Are heartworms visible?

They’re not visible. It's not like any worms that you could see in the poop or the stool, sometimes when dogs do have internal intestinal parasites, as this is one that lives in the bloodstream. The only way to really visualize them is with the use of imaging like x-rays or ultrasound. So they're not visible on just examination, you need other special tools to help you take a look at them.

Heartworms are visible via ultrasound in some cases. You will not see them because they live inside the heart and the pulmonary arteries, so you’d need some advanced imaging to be able to see them.

Not to the naked eye. I always tell my clients I wish I had these special x-ray goggles where I could just look into their pet to see if they were there, but they haven't made those yet. So no, they're not visible. They're living in your pet's circulatory system in their bloodstream.

Heartworms are not visible on the outside of the dog. We can see the baby parasite called the microfilaria under our microscope of the blood drop, and we can see the adults in the heart with the naked eye.

No, heartworms are not visible. Both the microfilaria (transmitted from the mosquito) and the adult heartworm live inside the heart, lungs, and major vessels. They are not visible when looking at your dog.

Heartworms are not normally visible unless they are not inside the heart. It's rare, but occasionally they can migrate to other organs, including the skin, and in these cases, you might see them crawling through there.