for heartworms. Giving preventives to dogs that have adult heartworm infection can be harmful or even fatal to the pet. Adult heartworms produce millions of microscopic “baby” heartworms (called microfilaria) into the bloodstream. When you give a monthly heartworm preventive to a dog with circulating microfilaria, this can cause the sudden death of microfilaria, triggering a shock-type reaction. Even if your dog does not have this type of reaction, heartworm preventives do not kill the adult heartworms (although they may shorten the worms’ life expectancy). This means an infected dog will remain infected with adult heartworms. Unfortunately, as long as a pet remains infected, heartworm disease will progress and damage the heart and lungs, which can lead to life threatening problems. Giving heartworm preventives to heartworm-positive dogs can mislead an owner into thinking everything is all right, while within a pet,
Related Questions
- Does my dog really need to be tested every year for Heartworm disease since he is on year-round preventative medication?
- Why Do Veterinarians Recommend that Dogs Receiving Heartworm Preventive Medication be Tested Yearly for Heartworms?
- Why do dogs need blood tests before starting Heartworm disease prevention medication?
