Driven by the underdiagnosis and undermanagement of heartworm disease in cats, the American Heartworm Society outlined four main reasons for recommending routine heartworm screening in cats:
- aiding diagnosis in symptomatic cats
- monitoring heartworm-positive cases
- establishing baselines before preventive treatment
- assessing heartworm risk in specific areas
Source: American Heartworm Society, November 2024. Link. The revised guidelines advise using both antigen and antibody tests, with antigen tests performed on heat-treated serum to improve accuracy. Antigen-antibody complexes in feline samples are more likely to yield positive results after heat treatment than canine samples.
Heartworm infection in cats is a risk wherever heartworm infection occurs in dogs . . . heartworm is considered at least regionally endemic in each of the contiguous 48 states of the U.S.”
Image credit: Felix Cat Insurance
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