Leave vet over heartworm medication policy?

[Anonymous]

I've been in rescue work for a very long time and have never heard of something this bizarre. Don't prescribe the med without a negative test. That's it. Hell yeah I would leave. Assuming your annual medical care is taken care of you'll have plenty of time to get in with a new vet regardless of wait times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s childish to feel insulted over their policy. If you don’t like their policy, that’s one thing, but expecting them to think, “but I like OP; she’s a nice person, so we won’t enforce the policy,” is silly on your part. If you’ve been with them five years and for thousands of dollars, sounds like you really trust them. Maybe the reason they have earned your trust is that they are super cautious, but this time it is to your detriment? At any rate, they won’t care if you leave, so do what makes you comfortable. I’d be looking at the overall picture and track record on vet care, not this one policy, though.

a customer who doesn't like a business' policy should absolutely stop going there

[Anonymous]

When was the negative test done? Generally the test is provided, cleared, and meds provided. So if the test was done before today, they need to repeat the test since they didn’t issue his most recent heart worm meds.

[Anonymous]

Get the heartworm test and move on. My vet tests my dogs every year because it's for the good of the dog. The meds can kill the dog if they are positive. You are being a PITA and vets are swamped right now.

Good luck finding another vet, BTW. They are fully booked everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When was the negative test done? Generally the test is provided, cleared, and meds provided. So if the test was done before today, they need to repeat the test since they didn’t issue his most recent heart worm meds.

Tests are supposed to be good for 12 month. You can't even detect the worms for at least 6 month even if the dog is positive because they need to become adults to trigger a positive result.

[Anonymous]

Giving a heartworm preventative to a positive dog can kill it. Your vet is doing the right thing to ask for a test.

See the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

"If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until it gets sick enough to show symptoms. Heartworm preventives do not kill adult heartworms. Also, giving a heartworm preventive to a dog infected with adult heartworms may be harmful or deadly."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get the heartworm test and move on. My vet tests my dogs every year because it's for the good of the dog. The meds can kill the dog if they are positive. You are being a PITA and vets are swamped right now.

Good luck finding another vet, BTW. They are fully booked everywhere.

I understood the OP to say that the vet required a test AND proof the dog was taking his meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Giving a heartworm preventative to a positive dog can kill it. Your vet is doing the right thing to ask for a test.

See the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

"If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until it gets sick enough to show symptoms. Heartworm preventives do not kill adult heartworms. Also, giving a heartworm preventive to a dog infected with adult heartworms may be harmful or deadly."

The dog WAS tested by the clinic in 2021 and had tested negative. To prescribe medicine they want that test AND proof he has been taking medication. The negative test done in 2021 alone will not get me medication at their clinic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving a heartworm preventative to a positive dog can kill it. Your vet is doing the right thing to ask for a test.

See the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

"If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until it gets sick enough to show symptoms. Heartworm preventives do not kill adult heartworms. Also, giving a heartworm preventive to a dog infected with adult heartworms may be harmful or deadly."

The dog WAS tested by the clinic in 2021 and had tested negative. To prescribe medicine they want that test AND proof he has been taking medication. The negative test done in 2021 alone will not get me medication at their clinic.

You keep saying 2021. Since the PP dug up the link on the impacts of having heart worms and taking the preventative. Your dog could have been infected the next day. The vet is right they need an updated test.

The prescription makes no sense. Either they are not explaining correctly or you are misunderstanding. If you want to continue with this vet, I would talk to the office manager or vet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving a heartworm preventative to a positive dog can kill it. Your vet is doing the right thing to ask for a test.

See the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

"If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until it gets sick enough to show symptoms. Heartworm preventives do not kill adult heartworms. Also, giving a heartworm preventive to a dog infected with adult heartworms may be harmful or deadly."

The dog WAS tested by the clinic in 2021 and had tested negative. To prescribe medicine they want that test AND proof he has been taking medication. The negative test done in 2021 alone will not get me medication at their clinic.

You keep saying 2021. Since the PP dug up the link on the impacts of having heart worms and taking the preventative. Your dog could have been infected the next day. The vet is right they need an updated test.

The prescription makes no sense. Either they are not explaining correctly or you are misunderstanding. If you want to continue with this vet, I would talk to the office manager or vet

Tests are supposed to be valid for 12 months. Nobody is having their pet tested daily or monthly. At best biannually. It takes months for the worms to grow into adults.

[Anonymous]

The recommendation is that heartworm testing happens every year. It’s not “good for a year” the heart worm test would
only show whether they were infected at the time of the test. So they want to make sure the dog has been on preventatives since their last test. I’m not sure what’s so confusing /upsetting. It makes sense to me. If they started prescribing meds now to a dog that was tested for heart worm 6 months ago and hasn’t been on preventatives and therefore could currently have heart worms they could kill the dog. Sounds like they are doing the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The recommendation is that heartworm testing happens every year. It’s not “good for a year” the heart worm test would
only show whether they were infected at the time of the test. So they want to make sure the dog has been on preventatives since their last test. I’m not sure what’s so confusing /upsetting. It makes sense to me. If they started prescribing meds now to a dog that was tested for heart worm 6 months ago and hasn’t been on preventatives and therefore could currently have heart worms they could kill the dog. Sounds like they are doing the right thing.

Former vet tech here. We have statistics on heartworm medication compliance. Only half of all pet owners test and give the drugs. Of that only half of those people consistently give it/don’t forget to give a dose. We’d have to test monthly to ensure this kind of compliance. The clinic is being weird. At my former clinic they’d be given the meds and told to come back when the 12 month period lapsed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Giving a heartworm preventative to a positive dog can kill it. Your vet is doing the right thing to ask for a test.

See the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/keep-worms-out-your-pets-heart-facts-about-heartworm-disease

"If a heartworm-positive dog is not tested before starting a preventive, the dog will remain infected with adult heartworms until it gets sick enough to show symptoms. Heartworm preventives do not kill adult heartworms. Also, giving a heartworm preventive to a dog infected with adult heartworms may be harmful or deadly."

The dog WAS tested by the clinic in 2021 and had tested negative. To prescribe medicine they want that test AND proof he has been taking medication. The negative test done in 2021 alone will not get me medication at their clinic.

You keep saying 2021. Since the PP dug up the link on the impacts of having heart worms and taking the preventative. Your dog could have been infected the next day. The vet is right they need an updated test.

The prescription makes no sense. Either they are not explaining correctly or you are misunderstanding. If you want to continue with this vet, I would talk to the office manager or vet

Tests are supposed to be valid for 12 months. Nobody is having their pet tested daily or monthly. At best biannually. It takes months for the worms to grow into adults.

Yes, were having them tested the day of their visit when the prescription is being given. You did not choose that option.

[Anonymous]

I find it weird that you took your dog to a random clinic for this test when you have been with this vet for years and spent thousands of dollars there.

Compliance is a problem. Why can't you show the negative test and pill pack? Seems like the easiest thing to do.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'd go elsewhere. The last time I got meds from my dog's practice, they mentioned that he must have run out 6 months before. Except, a friend's dog passed, she gave me his meds, and that's what my dog took during that time. I explained, and they refilled the script (he did have a negative test result as well).