We recommend testing at least once a year. And that's per the American Heartworm Society. If you're in a heartworm-heavy area and maybe you're not keeping your pet on prevention, you could do it every six months, but the best protection is keeping your pet on prevention.

We test with blood, so we draw a couple of drops of blood from your pet. Many of them don't tend to mind it one bit. And we have a test here in-house that we run that lets us detect any of those adult female worms present in your dog.

If we don't treat that heartworm, as I said, it ultimately could cause the death of your dog. We obviously don't want that for your pet, and that's why we always recommend prevention.

Depending on which prevention you choose, it's going to be for the most part the same as any medication. So perhaps your dog has a sensitive stomach and you see a little bit of GI upset. If we're giving ProHeart here in the clinic, it's not uncommon to have a bit of injection site soreness, just like when they get a vaccine.

There are, but I think, the risks of some injection site soreness or having to do some exercise restriction or things like that with your dog are far better than treating your pet for the disease unless they have many other underlying conditions. But for the most part, I think it's much better to prevent than treat your pet for the disease.

The biggest one is that heartworm disease can kill your pet. That's why a lot of veterinarians or almost all veterinarians are so adamant about heartworm prevention—it is a disease that can kill.

If a mosquito can get into your house, then your pet can get heartworm.