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Heartworms in 10-week-old puppies: Is it possible? What to do?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

If a 10 week old puppy has heartworms,how long do they have to live? If they live,what kinds of medications would they have to be on? and what do heartworms in a 10 week old puppy look like?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Laura Bailey, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 23rd, 2018

A 10 week old puppy is too young to have a heartworm infection. Your puppy could have heartworm larvae circulating in his blood but the adult heart worms take 4-6 months to develop in the heart. I usually start puppies on a monthly heartworm preventative when they are around 12 wks old. This will kill the larvae and prevent the adult heart worms from infecting the heart. If you haven’t already taken your puppy to see a veterinarian for his puppy vaccines and dewormer, you should do that as soon as you get a chance to prevent him from getting sick. Hope this has helped. Good luck with your new puppy. Thank you for using pet coach.

12Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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