Yes, if your dog tests positive for heartworm disease, additional tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis and determine the stage of the disease. These tests may include a complete blood count, urine tests to check for organ damage, chest x-rays to assess the lungs and heart size, and potentially a heart ultrasound.

Your dog should be screened for heartworm disease every year during their annual wellness checkup. This ensures that any possible infections are caught early and appropriate treatment can be initiated.

Your dog is tested for heartworm disease annually, ideally during their wellness checkup at the veterinarian. Veterinarians across North America recommend this testing, which is done through a blood test.

There are dental chews. We have some here with enzymes that help prevent that bacteria from attaching, which starts the cycle of dental disease forming. So again, if you can't brush your dog's teeth, using these chews can sometimes be a good alternative. I hope this has given you a little bit of information about brushing your dog's teeth and what you can do at home. None of these things will make it to where we never have to clean your dog's teeth. Unfortunately, it's a fact of life, just like with us. We have to have our teeth cleaned to keep everything healthy.

They can get cavities, but they don't typically happen as we get them. It's not very frequent that they get them, and it's even less frequent that we do a filling. However, that is something that can be done, but we don't worry as much about cavities in dogs as we do in people. They don't have the same sugar intake and things like that that really eat at that enamel. They do get other issues that need to be addressed, which can actually be worse than a cavity.

Toothbrushing is our gold standard for dental care at home. I use Greenies, treats, chews, and things like that in situations where you cannot brush your dog's teeth because the dog won't allow it or you just absolutely don't have the time, which I know none of us do. The next step would be to use treats and other things. Again, if you can brush their teeth, that's ideal.