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.

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.

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

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.