My dog might have heartworm. How do vets test and treat it?

Question

Good day! I just wanted to ask about test..what test can be perform to check if a dog has a heartworm? and if positive what can i do about it? Thank you so much!:). Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Female | unspayed | 2 years and 5 months old | 20 lbs

Linda G, MS, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello, & thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. We usually do a test where the antigen to heartworms can be quantified using a very small amount of blood. There are many companies that make these tests & they usually are less than $40 to run. The test only takes 10 minutes & shows either positive or negative. If a dog has a significant number of heartworms, sometimes you can see them directly in a drop of blood under a microscope. If the test comes back positive, depending on the overall health of your pet, we start therapy first with a round of the antibiotic Doxycycline, then we use a form of medical grade arsenic, injected into a muscle, either 2 or 3 times over a short course of time. This will kill any adult heartworm that are in the heart & in the vasculature in the lungs. It sounds pretty intense, but most dogs come through very, very nicely. I hope this helps. Take care.

My dog might have heartworm. How do vets test and treat it?

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