When a patient is infected with heartworm, it can cause devastating and irreversible damage in dogs. Because of this, compliance is critical in the battle against heartworm and heartworm resistance in veterinary practice. So, how can we improve compliance?

Heartworm Surveillance: Staying Ahead of Resistance with New Research

 at the 2025 WVC Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Chris Adolph, DVM, MS, DACVM (Parasitology), shared the latest research on heartworm resistance surveillance to educate attendees on new data and help improve compliance.

“We're going to talk a little program study in the next few minutes, and I'm going to give you some new updates on what's really going on out there. Heartworm is maybe different than the last time you thought about it, and it makes a difference in which prevention you use, for sure,” Adolph kicked off his lecture with.

According to the American Heartworm Society (AHS), most cases of heartworm medication failure can be attributed to compliance issues. Even missing or delaying just one preventive dose can leave an animal vulnerable to infection.

Once a patient is infected with heartworm, the damage is often severe and irreversible. When diagnosing heartworm, veterinary teams typically determine that if a pet is unprotected, it is susceptible to infection. However, when a patient is taking medication as prescribed and still tests positive for heartworm, it signals an evolution in the parasite’s resistance over the past 40 years.

Adolph presented prevalence maps from the American Heartworm Society comparing data from 2001 to 2022, demonstrating the rise of heartworm resistance in the United States. He addressed skeptics—whom he referred to as “heartworm resistance deniers”—pointing out clear patterns emerging across the country.

Adolph also explained that the transportation of dogs across the country for adoption has contributed to the spread of resistant heartworms. Pet owners may unknowingly introduce heartworm-infected animals to regions where resistance was previously uncommon.

“How many of y'all live somewhere other than here, but you see dogs that their book started their life down there. Maybe you guys see these dogs. We're moving them all over the country. When you adopt a dog, guys adopt its parasites, okay, its package deal, right? And if they are resistant heartworms, they get in your ecosystem. And that's the ball game. Okay? Now they live there, right?” Adolph explained.

Between 2013 and 2016, results from a AHS survey on the incidence of adult heartworm infections in adult canine patients in the US showed a 21.7% increase. A study followed the release of the survey results to determine if heartworm testing results available from the Companion Animal Parasite Council aligned with the findings, and whether change in heartworm preventive dispensing accounts for the increase.2

Between 2013 and 2016, results from an AHS survey on the incidence of adult heartworm infections in US canine patients showed a 21.7% increase. A follow-up study examined whether heartworm testing results from the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) aligned with these findings and whether changes in preventive medication dispensing contributed to the rise.

Researchers analyzed 7-9 million heartworm antigen tests reported annually to CAPC and compared them with the AHS 2016 survey. A state-by-state analysis focused on the southeastern US, where heartworm prevalence is particularly high. National heartworm preventive dispensing data were obtained from Vetstreet LLC and analyzed. The study included oral, topical, and injectable heartworm preventives, with injectable moxidectin counted as six doses.

The results showed a 15.28% increase in positive antigen tests from 2013 to 2016, aligning with the AHS survey. In the southeastern US, the increase was 17.9%, compared to 11.4% in the rest of the country. Nine of the 12 states studied had an increased positive test frequency greater than 10%. Additionally, the findings revealed that two-thirds of canine patients in the US received no heartworm prevention each year.

“I see a lot of low hanging fruit here. I see a tremendous opportunity to have that conversation, and when they say, No, I don't really want to do this and [can I explain for a little bit] why this is super important, and just don't take that person. No, I don't really want any harm or okay, I'm on my 25th patient today. I don't have any gas in the tank for this, but they deserve the best, even if you're on the 25th appointment of the day,” said Adolph.

Taking the time for education and trying to get that third of a third giving their pets preventatives, it can help continue the battle against heartworm resistance and improve the lives of pets across the US.

Adolph C. Heartworm Surveillance: Staying Ahead of Resistance with New Research. Presented at: WVC; Las Vegas, NV. March 2-5, 2025.

Drake J, Wiseman S. Increasing incidence of Dirofilaria immitis in dogs in USA with focus on the southeast region 2013-2016. Parasit Vectors. 2018;11(1):39. Published 2018 Jan 17. doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2631-0

Articles

Understanding recent heartworm research will help professionals stay ahead of resistance 

Updates on the current state of heartworm resistance 

Interview with Dr. Ernie Ward about his Fetch Charlotte 2025 presentations

Ernie Ward Fetch Charlotte 2025 interview

At Fetch Charlotte 2025, Ernie Ward, DVM, CVFT, will share his wisdom and advice on getting ahead in vet med with the session 

The 5 lessons every veterinary professional needs for success.

 In this video preview, Ward breaks down 1 of those lessons: that consistent, long-term focus and intentional actions are key to effective leadership. 

: Yeah, I'm Dr Ernie Ward. I'm a veterinarian now, going on 33 or so years, if you're counting those kind of things, and I'm super excited to be at fetch once again, talking about management issues. And this year we've got a jam-packed sort of slate of really hot topics, including how to get your team to take ownerships. You know, some of the top lessons that I've learned over those 33 years is how to be a good, effective, caring and compassionate leader. And then we're also going to talk about some new technologies are going to help us with endocrinological testing in clinic that actually meet a lot of our clients demands, while also offering the best patient outcomes.

Yeah, I think I'm really excited about one of my talks, the 5 lessons that every veterinary professional needs for success, and these apply throughout time. But the one that I think most of us forget about is that there's a formula for success. And it really goes like this, success is equal to consistency times, duration times, focus. Now it kind of makes sense on the outset, but if we can just apply consistency in all of our actions, these are intentional things, whether it's training ourselves or how we act in the world, right? And then if we can do this over a long period of time, even though small changes begin to add up. But the secret element here, the variable too often we forget about, is the amount of focus. And that's that intentionality that's actually saying I've got a strategy, a plan, because success can be defined in many, many different ways, and for us, however we're going to apply that, we're going to do the same things, and even if it's small, over a long period of time, we're going to have a lot of focus, and then we're going to just continue to build on those skills and whatever success we have. So it's 1 of those things where there's four other lessons that we're going to talk about. But if I had to sum it up and say, gosh, you know, guys, success is consistency, times duration, times focus, rocket ship.

Videos

Catch an exclusive sneak peek from Ernie Ward, DVM, CVFT, as he shares 1 of his secrets to success ahead of Fetch Charlotte 2025.

The formula for success in veterinary practice

On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and special guest Tyler Primavera, DVM, discuss his new book 

. The book was inspired by his own dog as a way to talk about all the good and bad days of owning a pet with children, giving them a place to learn about caregiving, grief, and the human-animal bond. 

Throughout the episode, Primavera and Christman discuss grief in the veterinary space, the importance of addressing grief with children, and what his journey to become a children's book author looked like. 

You know, at our fetch conferences this year, our theme is storytellers, because we're all storytellers in what we do and what we say, whether we're in the exam room or not. This is one chapter I would say in your life journey that you're talking about of doing something that's really remarkable, and part of your legacy is telling the story, and now everyone gets to share the love of Eli in this book that you've done. So which is, that's got to make you feel amazing, right? What a nice tribute.

: Yeah and the funny thing is, you know, when writing this book, I couldn't really decide what age group this was for. And a lot of kids, they'll read it and they say, I love this one silly part, and completely miss the point of the book or they just see it from a different perspective, and their point of the book is not what I intended.

: One of your points of the book, which is something that can be very challenging for children specifically to understand, is grief. And you know, what are some of the tips out there to help clients handle grief?

I think everyone handles it differently. You know, it, it may take different forms of connection with your inner circle, your family, your friends, also taking care of your physical body, I think is an important part of that. But really there's all the stages of grief, and I think being patient is a big part of it. Like being patient with yourself, I think you and I, Adam, are both type A people. We want things done yesterday, and we can be very hard on ourselves, but just giving us that, that grace to say, hey, it might take me longer than I would like to get over this, and I'm not okay right now, but that's okay because it's not forever.

Podcasts

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Tyler Primavera, DVM, explore the world of grief through Primavera's recently published children's book

 Lessons from Eli: A veterinarian's perspective on pet love and loss

As the demand for animal care grows, more veterinary centers, as well as animal supply stores are opening. These veterinary facilities, equipped with newer technologies and suites, help improve access to care for pets, livestock, and other animals. Animal supply stores, meanwhile, help meet the everyday needs of animal owners.

Below are 3 animal care business that have recently opened:

Ribbon Chewing Ceremony. (Photo courtesy of Lovet Pet Health Care)

Formerly known as AZPetVet, Lovet Pet Health Care—a network of animal hospitals in the Phoenix, Arizona area—has opened the doors to a new hospital in Queen Creek, Arizona. The new location marks the network’s 23rd hospital in the greater Phoenix area.

Lovet offers a series of services, including urgent; primary care; surgery; and advanced services like acupuncture, cold laser, endoscopies, cardiology consultations, care for reptiles and other exotics, and more.

 The network also offers same-day appointments and welcomes walk-ins. To mark its new opening, Lovet held a community event with a Ribbon Chewing Ceremony, where a rescue dog from #LovePup, a local 501(c)3 rescue focused on shelter prevention, chewed through an edible ribbon.

Virginia Veterinary Centers (Short Pump, Virginia)

Virginia Veterinary Centers (VVC) recently announced the opening of a new 32,00 sq ft emergency and specialty veterinary hospital in Short Pump, Virginia. The new center is providing 24/7 emergency care and a variety of specialty services like ophthalmology, radiation oncology, neurology, and more. Moreover, the hospital contains a critical care unit (ICU) with high-ﬂow oxygen and ventilators, dedicated isolation suites for respiratory and gastrointestinal infectious diseases, radiation therapy, 7 surgery suites, 31 exam rooms, and a full in-house lab.

"We are thrilled to open the doors to our new state-of-the-art hospital, designed with both innovation and care in mind. With the latest medical equipment and a team of world-class specialists, we are poised to oﬀer exceptional care to pets in our community,” Andrea Bulifant, VVC director of operations said in an organizational release.

 “This facility reﬂects our commitment to the health and well-being of animals, providing cutting-edge diagnostics and treatment options that were previously unavailable to metro Richmond area. Pet owners can now feel conﬁdent knowing that their beloved companions will receive the highest level of care in a compassionate and advanced environment."

Feeds’n Needs Hammonds Plains interior. (Photo courtesy of Feeds'n Needs)

In Nova, Scotia, Canada, Feeds’n Needs Hammonds Plains—an animal feed and supply retail store—has opened. With 15 stores in Canada, Feeds’n Needs is the retail division of Shur-Gain/Trouw Nutrition. The store offers dog, cat, small animal, birds, farm, and lawn and garden supplies under one roof.

"We are excited to open our doors in Hammonds Plains and become a part of this vibrant community," Brittni Crowell, Hammonds Plains store manager, said in a company release.

 "Our store offers an extensive selection of pet supplies, livestock feed, wild bird food & supplies, and gardening products, all under one roof. We look forward to welcoming our customers and providing them with the best shopping experience."

Lovet Pet Health Care marked the grand opening of its newest hospital in Queen Creek with an adorable ‘Ribbon Chewing Ceremony’ led by local rescue dog from #LovePup. News release. Lovet Pet Health Care. February 26, 2025.

Urgent and primary care. Lovet Pet Health Care. Accessed March 12, 2025. 

Virginia Veterinary Centers (VVC) Short Pump is now open. News release. Ethos Veterinary Health. March 5, 2025.

Feeds’n Needs opens new location in Hammonds Plains. News release. Feeds’n Needs. February 21, 2025. Accessed March 12, 2025. https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/feeds-n-needs-opens-new-location-in-hammonds-plains-815160160.html

Take a look at these newly opened, coming soon, or expanding animal care establishments

Clinic center: New animal feed and supply store in Canada, and more

Michael Blackwell, DVM, MPH; Stephanie Jones, DVM; Jane Brunt, DVM; and Alex Miller, VMD, MS, at the awards ceremony during WVC (Image courtesy of Caitlin McCafferty)

During the 2025 WVC Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Blue Buffalo honored 4 veterinarians during its Together For Pets awards event. This year’s winners are Michael Blackwell, DVM, MPH; Jane Brunt, DVM; Stephanie Jones, DVM; and Philip Richmond, DVM, CAPP, CPHSA, CCFO. Each winner received a $10,000 grant to support their mission and continue their efforts to improve the lives of patients and clients.

“We’re thrilled to support veterinary professionals and advance their contributions to the profession,” Alex Miller, VMD, MS, manager of veterinary services at General Mills, said in an organizational release.

“Veterinarians are extraordinary people in so many ways. Through our Together for Pets program, we have been honored to showcase how so many go above and beyond to make the world and our industry a better place.”

Blackwell founded the Program for Pet Health Equity (PPHE), which strives to advance pet family health equity through a Health Approach. PPHE is also working to transform communities in a way that ensures access to essential care and integrated services. The organization works to ensure that every pet family, no matter their circumstances, can access the care and services they need to thrive.

During his address at the award ceremony, Blackwell highlighted the fact that the family model in the United States has changed over time because families now include both human and nonhuman members. Nearly 70% of households in the US have pets, and 97% say their pets are real family members who deserve the care they need regardless of circumstances.

Closing out his speech, Blackwell recalled a time as a child when he was exposed to economic euthanasia, and what that sparked in him.

“So it was the veterinarian that ended up in a horrible situation with the dog being euthanized or a treatable medical problem, and it was on that day that my childhood ended about these things happen that seemed all wrong. Why? Because they're known better, another expression of serving our collective good in a serious way. I think of our teachers. I think of public servants in general. These people deserve access to health care for all of their family members, and that is how the program for public equity got started and ultimately aligned care as a system to subsidize that care,” Blackwell shared.

Brunt serves as the executive director for the CATalyst Council, an organization working to improve healthcare for feline patients in the US through increasing responsible cat ownership, enhancing the stature of cats, and enriching lives.

“If you think about why we're all here, it's the human-animal bond, and that's what brings us together for pets. So with the people that are coming in next to me, I am feeling not worthy, because they do so many things with people and pets, and all I do is promote the power of purr.It's fun, but I am so proud to be a veterinarian. Our profession continues to evolve, adapt and grow in the ever-changing environment, because we're all veterinarians, and yes, we like animals,” Brunt expressed.

Through the CATalyst Council’s efforts, pet owners are connected to and gain an understanding of the importance of taking their cats to the veterinary regularly, veterinarians provide a positive experience for cats and clients as well as believe that caring for cats is a crucial part of a sustainable and profitable practice, and shelters and veterinarians work together to educate families adopting cats on positive cat care practices.

At age 10, Jones read a Dear Abby news article that sparked her journey into veterinary medicine. She did not have any exposure to the field but pursued the career anyway landing here where she is today. Jones told attendees that throughout her career, like others in the industry, she lost her purpose and why within the profession. However, she ended up doing a community service project at a foster care organization that gave her that spark back. While volunteering, she could not start engaging with children until telling them she was a veterinarian, and that helped create interest and curiosity for the field.

“Pets Help the Heart Heal was created as a place that provides opportunity and experience to our youth and the power of the human-animal bond. So our youth and foster care have all the different challenges, and sometimes they don't know what it is that they want to do so I always say you don't know until you know,” explained Jones.

“So Pets Help the Heart Heal has been able to do that, not only for youth in foster care but youth all over because you don't know until you know. And I love that I have the space, I have the team, and I have the support of the community in order to do that, through our shadow programs, through our life at pets and junior vets, through our reading initiative, and our STEM workshop, and so we are giving them a why,” she concluded.

Richmond, who could not be present at the awards ceremony, is the founder of Flourishing Phoenix, a veterinary wellbeing and engagement consulting practice. Richmond founded the company intending to help veterinary teams create positive workplace cultures and improve veterinary professionals’ overall well-being. In a statement provided by Richmond for the event, he shared a time in his career when he was suffering mentally, leading him to think about the future of veterinary medicine and how to improve the mental health and well-being of those who make up the industry.

“If it weren't for caring individuals in the veterinary community like you, I wouldn't be here today as an early career veterinarian, I experienced serious psychological distress, lacked effective tools, and had a plan to end my life. Thank goodness my coworkers recognized the signs and knew the resources available to get me help,” Mills read from the statement provided by Richmond.

“While in treatment, I was given tools, not only to help me be better and heal but also to enrich and elevate in work and in life. Those lessons and experiences offer me the foundation for a generative question for the future of VetMed: what if veterinary professionals leave in better psychological condition than when they arrived? What if every one of them left work through fulfilled energies, energized and uplifted to do that, we need to prevent psychological harm, treat illness, and promote flourishing.”

Flourishing Phoenix created the first comprehensive workplace well-being, psychological safety, emotional social hazards, and positive leadership evaluations. Richmond also shared that through work with the Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA), and sponsorship from Blue Buffalo, the FVMA now offers support for veterinary professionals in the state, regardless of role in the clinic, to give them mental health professional coaching and therapy.

To date, Blue Buffalo has donated over $120,000 to veterinary industry organizations to help make the veterinary industry a better place by uplifting those working to do so, like this year’s Together For Pets award recipients. Previous winners of the award, like Addie Reinhard, DVM, MS, founder and chief executive officer of MentorVet, used her grant from 2024 to grow programs that are evidence-based to help support and uplift veterinary professionals. Other previous winners, Jon Geller, DVM, DABVP, emeritus founder of the Street Dog Coalition, Robin Downing, DVM, DAAPM, DACVSMR, CVPP, CCRP, CVA, MS, who pioneered pain management in animals, Terrence Ferguson, DVM, and Vernard Hodges, DVM, hosts of NatGeo’s hit show 

, all have contributed in different ways to make the industry a better place for pets, clients, and veterinary professionals.

“In some ways, [WVC] kind of runs itself. We go through the motions. Veterinary medicine can feel like that as well. We show up, we do our job, and we just kind of move forward. I'll tell you, what's really easy is, you get home from a hard day's work, you have a glass of wine or a beer, however, you relax and you start thinking about, like, ‘oh, veterinary medicine really could use this. Or why can't we just right?’ And we said, we have those conversations with ourselves or with others, so it's really easy to think about what needs to be done. What's really hard is doing it is actually taking those steps to change the profession for the better, because I truly believe we can be something miraculous. We have been, we are now, and we can get even better,” Mills expressed to the crowd.

Blue Buffalo Continues Annual “Together For Pets” Award Ceremony Marking $120,000 Milestone. News release. Blue Buffalo. February 26, 2025. Accessed March 12, 2025. 

Brown A. About Half of U.S. Pet Owners Say Their Pets Are as Much a Part of Their Family as a Human Member. Pew Research Center. Published July 7, 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/07/about-half-us-of-pet-owners-say-their-pets-are-as-much-a-part-of-their-family-as-a-human-member/

Together For Pets awarded $120,000 to various organizations across the animal health industry over the years

Blue Buffalo honors extraordinary veterinarians 

Brian J. Sutherland DVM, DACVS-SA shares the differences between palliative procedure and definitive repair as a preview to his upcoming lecture at Fetch Charlotte

Video interview with Dr Brian J. Sutherland

Ahead of his upcoming lectures at dvm360's Fetch Charlotte conference this weekend, Brian J. Sutherland, DVM, DACVS-SA, explained the differences between a palliative procedure and definitive procedure. Throughout the interview, he uses an example of how the different methods could be used to treat the same condition, and the benefits of each. 

: Yeah, sure. Well, my name is Brian Sutherland, small animal surgeon, soft tissue focus at the University of Georgia. I got my my degree from North Carolina State University and my internship at Michigan State and did a surgery specialty internship at Dallas Veterinary Surgical, did my surgery residency at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. I spent my first couple of years after residency in private practice in Northern Virginia, sort of outside of DC, and ended up going back to do a fellowship in cardiac surgery at Colorado State University in 2018 and since then, my sort of energy and sort of interest and focus has been in the realm of cardiac surgery. Outside of work I love mountain biking. We have a small little hobby farm with a bunch of goats and things like that. So that's been a fun, a fun adventure here lately. So yeah, that's, that's me.

So a palliative procedure, generally, is one that I would describe as something that we use to try to mitigate clinical signs for as long as possible, but we're not actually addressing the primary lesion. And so, for example... a patient with a condition called tetralogy of fallot has multiple different congenital heart defects, but a palliative procedure that we can do can reroute some piping and bring more blood to the lungs than the heart is able to provide. And so we can decrease their clinical signs, or maybe completely eliminate those clinical signs, but we're not actually addressing the primary lesion that's causing the problem. 

So for a definitive repair, you know, would be doing just a surgical procedure to primarily address the the main problems associated with that cardiac defect. So for the tetralogy of fallot, for example, closing the defect in the ventricular septum and treating the stenosis of the of the pulmonary valve. So, you know... with a definitive repair, generally, the idea is hopefully this is essentially a cure. You know, obviously things always come with some risk and that sort of thing. But sort of palliative is, hey, let's make them feel better for as long as we can. And definitive repairs, hey, let's, you know, attempt to cure, restore normal to your normal expectancy and quality of life.

Want to hear Sutherland and other amazing faculty members at Fetch Charlotte? There is still time to register! Learn more about Fetch Charlotte and secure your spot 

 today! For those who cannot make it, the dvm360 editorial team will be on-site to provide you real time coverage of sessions, interviews, and more! You can follow along with the dvm360 team's coverage of Fetch Charlotte 

Brian J. Sutherland, DVM, DACVS-SA, shares the differences between palliative procedures and definitive procedures in this interview with dvm360