WHY DO VETS TEST FOR HEARTWORMS .....?

There are no Vets on this site so why not just call up YOUR Vet and ask them this, of course unless you think your Vet is less than honest.

Add: Better yet, call three different Vets other than your own and ask them. See if they ALL give you the same answer.

Add: One other thing I just thought of is that the Vet can not prove that you gave your dog the Heartworm preventative. Just because you bought it, doesn't prove you actually gave it to them. If a dog does have Heartworm, it's dangerous to give them a Heartworm preventative depending on the stage of the condition, or to even give it to them at all. This would be my guess is to why they require it. They do pay a LOT of money fomalpracticece insurance, but they don't actually want to be sued for administering a med that COULD kill the dog if it did have Heartworm.

Why do you treat your dog with heartworm medication if you really believe the chances are 1 in a millon of the dog getting it. Heartworm was not rare long ago the vet. just didn't know what it was or what was causeing it. Now we do. Check the site below. Heartworms has spread to all 50 states.

You are kidding, right? 1 in a million?

How about this? That million you mentioned is the estimated amount of POSITIVE dogs in the country right now, and guess what? The treatment drug is in such short supply that they are most likely all going to die.

http://www.abc-7.com/story/15334640/2011/08/25/hea...

Sure, if you don't give a rats a** about your dog, go for it.

And the other fact? Heartworms are beginning to build immunities to the current preventatives we use every month. That means that your dog could still get heartworm, even when on a preventative. Wouldn't you want to know that quickly, so you still have an opportunity to save your dog from a horrible death?

http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=379...

I suggest you stop whining about cost and do what is right for your animals, or don't own dogs.

I paintings in rescue and ALL canines must be Heartworm examined.i individually circulate with each and every 2 years if there is been no lapse interior the preventative being given each and each month for those 2 years.Many vets are leaning in direction of each and every 3 hundred and sixty 5 days using fact they use a three section try that still tests for lyme sickness.sure,it is genuine approximately in case you provide HW meds to a heartworm valuable canines that sure,it might desire to die.you relatively desire to learn this b/c the cost of treating a hw valuable canines is a lot extra desirable than the prevention.

A couple of points. Federal law requires a heart worm test before prescribing remedy. No sure about dogs already on remedy.

The other thing is sometime the remedies fail and the dog still gets heartworm.

I have to get my dogs checked because it is required for 4-H.

To make sure the dog does not get it. There is a good chance the dog can, even when given medication, get heart worms.

Honestly, I'd rather do the test and make sure my dog doesn't have it, then not do the test- and have that slim chance that the dog does have it and it go unnoticed and progress and risk my dog's health.

Edit: As Julie said, there are no vets on this site. Call and ask your dog's veterinarian on why.

Because if your dog gets them it could die. Also people treat for fleas and ticks with meds, but dogs still get them too. If you don't want to spend the money then don't, we don't heartworm our dogs, you can opt out of the test as well. Or you could as if the vet has Proheart (injectable the lasts 6 months)

In my opinion there shouldn't be a need for a heart worm test since the dog has been on the preventative years round & is utd on doses.

The major reason to test for heart worm is to see if the dog has heart worms. If there is a big infestation of them they have to be killed off slowly & not all at once. If the dog had heart worm & all the worms were killed at once, the dead would migrate through the blood stream & end up in the lungs & smother the dog.

I don't use a preventative. The area I live in is constantly sprayed for mosquitos.

Because even with preventative, dogs can and do get it.

It should NOT cost $80 to have a simple snap test done. You need to find another Vet if they're grossly over charging you like that.

because people don't treat their dogs so it is all around now

my vet told me my choice about treatment back in 80, i declined.

he then called two years later and said they was a case about 10 miles from me. i didn't let him finish, i put my dogs on heartgard

last year the one vet office treated five dogs for heart worms that i know of.

i would much rather treat my dog every year than take a chance of her getting

and having to be treated, long and painful treatment, costing more than $500