Vet visits are stressful enough for anxious dogs. Add in being restrained for a needle stick, and an already frightened dog may lash out or head for the door.
What if your vet could take some of your dog’s vital health information without an invasive blood draw or stool sample?
New technology is finding a non-invasive way to diagnose certain medical conditions by studying your dog’s breath, stinky as it may be.
Animals (including humans) release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through natural metabolic processes. Diseases can change the pattern or concentrations of VOCs in ways that researchers may be able to identify. The key is to develop technology that can analyze exhaled VOCs to know if they match a specific disease.
The idea of finding clues to disease through breath isn’t new. Breath tests are already being researched, developed, and used in human medicine to detect VOC patterns for conditions ranging from infections to cancer.
The same scientific principles are also now being applied in veterinary medicine, particularly in detecting heartworm disease, which currently affects more than 1.1 million dogs, according to the American Heartworm Society.
Heartworm disease is usually detected through an antigen test, which involves drawing blood. The antigen test looks for proteins in the blood that are released by female heartworms. The problem is that heartworms do not produce these proteins until they are mature. The antigen test cannot detect heartworms until around 6 months after infection, and many antigen tests return false negatives.
Researchers at VetBreath Analytics, a division of Global Innovative Platforms, Inc. (OTCID:GIPL), found that the six-month diagnostic window is one problem breath analyses may help address.
In November 2025, an SEC disclosure of an early analysis indicated that researchers found a VOC pattern that consistently related to heartworm disease. Seventeen of 18 early-stage heartworm samples were properly diagnosed as early infections. The remaining sample tested positive but was labeled mature.
“Early detection is the key to protecting dogs from the serious effects of heartworm,” said Andrew Brown, CEO of Global Innovative Platforms. “Our goal is to create a simple and non-invasive breath test that veterinary teams can use to potentially identify infections earlier than available heartworm diagnostic tests, potentially helping dogs live healthier, longer lives.”
In their initial on-site study of more than 100 samples, researchers found a consistent VOC pattern associated with heartworm infection, including several early-stage infection samples.
That means the breath test detected heartworms earlier than conventional antigen tests can.
While the findings are preliminary, they are encouraging.
“The data we have gathered show a lot of promise and reinforces our belief that breath analysis could be a significant step forward in veterinary diagnostics,” explained parasitologist Dr. Elyssa Campbell, PhD, who oversaw the initial testing.
VOC research has also begun making its way into the veterinary scientific community. Findings from VetBreath’s work have been presented at professional veterinary parasitology meetings, including the American Heartworm Society’s Triennial Heartworm Symposium and the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists annual meeting.
The company has conducted additional studies but is not currently releasing them publicly while it continues patent work.
In addition to detecting heartworms, VetBreath Analytics is looking at breath patterns linked to other parasites, like hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and Giardia. Their goal is to spot several conditions from a single breath sample.
For anxious pups and the people trying to coax them through the clinic door, that sounds like a breath of fresh air.
