Dog owners do you get your dogs tested yearly for heartworm?

This is the first year I haven't given it to my 13 year old lab. Stopped flea and tick stuff,too. Last summer when tested she had Lyme, after all the years and thousands of dollars spent on preventatives! It was treated and she tested negative, but it can come back or she can get a positive result and not have it from now on- I haven't given it much thought at her age. She mostly goes out just to pee, is too arthritic these days for more than an around the block walk, so this year I just stopped buying it. No fleas or ticks, and she just had a heart worm test, negative. I will be surprised if she lives to next summer but if she does, I won't put her back on it.

My 16 year old cat has never been on any flea or heart worm preventative- she had a bad reaction as a kitten and can't have it. Seizures, lost her hair. So for 16 years she has been indoor- outdoor, but knock on wood never had heart worm (we do test her occasionally). She has had a few fleas, she is white so they are easy to see and give her capstar to kill them- maybe 3 times in her long life I have done that.

I hope this doesn't keep you from getting the dog, but you certainly aren't the only one who doesn't always do all the preventatives. We only adopt our pets, and I have never had a problem going through the humane society- less hoops than rescues. It might take a bit longer for a specific breed to come in, but they all eventually do and you can leave what you are looking for with them and when it comes in, they will call. County pounds, too. You can call a bunch in your area and let them know to call you when a certain kind of dog comes in, though they do euthanize out of necessity, they are just as motivated as rescues to get dogs adopted. More maybe- we move often and the fence requirements and reference checks for some rescues are such we would never pass.