NO HEARTWORM MEDICINE.... PLEASE!!!

[Guest Anonymous]

Hey there, I might as well give you my opinion on heartworm medication. First of all, where do you live? Heartworm, although vets claim is a fatal disease (and i don't disagree), is not all that common. If you live in an area that does not have alot of mosquitos and your dog is not going in a heavily wooded area where mosquitos are even more common (Like a cabin), then I would debate on whether to even bother with heartworm medication.

What most people don't know, and vets refuse to aknowledge, is the fact that heartworm medication is indeed a [u][b]chemical[/b][/u] that is being transmitted into your dogs bloodstream. If it is strong enough to kill parasites such as fleas and larvae, then think of what it must be doing to your dogs body if you use it [u]year after year[/u].

I have heard many cases from pet owners that have had their dogs go into seizures, all sorts of allergies and health complications. There are various citrus mosquito repellents for dogs on the market that are natural products. Furthermore, bloodtests can be done on a yearly basis to keep a close eye on whether your dog has any early signs of ANY sort of infections.

Which brings me to the topic of yearly vacinations...I also strongly disagree with giving my dogs [b][u]poison[/u][/b] just to let the vets gain some money from me every time. Many of the vets aren't as educated as the general public thinks they are. For starters..most veterinary schools do not offer any courses involving animal nutrition to practicing students.... now what kind of vet does that make if the best thing they recommend is IAMS..and we all know what IAMS puts into their food..

My point being, always do your research and think of more natural ways to protect your dog... In my area (Toronto), my vet clinic has only had one case of a positive heartworm patient in over five years, and there thousands and thousands of dogs in this big city!...so please, consider your dog's long term health and healthier alternatives rather than listening and just doing what your vet asks (its all a big business to most of them anyways)...

[Horsefeathers!]

For the most part, I agree. I don't vaccinate yearly, anymore, but am absolutely fanatical about heartworm prevention. In my area, heartworm is almost a certainty for a dog not on prevention. We see at least a couple of cases of heartworm positive dogs each WEEK in our clinic. :(

[alicat613]

I don't do heartworm treatments as I believe in holistic care and I'm lucky to live where we do not have a heartworm problem. The major problem is that these companies push these drugs in places that have no heartworm problem. I see the ads in vet offices here, and when I lived in the Phoenix area. Dogs with little to no risk of heartworm were being put on these pills, which are not just a chemical, they're an insecticide.

[Smooshie]

I'm not so lucky....heartworm is rampant here in Florida....so as much as I hate it, my kids are on Interceptor...it is required by the rescue where I adopted them. They get SO many dogs in that are heartworm positive :(

[imported_Cassie]

I live in an area where there is no heart worm. I work at a vet clinic and of course we always keep in touch with the others in our area and we have not had any cases thus far. I too live in an area where we have tons of mosquitos, but, they are not carriers of heart worm...yet.

Even if there were heart worm cases in my area I would probably still not medicate my dogs against heart worm. The only dog I would probably use heart worm med's on is my old girl who suffers allergies (poor immunity).

In my way of thinking if your dog has a good immunity they can build up a resistance to heart worm. Our wild Canines have built up immunities against heart worm...if they can, why not our domestic canines? I just don't feel comfortable pumping all kinds of pesticides into my dogs. I have also found I have never had a problem with fleas with any of my dogs and I have never used any topical treatments or internal treatments. In my mind this is due to the fact my dogs are healthy and are not attractive to the fleas. I have always noticed that you can tell when an animal is really sick as they attract tons of fleas. This happened to me years ago when I had a cat which was just infested with fleas, I really didn't know she was sick...we all know what cats are like :roll: they can hide sickness pretty good. She was acting a little less affectionate was the only sign and the fleas...I took her to the vet and she was very very ill and ended up staying for over a week on IV.

Any way, these are my reasons for not treating my animals.

Did every one here know that there have been cases of man getting heartworm as well. :o

[katetsai]

there are BILLIONS of masquito around my area (twin cites), so I am definitly not going to take the risk, so my baby is on heartwarm (HeartGuard). too bad, I would love to not having to pay for it and save those $$ for more yummie treats!

[imported_Cassie]

[quote]I have to respectfully disagree with this. My last Rottie was always very well taken care of. Bathed frequently and in excellent health. She got fleas really badly one year (she was about 3 years old). I've also seen a lot of healthy/clean dogs get fleas and need to be treated. Although I have seen many more unhealthy dog/cats that were never bathed get fleas, I have seen well taken care of animals get fleas. I do think if they aren't healthy or well taken care of they most likely will get fleas but that isn't the reason they get them.[/quote]

DivineOblivion19, I do realize that even healthy dogs get fleas...we deal with them all the time at the grooming shop and vet clinic. :wink:
I guess I was just making an observation with my own dogs. For the past 40 years I have never taken any precations against fleas and I have never had any dogs with fleas. I have heard that some times insects which draw blood are not attracted to humans or animals with a higher level of B12 in the blood stream...but, then again I have talked to people who take B-50 complex and still suffer from bug bites. Any way, who knows, all I know is I am not having any problems and I havent with my dogs and if I don't have to treat them with any preventatives them I won't. Its a completely personal decision.

I should not have worded myself so loosely as to say that only healthy dogs are immune to fleas :lol: :wink: perhaps it is some thing in their diet or higher amounts of certain B vitamins in their blood. I have even found with myself since taking a B50 complex vitamin I do not suffer from bug bites like every one else I know. Even when I was younger I used to have tons of bites on my ankles legs etc. now, I can be out and walk through a swam of mosquitos or black flies and rarely get bitten. But, then again I not only just started taking the B-50 complex, I completely changed my whole diet and only eat organic foods and ensure I am healthy...heck, I havent even had a cold or the flu for about 15 years and I live in the northern parts of Canada where our winters are harsh and the flue and cold run rampid in the winter. :lol:

So don't mind me DivineOblivion19, I was just rambling.

[sscully]

[quote]What most people don't know, and vets refuse to aknowledge, is the fact that heartworm medication is indeed a chemical that is being transmitted into your dogs bloodstream. If it is strong enough to kill parasites such as fleas and larvae, then think of what it must be doing to your dogs body if you use it year after year.
[/quote]

I have never had a vet "refuse to acknowledge" that HW preventative is indeed a chemical! I don't like claims made without backup. The dosage of medication present in HW preventative hasn't been shown to be damaging after continued use. On the other hand, heartworm disease is VERY damaging to the heart and internal organs, and places a huge stress on the animal. The treatment for actual heartworm infection is much more harsh and damaging (the drug used is a derivative of arsenic) than the tiny dose in monthly preventative.


[quote]For starters..most veterinary schools do not offer any courses involving animal nutrition to practicing students....[/quote]


All vet school curriculums I've looked at require animal nutrition courses, either as part of the curriculum or as a pre-req for admission. That's not to say that the nutrition classes are super great (often they are put on by pet food companies like Hill's) but it's false to say veterinarians recieve no schooling in this area.





[quote]In my way of thinking if your dog has a good immunity they can build up a resistance to heart worm. Our wild Canines have built up immunities against heart worm...if they can, why not our domestic canines? [/quote]

Not necessarily true. I don't know that it is possible at all for a dog to build up an effective immunity against heartworms, their immune system is simply not strong enough to kill the adult worms. In fact, a lot of the symptoms associated with advanced HW disease are due to the immune response - the immune system is so overstimulated it basically starts to destroy the dog's body from the inside out. But I digress! Wild canids can and do get infected with heartworms.


If anyone is interested, this is a great page on the epidemiology of HW, and has some good graphics on the spread of HW, and high-risk areas.

[url]http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/merial/hrtworm/hw_3.htm[/url]

Heartworm infection is really starting to become a problem in areas where it was not previously. In any climate that supports mosquitoes, the potential for HW infection is there.

[TDG]

i urge everyone who is interested in the topic to have a look at this page:
[url]http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/heartworm.htm[/url]

[sscully]

I have quite a few problems with the information on that page (or more accurately the way it is presented).


-The assertion that the spread of heartworm disease is due to vaccinations. Heartworm is a pretty successful parasite. Spread is due to a few different things (as noted on the upenn page):
*Movement of human populations and their pets.
*Adaptation on behalf of the worms- adapting to greater temperature ranges and different mosquito species as a vector.
*Climate change. For instance, in LA and Salt Lake City, HW did not used to be a problem because the desert climate did not support mosquitoes. But people in the cities have planted trees that provide a habitat for some species of mosquitoes and ta da- heartworms!

-I don't see the, hmm, "conspiracy" if you will, to frighten people into thinking HW is more of a threat than it is. The author points out a few situations, (microfilariae are not actually deposited into the bloodstream by mosquitoes, but left in the saliva next to the bite, that development within the mosquito actually has to take place -so a mosquito doesn't just bite an infected dog then infect the next dog) but I do not see this as "intending to frighten" but just explaining in simple terms. If a vet is educating someone on HW, it isn't really necessary for them to explain that larval development takes place inside the mosquito, etc. etc., the client just needs to know that a dog is infected by a mosquito bite. That's my perception anyway.

-As the author refers to the above-mentioned explanations of HW infection as "misleading", I find their description of the HW life cycle to be very misleading. They seem to imply that HW infection is a very unlikely occurence. (" The chances of a microfilaria-infected mosquito biting your dog the first time are slim. Of it happening to the same dog twice? Very slim...") This is not the case. HW is a relatively succesful parasite. A dog who displays symptoms likely has over 50 worms. Obviously they've been bitten more than once. With a stable reservoir (dogs) the vector species (mosquitoes) is very likely to be carrying L3s.

-Only a few dogs who get HW die of it?!! Yipes! An active (adult) infection, provided the dog does not die of something else first, will almost always be fatal. And the disease is NOT pretty, these dogs suffer very much. HW infection basically causes the immune system to go bonkers. There is an exaggerated inflammatory response, the pulmonary arteries, heart and lungs become swollen, damaged, and harden (often causing arrythmia). This causes pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. The kidneys, liver, blood vessels and eyes are effected. In the later stages of the disease, there are so many antibodies circulating, that they begin to damage sensitive tissues in other areas of the body, as well as cause a lot of pain. Also it is stated that adult HWs die "in about 2 years". That's actually the average lifespan in A CAT! In dogs, they live up to seven years, average I believe ~5 yrs - or long enough to cause significant damage if not death.

-The author seems to have a very relaxed view of HW treatment. That it is not more dangerous than preventatives. I couldn't disagree more! Adulticide treatment is EXTREMELY harsh, it's actually a derivative of arsenic. (Talk about POISON!) And when the adult worms die, there is a very high risk that they will dislodge in the lungs and cause death. Treatment is risky, ugly and painful for a dog. Any reasonable person who has seen a dog go through HW tx would not say it is "no more dangerous" than preventative.

-It is true that HW preventatives do not really prevent microfilariae infection. Rather, they kill off the larvae in a dog's body before they have a chance to molt to L5 stage and migrate to the circulatory system. That does not mean they are not preventatives - what they are preventing is an active adult infection. The reason they do not kill adult (L6 as the author calls it, which is wrong because L1-L5 indicate larval stages and the adults are not larvae) is because they are PREVENTING adult infection (and it would take a much much much higher and more poisonous dose to kill adult heartworms, which is why it's important to prevent adult infection in the first place.)

-The argument that preventatives are damaging to a dog's body is pretty silly when you consider the incredible damage (and suffering and pain) that occurs with adult infection (and with treatment as well).

[Mojo's Mom]

When I adopted my dog, he was found to be HW positive. Thank God we caught it early and he is youne enough that the treatment didn't seem to be to hard on him. I'll keep him on the preventative so he doesn't have to go through that again.