My dog missed a monthly heartworm/flea dose. Do I need a vet visit?

If you only missed 1 month, you should be fine. Just resume Heartgard right away . If you just want peace of mind, then you can have Lilly retested in 6 month from now; however, the chances of infection are pretty low. Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and best wishes with your pet Lilly. Take care!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Ellie should be fine. Missing 3-4 days should not be a critical time period when talking about heartworm prevention. Now missing that dose over longer time periods could potentially cause a problem due to the life cycle of the heartworm and what stages the medicine kills, since the heartworm goes through several larval stages once inside a dog or a cat. The best thing to do in your case is exactly what you did, give the dose as soon as you realize you missed it and of course, contact your vet for their advice. Ellie should be fine. Great question though. I wish you the best of luck with her.

Most of the monthly oral preventatives have a wide safety margin. Heartgrad is very safe, so if that is the preventative you use, then a second dose will not be harmful. If you use a different medication, check with your veterinarian before giving another dose.

If he has always been on it and hasn't missed any doses, then he should be fine to continue with the prevention. Now, that being said, no prevention is 100% effective so the reason we test every year is to check and make sure there was no break-though issues with the product. If a dog has heartworm disease there is a chance the prevention could cause a medical problem. In this case, I think the benefit of him taking the heartworm prevention outweighs the very tiny risk that he could be positive and have a reaction to the medication. Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes!

Murphy should be fine, especially if you are not in a heartworm endemic area. The meds will kill any circulating juveniles (microfilariae). Be sure to have him properly tested before the next dose. It takes 5-8 months for a female heartworm to mature into a reproducing adult. Ideally, every dog should be tested every 6 months but since most dogs are on meds year round (for the added intestinal parasite protection), once yearly testing is typical.

If you mean you have only been giving it once daily instead of twice daily then go ahead and give your pm dose tonight and tomorrow start your twice a day dosing as per the label (1 with breakfast and 1 with dinner). Just make sure you give with food as doxycycline can cause tummy upset. It is okay you have only missed a few days and will get back on track tomorrow. When your vet is open again just call to let them know so they can note it in his medical record. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Rocky should be ok. Heartworm disease is in fact transmitted by mosquitos. Thankfully in your location during the time missed there are not that many mosquitos around. It can take 6 months to show up positive on the test so I would recommend testing in October of this year the latest. I wouldn't stress too much. You can look out for coughing and exercise intolerance. Just continue giving the medication monthly at this point. Here is a website for the Heartworm Association if you have questions. https://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources Thank you for using PetCoach.