Can I Get Heartworm Medicine Without a Vet?

Heartworm disease is a condition no pet owner wants their cat or dog to have. The condition is common but could be potentially deadly if the parasitic worm continues to breed and spread throughout the animal’s body without medication.

Thankfully, preventative medication for heartworms is available. Still, you might ask, “Can I get heartworm medicine without a vet?” Here, a top mobile veterinarian in Dallas, TX, answers that question and shares what you should know about this dangerous medical condition. 

What You Should Know About Heartworm Disease

While heartworms aren’t a contagious infectious disease, they can create serious health complications in many mammals, including cats and dogs. Heartworms are parasites that can reach up to a foot in length. Despite their name, heartworms can live in infected animals’ hearts, lungs, and blood vessels, leading to internal organ damage. 

These parasitic worms pass to cats and dogs through infected mosquito bites. Canines are natural heartworm hosts, so the parasites can live, mate, and procreate inside them. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for untreated dogs to have hundreds of worms in their bodies, causing lasting heart, lung, and artery damage. 

Surprisingly, heartworms don’t affect cats and dogs the same way. Unlike dogs, felines aren’t natural hosts to the parasite. Most heartworms won’t make it to their adult stages inside a cat, so an infected cat may only have a couple of adult worms or many immature heartworms. 

The lack of adult heartworms in cats means their presence can remain undetected or undiagnosed for longer than in dogs. However, the immature worms can cause heartworm-associated respiratory diseases or HARD.

Cats also can’t take the same pet medications infected dogs take to rid themselves of the worms. Preventing heartworms from infecting a cat is the only way to protect them. 

Do You Need a Prescription for Preventative Medication To Avoid Heartworms?

The short answer to “Can I get heartworm medicine without a vet?” is no. Preventative medication to kill immature heartworm larvae will require a prescription from a veterinarian for several reasons. 

The Federal Food and Drug Administration regulates all medications, including heartworm preventatives for pets. The FDA does this to ensure the medication works and is safe for animals to take. The FDA requires prescriptions for heartworm medication for safe usage. 

The medicine dogs and cats take to prevent heartworms isn’t a one-and-done situation. The medication period usually follows a monthly schedule.

If you give your cat or dog the medication with another drug to treat a different condition, the medicines could clash, leading to negative interactions and unwanted side effects in your pet. Since a veterinarian must prescribe the heartworm preventative, they can monitor your pet for complications and make necessary adjustments. 

Another reason prescriptions are necessary for heartworms is how the medicine works. The dosage for the heartworm preventative correlates to the cat or dog’s weight. If you bought the medicine outright without a prescription, you could unintentionally overdose or underdose your pet. 

When To Test Dogs for Heartworms

Many veterinarians recommend testing cats and dogs yearly for heartworms before prescribing a preventative. The blood test will alert the vet to existing infections and let them know if previous treatments are effective. 

If a dog already has heartworm, it might not show symptoms at first. However, as the condition progresses and more mature heartworms invade the dog’s heart and lungs, the dog may experience appetite changes, weight loss, fatigue, mild coughing, and an unwillingness to play or exercise. 

Though annual testing is necessary to avoid heartworm disease and related illnesses, it can be confusing to know when to make the appointment. Consider these heartworm testing guidelines for your dog:

• You can start puppies on heartworm preventatives at seven months or younger without a test. It takes around six months for infected dogs to test positive for heartworms. Book a heartworm test six months after the initial dose. 
• Dogs over seven months need a heartworm test to get a prescription for a preventative. They’ll need testing again six months after the first treatment and every 12 months after that.
• You must contact your veterinarian if you miss a dose. The dog must restart its monthly heartworm preventative and have another test six months after the last dose. 

When To Test Cats

Since cats don’t experience heartworms the same way dogs do, their symptoms can be different. In some cases, pet owners don’t realize their cats are sick until they collapse or pass away. 

The introduction of the parasites to the animal might not produce symptoms immediately, but cats can develop the following signs of a heartworm problem at different levels of severity:

• Asthma-like breathing problems
• Occasional vomiting
• Coughing
• Seizures
• Fluid build-up in the abdomen
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

Testing cats and getting a heartworm preventative prescription are essential to protecting their health. The infection is harder to detect in felines since they don’t have many adult heartworms, just the larvae. 

Instead of the typical blood test that dogs undergo, cats have antigen and antibody screenings to detect exposure to heartworm larvae. Sometimes, veterinarians will also use diagnostic imaging like ultrasounds or X-rays to visibly check for the presence of heartworms in a cat. 

Like adult dogs, cats need annual testing before getting the preventative medication. Their veterinarian will determine the appropriate retesting timeline according to each animal’s exposure to heartworms and risk of contracting the parasite. 

Book a Visit With a Vet Today To Test for Heartworms

Heartworm disease can severely affect your dog or cat’s quality of life. As a pet owner, you’re likely wondering, “Can I get heartworm medicine without a vet, or can I buy the pet medication?” Since the FDA regulates heartworm preventatives, you can get them by prescription only. 

At Penny Paws Animal Clinic, we offer a mobile vaccination service in Dallas, Texas, with heartworm testing. Our veterinarians can provide the pet prescriptions you need for your dog or cat. Contact us today at (817) 993-1234 or visit our contact page to schedule an appointment.