Is administering antibiotics prior to a Heart worm treatment normal?

My 9 year old male Chow mix tested postitive for heartworm. He is showing NO signs of the disease (no coughing, vomiting, weight loss, ect) so I think we've caught it early enough to start a treatment.Before he can start the heartworm treaments the Vet prescribed 100mg of Doxycycline twice daily and 5mg of Prednisolone every other day. Reading up on these two my question is.. Is this a normal practice?

How was your dog tested? Was it a snap test? I'm wondering if your vet maybe also found evidence of a tick-borne disease as the doxycycline and prednisone would be typical treatments for some of those.Prednisone is sometimes used prior to starting heartworm treatment to reduce lung inflammation and/or coughing, so perhaps this was precautionary if your dog didn't also test positive for another disease. OR, your vet found evidence of lung inflammation during the exam, even though the dog is not yet coughing. Your best bet would be to call your vet and discuss why each medication was prescribed and what it was meant to treat. Good luck with your dog! You're right that it's easier to successfully treat an asymptomatic heartworm infection, as you caught it fairy early, but all heartworm infections are very risky.