Some vets feel that heartworm preventatives are substantially increasing our pups risks of cancer. I’m not sure cancer is any better of a disease to get than heartworm? For every give, there is a take.
There is a vet in southern Florida that is having very good results with alternative heartworm treatment (nosodes to be specific).
“In my holistic practice, heartworm nosodes ( a homeopathic vaccine) are used as a preventative, on a monthly basis after the initial protocol period, and have proven to be extremely effective. Unfortunately, no statistics are available, but our records indicate no active infestations in any animal tested for heart worms in the past 8 years at our clinic who were protected with the heartworm nosode.” http://www.holisticvetclinic.net/pages/heartworm_treatment
Dr. Martin Goldstein featured on Oprah, Martha Stewart, author etc also does not recommend heartworm for any of his clients. He is in New York but has clients all over the US. He links heartworm to cancer in his book “The Nature of Animal Healing”.
There is also a vet that lived in San Francisco (I’m blanking on a name now) that didn’t give his own pup heartworm pills and never contracted heartworm.
The thing to consider with heartworm — the pup has to be bitten by a mosquito carrying heartworm in L3 stage, the dog has to be bitten twice, the immune system has to be weak enough not to kill the worms from the get go, both male and female worms have to be present etc. Because a dog tests positive for heartworm does not mean the pup has a life threatening case. Example — if only female worms are present the dog will test positive but the worms can not multiply and will die of old age without consequence.
Regarding treatment — if detection happens before a full blown infestation (which takes time), an antibiotic can be given to kill the wolbachia bacteria that makes heartworm infections so dangerous. Once wolbachia are dead the remaining worms become steralized and can not reproduce. They will eventually die or can be killed off by heartguard. I haven’t seen studies yet but I’d bet money that garlic kills wolbachia (it is known to kill antibiotic resistant MRSA, giardia, coccidia and other roundworms (which heartworm is a roundworm)).
I’m not suggesting that you don’t give heartworm, I am suggesting that we should intimately know our enemies. We may find that they are not as dangerous as our vets etc would have us believe.. 🙂
