When to Test for Heartworm and Lyme???
The timing of when to assess your pet for these infections is strategic and one needs to consider how these vastly different parasites infect our pets. If your annual checkup and blood panel takes place in late summer or early late fall, you might want to consider putting off the test to early spring. However, you might want to consider the test now.
The heartworm incubation gap is approximately 6 months after an infected mosquito bites a dog for adult heartworms to mature and produce enough antigens to trigger a positive test. Testing in the spring checks whether your dog contracted heartworm during the previous fall or summer. Temperatures must stay above a certain level consistently for approximately 14 days for the microflorae to survive and transmitted to a new host. This takes place in mid late summer. In Ontario, these minimum temperatures are rarely met for two weeks straight. As a result, the incidence heartworm in Ontario is extremely low.
It is best to test for heartworm in the spring.
Lyme and Tick-Borne screening are a whole other ball game. Lyme does not need a minimum temperature to be successfully transmitted. It just needs an active tick to attach to our pet and pass on the disease. This activity starts in early spring (sometimes in late winter if an early thaw occurs). It can continue through to late fall early winter.
The test used by your vet to screen for both heartworm and Lyme is the Snap 4Dx Plus blood test. Your decision to test for Lyme will be very dependent on whether you have identified that your dog has been bitten by a tick as well as a positive identification it was a deer tick or black legged tick. It takes approximately 6 weeks for Lyme to show up in a test so this will dictate when you decide to have the test done. It is important to understand that not all deer ticks carry Lyme. Not all bites will transmit Lyme. Many healthy dogs that are infected with Lyme are asymptomatic as their immune system keeps the disease under control.
If you would like to learn more about dealing with the potential of Lyme disease and our pets, you can click https://www.backtothebone.ca/blogs/main/tick-season-is-worse-than-ever-what-pet-parents-ne/
So, testing for these two different diseases might be done at separate times of the year. It is dependent on whether your dog has been bitten by a tick. If your pet has been tick-free for the year, test in the spring. If your dog has been bitten and you need peace of mind, you might be testing in the summer/fall.
A quick message to those who have included a natural prevention to ticks and fleas, these critters will continue to be around for the next couple of months into late fall. Maintain your natural defence that you have been using all summer long.
The Proof is in The Poop!!!