Heartworms

Photo: Vic Neumann

There is a lot of controversy about heartworm preventatives. The drugs adversely affect many dogs. Any symptoms can become worse (weakened energy field produces many symptoms). Most dogs seem to recover from heartworm infection without the conventional drugs and without serious heart problems although they need careful and professional monitoring.. There is, of course, a risk that your dog has an energy weakness for heart problems and if infected, will have serious problems.

Over the years at conferences, various veterinarians have reported problems with any of the preventatives. In 2005, at the Advanced Homeopathic Seminar, most of the 15 have seen reactions for a few days after the preventative is given (not necessarily a bad thing as the body is removing the toxic effects) and a fair amount of chronic disease. They are not using any preventatives and blood testing every 6 to 12 months. From the AHVMA conferences, many holistic veterinarians feel that dogs do fine on the monthly ones as well as the daily one. We all agree that the drug companies are suggesting does too high and frequencies too often. So what should you do?

Here is the answer. If you are afraid of your dog getting heartworms, give the preventative.

First, you need to know that the “heartworm preventative” does not prevent your dog from becoming infected, it kills the migrating larvae so it prevents adults from living in the heart where they can cause serious heart damage. Different companies’ drug sheets and veterinarians experiences indicate that the dosages used can be given less frequently and will still kill the migrating larvae. Knowing which preventative is the best, if any, for your dog is up to you. Observing your dog will give you clues that you need to try one of the other preventatives or use none at all. This is another example of the need to keep a Health Journal. The fewer drugs the better, so use ones just for heartworms, not other worms. Keep your observations in a journal to evaluate any reactions.

When giving the preventative, daily or monthly, give it less frequently than recommended. The daily can be safely given every other day and the monthly given every 6-8 weeks. Wait to begin until you have seen mosquitoes for at least a month, then give until most mosquitoes are gone. In the Maryland area I would blood test in May or June and stop by October. Stopping for at least 3 – 5 months each year will let you evaluate any impact the preventative is having on the animal. It is important to treat these as serious drugs, watch very carefully for side effects, even subtle ones, and then switch to another kind or treat the dog constitutionally. If you notice no subtle signs of problems from the drugs, keep using them judiciously.

As dogs age, it is time to consider the risk of getting heartworms (less active, less outside) with the possible liver toxicity or increased sensitivity to drugs of any kind. Consult with your holistic veterinarian when your dog is 80 yrs old (10 in a German shepherd, golden, lab, for example).

I do not recommend giving Nux Vomica routinely after the preventative (no homeopathic remedies should be given routinely). You can certainly do energy healing after giving a preventative such as Reiki or Healing Touch which you can learn top do yourself or go to a practitioner.

If you choose to not give any preventative. What do you need to know? Your dog could become infected, have a few adult worms in the heart and baby heartworms in the bloodstream, yet not be ill from the infection at all. A healthy body should tolerate a low level of parasites. Therefore, many clients choose to use no preventative and I support them in that choice and recommend blood tests twice a year. They are also treating their dogs holistically in other ways and being careful in high mosquito season to stay in or use repellent. There are no herbal preventatives that I would feel are safe to give on a long term basis or have proven to prevent heartworms. There is a heartworm nosode, but we do not have sufficient information to tell if it is really protective. I sometimes use it when people are not going to use any preventative. Some homeopathic veterinarians feel it is protective, others have seen positive heartworm and also reaction to the nosode. Some people feel safe using Para-L from Good Herbs (again my concern is using herbs long term, or diatomaceous earth (garden grade, not pool filter kind) which is not harmful but I do not see how it helps. Though I have little experience with this one, it is a flower essence, so totally safe – Para-outta-Site from Spirit Essences. I do not think any of these are proven effective.

The solution is to make your dog as healthy as possible by vaccinating the least, feeding the best diet (probably a raw meat or freshly cooked meat diet with low carbs) for that individual dog, treat symptoms as clues to an underlying problem and treat the energy problem not merely stop the expression of the imbalance (the symptoms). A healthy dog will be very unlikely to be ill from heartworms.

If your dog tests positive for heartworms is it horrible? No. A healthy dog will have no heart problems and the worms will die in a year or so. There are alternative treatments (herbs and homeopathy) for adult heartworms that are 75% effective. You must have the heart checked by a veterinarian for problems and keep close watch on energy level, coughing, panting and exercise intolerance. If your dog begins to show any of these symptoms, begin holistic treatment.

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This post was written by...

Christina Chambreau DVM – who has written 6 posts on Dogs Naturally Magazine.

Christina Chambreau is a founder of the Academy Of Veterinary Homeopathy and is on the faculty of the National Center for Homeopathy Summer School. As vice president in charge of the Veterinary Advice Line, she provides a referral service so people can find the best care for their animal's specific problem. She teaches courses around the country to lay and veterinary students. Her commitment is to demystify homeopathy, to show how healing of all types follows the principles of the Organon and to have people realize the power (for good and bad) of remedies. Writing the Healthy Animals Journal was needed so people could easily track the symptoms and essence of their animals to be able to evaluate the direction of response to any treatments. Christina is very practical and eschews "Do this because..." suggestions - in favor of teaching the underlying principles whenever possible. Visit Christina Chambreau at http://www.healthyanimalsjournal.com/

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