Absolutely. Kind of back to that point of prevention not being 100%, we recommend an annual heartworm test, whether it be during your annual wellness blood work or that snap test. The latter is a very quick test involving getting just a few drops to rule out that they don't have heartworm disease. If they do, the treatment's very different than prevention.

No prevention is 100%, but the ones prescribed by your veterinarian give you your best chance of preventing something like heartworm disease. And a lot of those are actually backed by multimillion-dollar companies that really believe in research and their products.

Some are labeled for around six to eight weeks, so that first puppy vaccine appointment is a great time for a lot of things.

Some people do treat their yard for mosquitoes, which can be helpful in reducing the mosquito population and, therefore, the risk. But all it really takes is one mosquito that carries heartworm larva to bite your dog and cause heartworm disease. So, again, even if you're doing the best treatment possible, even if you think there's a minimal risk of exposure to mosquitoes, I would recommend monthly heartworm preventative.

The actual components or the medical components of it may differ, depending on the type of prevention that you're giving. But like I said earlier, the heartworm prevention types are oral, topical, or injections by your vet.

Typically, yes. We recommend a heartworm test every year for monitoring. We want to make sure our products are continuing to be effective. We want to make sure there's been no lapse in coverage. We want to make sure that resistant heartworms aren't sneaking their way up the body and becoming a problem for our dogs. So we recommend a heartworm preventative every month, and we do recommend a heartworm test every year for the safety of your dogs and to make sure our products are continuing to be effective.

Heartworms are prevented by an easy oral chewable tablet or an injectable that lasts six months. I prefer the latter because you don't skip doses, you don't have to retest, and you know your pets are getting the prevention they need.

When given every month, year-round heartworm prevention is very effective. Again, it kills the larval stages before they can develop into adult heartworms, and adult heartworms are really what cause the problem in dogs. The American Heartworm Society recommends monthly, year-round heartworm prevention for all dogs, especially in coastal and hot areas. We're sort of borderline here, but I don't think that we can count on mosquitoes that transmit heartworm disease to die reliably, so I don't think that there should be any break in heartworm prevention, and that's how it's going to be most effective.

We recommend starting heartworm prevention at eight weeks for all of our patients. So when they come in for their puppy exam, we typically give a first puppy dose of heartworm preventative based on the weight and what the owner wants to do in the long-term as far as giving those preventative, and we discuss the options with you.

The best way to prevent heartworm disease in dogs is by getting a product from your veterinarian, whether it be orally, topically administered by you at home, or injections that can be administered by your veterinarian every six to 12 months.