Does Pet Insurance Cover Heartworm Medication? Accident and illness pet insurance policies don't cover heartworm prevention medication. However, if you purchase a pet insurance plan that offers a wellness coverage add-on, it may cover a portion or all of your dog's heartworm preventative needs.
If owners can't afford treatment at the time of diagnosis, Dr. Herrin recommended delaying melarsomine therapy but still initiating treatment with both a preventive and doxycycline. This will prevent further infection and remove the dog as a heartworm reservoir.
Determining the Stage of Heartworm Disease
The cost of chest x-rays generally varies from $125 to $200, and the cost of an echocardiogram may vary from $500 to $1,000.
Accident-only
As the name suggests, this is the most basic type of pet insurance and only covers treatment for injuries and accidents. Things like sterilization, deworming, vaccinations, and regular vet visits will need to be covered by you out of pocket.
NexGard SPECTRA® protects against fleas, ticks, mites, heartworm and intestinal worms. All these dog parasites, just one monthly chew.
Dogs can live for at least six to seven months after becoming infected with heartworms. This is because it takes that long for adult heartworms to grow. However, determining the exact date of infection is challenging.
No one wants to hear that their dog has heartworm, but the good news is that most infected dogs can be successfully treated. The goal is to first stabilize your dog if he is showing signs of disease, then kill all adult and immature worms while keeping the side effects of treatment to a minimum.
This usually includes: spaying and neutering, annual checkups, vaccinations, flea & tick control, heartworm medication, teeth cleaning, ear cleaning, and microchipping. These are almost always excluded from pet insurance coverage.
Most pet insurance providers don't cover flea and tick prevention in their base plans. Insurers see preventive care as an expected monthly cost pet parents can plan for, rather than an unpredictable expense they may need help covering. However, many companies offer preventive care add-ons for an extra monthly fee.
Common pre-existing conditions for cats:
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) Heart disease. Heartworm.
Many factors affect the cost associated with treating heartworm infection, including diagnostic testing, hospitalization, medication, and office visits. The current drug of choice is Immiticide, and due to manufacturing issues, is difficult to obtain and as a result is expensive.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen.
Melarsomine dihydrochloride (available under the trade names Immiticide and Diroban) is an arsenic-containing drug that is FDA-approved to kill adult heartworms in dogs. It's given by deep injection into the back muscles to treat dogs with stabilized class 1, 2, and 3 heartworm disease.
A diagnosis of heartworms is not a death sentence, even in a somewhat older dog.
A newer drug is available that does not have as many side effects, allowing successful treatment of more than 95% of dogs with heartworms.
Most of the monthly heartworm medicines have a safety factor of at least 15 days of protection if a dose is missed. This means that if you're just a week or two late, your pet is likely still within that window of protection and would be unlikely to become infected during that time.
Buying Heartworm Preventatives Online or In-Store
If you are not a current Banfield customer you will need to bring a prescription from your veterinarian to purchase the medications in the store. You can also buy many pet prescriptions at in-store pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS.
The American Animal Hospital Association places the average cost of preventative heartworm treatment for dogs at $5-$15 per month and the cost of treating a dog already diagnosed with heartworm at $400-$1,000. With both prevention and treatment, costs typically increase with the weight of the dog.
Yes, pet insurance for your dog can cover a portion of the cost of vaccinations, although it's generally an optional feature available on comprehensive policies.
Pet insurance doesn't usually cover routine treatment like flea and worm medication, so this is something you'll need to stay on top of yourself. You may be able to find a separate health plan that covers medications like flea and worm tablets.
Policies can include cover for: Veterinary fees - The cost of diagnosing and treating illnesses and/or injuries. This is the core cover provided by pet insurance and normally includes the cost of consultations, examinations, tests, x-rays, MRI/CT scans, medication, bandages, surgery, and hospitalisation.
Myth #3: If my pet has heartworms, I will see them in her feces. Although many worm types, such as roundworms and tiny hookworms, are shed in your pet's feces, heartworms do not live in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and are not found in feces.
If you forget a month of preventative, make sure to give the next 2 doses on time to "catch up" for that missed month. If you miss several months in a row, you should give your vet a call for advice on when to plan for the next heartworm test and how to get started back on preventatives.
Even if heartworm infection is treated, we all know it does serious, permanent damage to the body. This in-depth look at that damage will renew your commitment to consistent prevention recommendations for your veterinary patients.