Preventative diagnostics is a critically important component of veterinary care. In the U.S., only 40-50% of pet owners take their pets to the vet once a year. While the costs of vet visits continue to increase, the cost of not taking your pet to the vet regularly can far outweigh the cost of a vet visit.

With the cost of a simple vet visit now approaching $100 in some areas, and the costs of any tests and treatments further adding to the total cost of the bill, many pet parents take the approach of not bringing their pet to the vet unless they see overt signs that their pet is struggling. However, dogs and cats are very good at masking issues that they might be having and not outwardly showing any signs of pain, and without regular checkups, issues that could have been easily managed if they were caught early can quickly turn into much more catastrophic health events.

On the latest episode of Petworking, I was joined by Dr. Ben Hantler, DVM, MBA, and Senior Product Manager at Heska, and my colleague, Jessica Stewart, Senior Manager at Maia Strategy Group. Prior to joining Maia, Jessica was a Diagnostic Support Consultant at IDEXX.

In the course of our conversation, Ben noted that 20-30% of serious cases could have been mitigated or prevented with regular veterinary visits.

While pet insurance is undoubtedly a key driver in getting pet parents to visit the vet more frequently, Ben, Jess, and I kept our conversation focused on diagnostics. We touched on the variety of tests available, from organ function assessments and blood counts, to infectious disease screenings like heartworm testing. The necessity of these getting these tests on an annual basis cannot be understated, when it comes to catching potential health issues early.

When we adopted Peony, we were told she was heartworm-negative. However, a month after we got her, I brought her to the vet, because she seemed to be experiencing pain in her hind legs, and our trainer suspected she might have pulled a muscle. Wanting to eliminate tick-borne illnesses as a potential cause of her symptoms, our vet ran a SNAP test. While it was negative for Lyme, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma, it did show that she was positive for heartworm.

Had we not gotten Peony tested, it's very likely that we would have caught the infection too late to treat her. The American Heartworm Society notes that even the most sensitive heartworm test can fail to detect the presence of antigen when levels of circulating antigen are low due to the presence of immature worms. Our vet told us that this was likely how we were told Peony was heartworm-negative when we adopted her. Unfortunately, if left untreated, heartworm can cause severe organ damage, heart failure, and respiratory issues, and can have fatal consequences. Even catching it early, it was a several-month process to treat Peony, during which we had to restrict her activity to two 5-minute walks per day.

In addition to catching potentially fatal diseases like heartworm, regular diagnostic testing can provide pet owners with a baseline that they can refer to as their pet ages. Having year-over-year data on biomarkers like blood levels, kidney function, etc. can alert your vet to changes that may indicate potential health issues in your pet, even in the absence of symptoms.

As part of this discussion, Ben, Jess and I delved into the potential use of biometric data from pet trackers, and the need to expand preventative diagnostic testing to a direct-to-consumer model. There is significant potential to enhance the quality of care through the provision of consumer-collected data to veterinarians, but a limiting factor that needs to be addressed is ensuring consistent quality in at-home sample collection.

Ultimately, this is a field at the cusp of significant evolution, promising a future where preventative care, supported by technological advancements, could drastically improve the lives of pets and pet owners alike.