How important is heartworm testing?

Question

Okay, so my neighbor purchased a dog about a year ago. The dog has no shots, tattoes and is not fixed. She has not even seen a vet. I told her that it was almost heartworm season, and she asked what it was. So I explained it to her and she called up the vet and asked how much it would cost. The vet said it was $150 including the medicine, and my neighbor says she can't afford it. I would offer to pay, but I own 7 dogs myself and there is no discounts available at this time. I was just wondering, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being extremely important and 1 meaning it doesn't really matter, how important would you say it is?

People, also remember to check back often because I usually reply to each message.

To the first person to post (sorry, I forgot your name), it's actually her sons dog, he's 17 and he has a job. He promised that he would pay for it, but now he's refusing to.

to CS, your welcome LOL.

There are plenty of other vets around here, but she doesn't drive (and neither do my parents), so there is no way for her to get her dog there. Busses don't allow dogs (even if they're in a kennel) and neither to Taxi's. She would have to walk, and this vet is the closest one to us. the $150 is for 6 months.

To Nedra E: Her dog is (unfortunately) a border collie/golden retriever cross. She is about 1 year old, and I would call Animal Control on her but I can't bring myself to do it. She has been our friend for quite a while, and her dog is very sweet. I would hate for them to get rid of her. I know that she could have a better life, but there are just so many dogs coming into the humane society that I'm almost positive that she'll be put down.

To Kate: Thanks, I was just surprised that she hasn't ever heard of heartworm, and that dog was not her first. I'm trying to convince her as much as I can, and my mom is doing the same. Hopefully she'll listen to us.

DP: Her dog hasn't had ANY shots, including rabies. I guess they just don't think it's important.

To everyone else: All of my dogs get annual shots, and they have just gotten theirs for this year about two weeks ago. They are all neutered, and my only female is spayed. They're microchipped, tattoed and licensed.

Thanks everybody. I'm going to show her this. Sometimes I guess you just need to hear it from other people. If she doesn't AT LEAST get her dog its first shots, then I'm going to have to call the Humane Society on her..

Answer 1

Some shelters operate or know of local subsidized veterinary clinics or veterinary assistance programs. You can find the name and number of your local shelter in the Yellow Pages of your phone book under "animal shelter," "animal control," or "humane society," or by calling Information. You can also go to www.Pets911.com and enter your zip code to find a list of animal shelters, animal control agencies, and other animal care organizations in your community. $10 a week isn't a big ask even for people on a low wage. No excuses!!

To see a regular vet it is about $35 just as a consultation. Then you have the testing and then the meds. It can easily end up being $150 if she has NEVER seen the vet before. Follow up exams are cheaper. It is disturbing to hear they wont pay that since if their dog had a bad accident and needed stitching or immediate care that they couldn't afford it. In THAT circumstance it can be considered as animal cruelty.

My dog is worth a 10. Dogs aren't worth 10s to alot of people. But you can't use "I can't afford it" as an excuse not to protect them from the bare essentials.

I would hesitate calling the Humane society on her, if for some reason the humane society doesn't enforce her or assist her with doing it the dog could end up untreated and then they probably wont have another voice of reason like you around. Do that as a last resort.

See state laws for rabies, she could be breaking laws by not vacinating:
http://www.animallaw.info/

Answer 2

Heartworm is a level 9 on the importance scale.
What I don't understand is why the vet charges $150 to do the heartworm testing. You should not pay for your neighbor's dog to have any treatments; it's her responsibility and you have enough to do with 7 dogs of your own.

What you can do for your friend is talk to your local humane society and ask them if there's any kind of clinic she can take the dog to in order to get the test done more cost effectively. Most places have rolling rabies clinics, so maybe there's a rolling clinic where the cost would be reasonable.

ALSO... it's VERY BAD that she has not had ANY shots for the dog. The highest risk is that she may lose the dog to Parvo whis is a level 10 on your scale of importance.

For your own dogs, do you give them their annual shots? I do. It's not all that hard. If you do, you could help her by letting her buy the 7-way canine vaccine and kennel cough and you could give her dog the shots if she provides the vaccine. That would save her the cost of the vet visit.

While only a vet can give rabies shots and do the testing for heartworms, the owner can save money by giving shots to the dog(s) at home, and doing the monthly treatment to prevent heartworm is easy to do at home.

Now, so long as her dog is NOT a Collie Breed, or related to Collie Breeds, she might be able to use Ivermectin Plain to do the Heartworm prevention at home and keep the cost down. You can google search for Ivermectin for Heartworm and read up on that. My blue heeler is a collie breed, and I didn't know it when I started him on Ivermectin. Since it didn't kill him, I can continue to use it.

Tattoes is not as important unless you have reason to worry about theft. Her dog should also be neutered, and maybe you could find a clinic for that as well. If not, this dog will surely get pregnant which your neighbor can't afford either.

I hope you can find her a clinic for the testing and hopefully for the neutering. If your humane society can't give you any leads, ask your local rescue groups.

She can't treat for heartworm without having the dog tested, for, if the dog has heartworm the heartworm prevention will kill the dog if the heartworm disease is not cured BEFORE prevention is started.

Answer 3

10 most definately. So many dogs die in agony because their family couldn't be bothered with such a minimal expense.

Interceptor (a heartworm preventative) cost about $80 a year. That's $6.67 a month. And there are even less expensive froms of preventatives. Dogs need to be tested annually. I'm not sure how much the blood draw is, and for them to analyze it, but they're also throwing in an office visit. Actual heartworm treatment is alot more expensive than $150.

See if your local Humane Society has discounted heartworm checks and vaccinations. Maybe a lower cost will light a fire under their butts.

Answer 4

This sounds like a classic case of someone who probably shouldn't own an animal.

It is EXTREMELY important to get your animal tested for heartworm. Heartworm is an ugly disease, literally, worms invade the heart and untreated the dog will die from it.

Rate it? How about a 20? The heartworm test also tests for heartworm, lymes disease and erlichia, it's called a Snap3DX test. The heartworm pills are given once a month all year long, at least my vet recommends it here.

The dog MUST have a rabies vaccination. MUST MUST MUST. It is the law. So, she is in violation. If she doesn't have a rabies vaccination, then she doesn't have her dog licensed with the town. Another violation.

You sound like a responsible and conscientious dog owner. You would be doing the dog a great service if you found a way to either a), get this person to take the dog to the doctor or b), get this person to relinquish custody to an animal shelter so that they can find the dog a home with someone who truly can care for him/her. I would opt for b, but that's JMHO though.

Answer 5

It's a 10. No. A 100! If you've ever seen a dog die from Heartworm you'd know.

If neighbor can't afford to get proper medical care for the dog, urge her to call the local shelter sometimes they can help with the costs or recommend a less expensive vet.

That being said, you call the local humane society or animal control and lodge a complaint about the dog being neglected. Then, there will be a record of someone calling when (not if) the dog should be even more neglected than he already is.

Answer 6

I would say a 10, meaning that it is extremely important. I adopted a dog from a shelter and he had had heartworm before we got him. He was still recuperating from the treatments to get him better when we adopted him. The treatment to kill heartworm is almost as bad as the heartworm itself. What happens is that the heartworms break up and if the dog exerts itself too much, the heartworms can settle into the lungs and kill the dogs that way too. He had to be in a crate for 6 weeks so that he didn't run around. It is much easier to prevent heartworm than to have to treat it. And most of the time, you don't catch it in time to treat it anyway. He was tested because he was a stray and that's how they caught it early enough for him to be saved. Heartworm preventative only costs about $10 per month depending on the size of the dog. I'm not sure about the cost for testing, because it's just included in my regular vet visit total. It does seem that $150 is a bit high. I would call around to some other vets offices and price around. If you are going to get her to take care of her dog, you are going to have to find a cheaper vet. I changed vets due to personality, not cost, and it turned out that the better trained and nicer vet only charged half of what the mean, unexperienced vet cost. For the preventative, you probably won't find much of a difference in price, but you could always ask.

If her dog has not been treated for anything, I would keep your dogs away from her yard. Not all vaccines work 100% of the time, so even if your dogs are vaccinated, they may not be as protected as you think they are. Good luck with convincing her to take care of her dog. This has really bummed me out. Why did she get a dog if she can't afford to take care of it????

Answer 7

10

Answer 8

Well, testing is important if you want to know whether or not your dog has heartworm.. The earlier you catch it, the earlier you can start treatment.
But if the dog has no shots, or anything else, it's apparent that the person isn't all that concerned about the dog. Likely if it developed heartworm, she would just allow the dog to die, wouldn't spend the money for the treatment.
I wouldn't even go over to the neighbours house.. If she isn't vaccinating her dog, or anything else, you risk bring home disease to your own dogs.
Her dog needs at very very least a rabies shot to be within the law.

Answer 9

The test is probably at most $40. (Where I live it's $30.) They can buy the Heartguard month by month. (That's how I buy it from my vet.) The cost varies by the size of the dog. I would guess it costs $150 including all the Heartguard. I live in the Northeastern US and we see dogs die from it here. It's a horrible disease; if left untreated the heart eventually falls apart. The treatment is risky and very expensive. To me it's a crime to get a dog, not take care of it and then either euthanize it or let it die. Rabies shots (required by law), spay/neuter, and heart worm prevention are at the top of the list for adult dogs in my mind. For puppies add distemper/parvo vaccines to that. In this area we have had both dogs and cats die of heartworm, and we're not even a big mosquito area. Please have them check with their vet on the month to month plan.

Answer 10

A 10. I dont know where she got that quote from but that vet is very high for just testing and the once a month treatment. I just had my dog into the vets for his yearly exam and he had 2 booster and heart worm test, office visit and 6 months of the heartworm meds and it cost me $125, and I have a large breed dog.
She needs to call around to a new vet and get someother pricing. She also needs some basic information on how to care for her dog.