FAQs

Dogs usually do not show symptoms until the heartworms have already done extensive damage to the heart and lungs. As the heartworms do more damage, your dog will start showing symptoms such as:

• Difficulty breathing
• Exercise intolerance
• Coughing
• Unusual tiredness or lethargy

As the damage gets worse, your dog will eventually start to show more severe and immediate symptoms. These include Congestive Heart Failure or Pulmonary Failure. The final stage is death.

When your dog tests positive for heartworms, all we know is that they currently have adult heartworms in their heart. The heartworm positive result doesn’t tell us how long your dog has had heartworms. It also doesn’t tell us how advanced your pet’s heartworm disease is. All we know is that your dog has adult heartworms; and that they need to be treated.

Heartworms cause heartworm disease by clogging the heart and major blood vessels. They damage delicate lung and heart tissue, and eventually the host dies of heart failure. Once done, tissue damage can’t be reversed. Our goal is to treat heartworms as quickly as possible to minimize damage and give your pet a full and heartworm-free life.

Heartworms are transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. When a mosquito bites an infected dog, it draws blood that contains immature heartworms. These heartworms mature inside the mosquito to become infective larvae. Those larvae then get passed on to other dogs through the infected mosquito.

Every infected dog increases the risk of infection for other dogs in the neighborhood. Especially in Texas, where dogs are at risk year-around due to our high mosquito population.

When a dog is first infested with heartworms there are no visible or detectable signs. We strongly recommend getting your dog tested for heartworms every year. With heartworm disease, quick treatment is crucial to prevent irreversible tissue damage. The longer your dog has heartworms, the more complications with treatment and the greater damage is done to your pet’s heart and lungs.

Every pet’s needs are different – that’s why an annual exam is so important to check in on your dog or cat and make sure they’re feeling their best. Many dogs and cats will also need preventative dental care at some point in their lives. We provide affordable dental cleanings, and do a check on your pet’s teeth every year to make sure they are healthy and not causing your pet any pain.

Other types of preventative care include:

• Diet plans
• Flea/tick preventative
• Heartworm preventative
• Pet supplements
• And other care based off of your pet’s yearly exam!

For your pet’s first vaccinations with us we require a “Healthy Pet” doctor exam to ensure your pet is in good condition and establish a veterinarian-patient relationship. The veterinarian will check on your pet before we can do first vaccinations. For following visits, if your pet is still healthy and in great condition we can schedule technician appointments instead which don’t involve the doctor and are only $24. Please keep in mind that if your pet does seem sick or not healthy, we will require a comprehensive exam for $45.

Low Cost Pet Vet recommends all adult pets come in for boosters and a wellness exam yearly. The exact package we recommend depends on your pet’s age, species, and vaccination history.

Fortunately, there are no statewide laws that require you to spay or neuter your pet in Texas. However, city and county laws may apply in your area, and depending on the city you live in you could face steep fines if your pet isn’t spayed or neutered.

Low Cost Pet Vet is an Irving veterinary clinic that provides low cost spays, neuters and other affordable pet health care services in the DFW area. We have clients all across DFW who are completely confused by their city’s pet registration laws.

Not only do cities require their own registration process, vaccination records, and yearly fees; many areas in DFW either require or strongly encourage pet owners to spay/neuter their pet. Especially in Dallas and Fort Worth, pet owners must know their city laws and be aware of fees they might face if their pet is not spayed or neutered.

Dallas requires pet owners to spay or neuter their cats and dogs by the time they’re 6 months old. Any pets that aren’t fixed must have a breeding permit, that pet owners must renew every year.

The breeding permits have strict requirements:

• A veterinarian must approve the pet for breeding
• The pet owner must either be a member of a purebred animal club or receive a license from the Texas Occupation Code
• Pet owners cannot breed their pets more than several times per year

Dallas has very strict pet owner laws. Recently, Dallas did replace mandatory pet registration with mandatory microchipping; a big relief for pet owners and a smart move forward, but their spay/neuter requirements are far more strict than other cities in DFW.

Fort Worth requires pet registration, and also requires all pets to have an intact pet permit if they aren’t fixed. Pet owners must submit the intact pet permit application, which includes:

• Pictures of pet’s enclosure/environment
• Either a $50 fee or proof of attendance at a City provided Responsible Pet Ownership Class
• Proof that all pets on the land owned by the applicant are either up-to-date on vaccinations and registration or exempt from requirements

Garland no longer requires pet registration. The city requires pet owners to microchip their pets and vaccinate their pets against Rabies. Garland doesn’t require pet owners to spay/neuter their pets, unless the shelter impounds the pet.

Arlington requires pet owners to register their pets every year. While Arlington doesn’t require pet owners to spay or neuter their pet, the yearly registration fee is much less for spayed or neutered pets.

The minimum age is 4 months, but we recommend taking a look at our spay and neuter page here for the recommended age for spays/neuters. While we can fix your pet very young, we usually recommend waiting if you can.

We do see a limited number of walk-ins on Mondays – Fridays, with priority given to current clients. Please call ahead so we can provide information about our walk-in appointments – we frequently have no availability and we recommend clients arrive when we open at 8am, since by the time we have started seeing appointments, we may already have many clients waiting for care. Availability is always limited, and after 8am we frequently must turn patients away due to the number of emergency or urgent care appointments we are already seeing. Expect a minimum 2 hour wait time due to high demand!

Keep in mind, we may refer urgent care patients to an emergency clinic based off of our veterinarians’ current case load, the severity of the case, or possibility of care that can only be provided by a 24/7 ER facility.

Yes! We now partner with Scratchpay to offer convenient payment plan solutions to all our clients. Applying is easy, and checking to see if you are eligible does not affect your credit score. Currently we do not take care credit.

Please bring whatever medical history you have for your pet! We do require pets to be up-to-date on their vaccinations in order to be spayed or neutered. We also may require a heartworm test for dogs or a FELV/FIV test for cats.

Right now we don’t provide boarding or grooming services, but we are hoping to add them in the future!

We are confident in providing the highest quality of care during your pet’s dental service. That’s why we automatically include subq fluids in our canine dental prices – with the dental services we provide, that extra hydration is important in making sure your pet stays healthy and the procedure goes smoothly with no complications.

However, we don’t provide services such as full-mouth radiographs (dental X-Rays), and we don’t require pre-anesthetic bloodwork unless your pet is at higher risk.

Teeth extraction prices vary greatly based off of which teeth we need to extract. We recommend visiting us first to check your pet’s health; but keep in mind that we can’t be sure what teeth we need to extract until your pet is under when we can examine their mouth thoroughly.

No matter what extractions are necessary, we automatically include services such as nerve blocks – which help to reduce pain during or after extractions, if extractions are necessary – and gingival flaps, which also make extractions easier – as part of the included canine dental prices. This is important in reducing your pet’s pain, making the process safer and less traumatic, and improving your pet’s recovery.

You can do many things to help keep your pet’s teeth clean and bacteria-free! The most important thing you can do is make sure you have selected a good food for your pet.

For small breed dogs, hard foods are best for preventing infection.

The best way to keep your pet’s teeth clean is by doing routine dental cleanings!

Parvo is very contagious. Dogs can get parvo from other infected dogs, but they can also get it from contaminated objects, people, clothes, shoes, water bowls, and even contaminated soil. Because parvovirus is so difficult to kill, it can stick around in the environment for up to a year. That’s why we recommend annual parvo vaccinations in DFW to make sure your pet is protected.

Although we provide affordable parvo treatment, we work with many clients who are on a very tight budget. We currently partner with Scratchpay, which offers quick loans and payment plans for your pet’s treatment. You can check to see if you qualify here.

We do NOT charge extra for urgent or walk in vet care. Our office visit charge is $45. One of our experienced veterinarians will talk with you about your pet’s condition and examine your pet. We will then provide a list of recommended diagnostics and treatment in a care plan, which includes the price breakdown for each service as well.

Depending on your pet’s condition, the recommended care plan can vary quite a bit in price. For example, our typical cost for a puppy with parvo’s care, which includes a parvo test, IV fluids, medications, and other services depending on your pet’s condition, averages around $300 – $400. However, if your pet requires surgery, that could be a far more expensive care plan.

We always let you know about all recommended services, with a price breakdown ahead of time. While we do our best to work with our client’s budget, we can’t guarantee how much your pet’s care will cost before our veterinarian does an exam.

We provide payment plans through Scratchpay which has helped many of our clients who could otherwise not afford their pet’s emergency care.