[Jennifer H]

BCNut – You live in Florida, right? What do you use/trust for fleas and heartworms? I have my dog on Advantage Multi (as per the suggestion of my holistic vet, after he had a bout of hookworms two years ago) but I’m reading so much about the worry people have about mixing flea/heartworm meds, and using topicals.

[Oleanderz]

D_O- Thank you for that valuable info, after doing a bit of research on DE, I have decided that this product is not for me. I’m going to play it safe with my pup; since I’m away at school most of the time. My brothers aren’t the most attentive of teenagers and I believe a simple spritz and go would do the trick so I’ve ordered the CedarCide best yet spray. I’ll let everyone know how it’s working around the second month of Spring. It’ll be plenty warm enough for the mites and maggots to start stirring around here!

Naturella- Are you on you on your first year of Sentinel Spectrum as well? It’ll be fascinating to see how we both end up this year! Though I guess Dori’s dogs are more than enough proof of legit-ness of this brand. Good luck with Bruno! (I’m guessing that’s him on your icon? He’s a cutie!!)

C4C- No, I wasn’t even aware Avon had a bug protection line. Sorry! (The reviews seem pretty solid, dunno how they’d work on pets though.)

I haven’t given Lucille anything steady since her first year with Interceptor; it was only because of my childhood novice, inexperience with dogs and financial standing that I didn’t even think about heartworm medications. After reading about the terrible tragedy with Turbo, I have decided to no longer go without the meds either. I recently got the ok from my vet for my pup to begin with SS and CedarCide if all else fails, I will return her to the Interceptor. Hopefully they haven’t chopped and screwed the formula too bad.

[Nancy C]

I have worked with one homeopath who recommends NO heart worm meds. ??? Correct. He says he has had his great danes for 30 yrs, and he’s always had 5 or 6 of them, NEVER given them heartworm meds and they have never had heart worms. NONE of them. He feeds raw and he says THAT is the key. Total raw. He also told me that in the last 7 years he has never lost a dog patient to heart worms.
There are several other Homeopathic websites I frequent. One is VitalAnimal.com in Texas with Dr. Will Falconer who is nationally known (his website is wonderful) and Dr. Patricial Jordan in Asheville NC. (Her bio is beyond belief)… They DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY heartworm meds! So My two dogs are not on it now and I am trying to decide what to do in the spring. Also the homeopath, Dr. Dobias in California does not recommend either. So tell me: Anyone reading this doing some REthinking about it. The heartworm meds are VERY toxic themselves and there is good reason to be very suspicious of them. The Pharmaceuticals have penetrated the vets and they have scared us to death. Fear is a big piece of the problem. And I find myself being fearful too. Will be interested in what anyone has to say about this.

[crazy4cats]

Sounds good, Melissa. One of my dogs has had a couple of allergic reactions and the Ivermectin scares me with him. Heartworms are pretty much unheard of in my area and most people do not use any type of protection. But, apparently, that is starting to change. I’ll look in to the “new” product.

On another note, is there any type of oral flea preventative that you do recommend? My sister’s dog is still covered. We are having an extremely warm winter for even the Pacific Northwest. They are calling it the Pineapple Express, LOL! I only live a few miles away and my dogs are outside a lot more than hers and we haven’t had an issue. I think she needs to change his food, but she doesn’t listen. He also has frequent ear infections. But, anyway, she has been using topical meds and they are not working. I’m thinking that maybe she should resort to an oral pill to help him out, since she is not willing to do the other more natural methods.

[theBCnut]

Back when heartworm meds were daily, I gave a pill in peanut butter every day for years. Then I used liverwurst for a long time. Cream cheese works for my current bunch.

I wouldn’t use the Nature’s Logic for an elimination diet, too many different ingredients. Can you make a big batch of something and freeze portions so you don’t have to cook every day? Otherwise, I would go with an LID.

[Shawna]

Hi Kim S,

Pugmomsandy sent me an email letting me know you might have some questions for me. Thanks Sandy!!

Nitrogen trapping has been very very useful in helping to keep Audrey feeling well. When her breath gets a bit funky or she seems depressed I give her Garden of Life Primal Defense probiotics and Fiber35 Sprinkle Fiber as the probiotic (both are products marketed for humans). I tried other “fermentable” fibers (like barley, apple pectin etc) but Sprinkle Fiber had the best results.

The product I absolutely MUST have for her however is Standard Process Canine Renal Support. She’s been on it for over seven years. I can explain why I feel so strongly about this product if you wish — kinda technical.

Some other things that I rotate in her diet are spirulina, chlorella, food grade activated charcoal, burdock root (another really good fermentable fiber (but she got tired of the strong taste)), milk thistle and more. I mix five or so super foods/supps with an equal amount of enzymes and sprinkle on most of her meals.

Turmeric would be very beneficial for dogs with kidney disease as well but sadly Audrey doesn’t tolerate it well.

Giving ultra clean (like RO) water is important too. Evian water is both clean and a good source of a specific kind of calcium called calcium bicarbonate. Mineral waters higher in calcium (and lower in sodium) have shown some benefits for kidney disease.

I would recommend raw to any that can feed it, gently home cooked if raw is not an option or canned if raw and home cooked are not options.

Absolutely no chemicals like flea/tick or heartworm meds and no vaccines (including rabies).

I’m not sure how much info you’re wanting so sorry if I went overboard. 🙂 There’s tons more I can tell you if interested (like keep oil soluble chlorophyll on hand in case of anemia).

[Bellalab]

Hi all. I am curious to know if anyone has ever come across a dog that cannot tolerate ANY digestive enzyme. I have a Lab/Bulldog mix. She is almost 2 years old and she has been quite a challenge since I adopted her. She came to me on Pedigree kibble. I wanted to get her off that ASAP and slowly introduced TOTW. She did okay for 5 months or so and then had a horrible bout of colitis. During this time, (after a vet visit and meds) I fed boiled chicken/rice and things improved until I starting adding the kibble back into the diet. With each increase of kibble, the stools became worse. I experimented with several brands of kibble – slowly introducing which ever one I was trying but after about the 1/2 cup mark, runny stools. I finally gave up and started cooking for her. I rotate chicken, beef, turkey. Vegetables include peas, carrots, green beans. I use a limited amount of carbs – pasta, barley, sweet potatoes and not much of this is given. So far I have tried Dr. Mercola’s products, Enzyme Miracle (and probiotic miracle), Animal Essential enzymes, and Digestive Enzyme/Probiotic by Pet Health and Nutrition Center. While on the any of these there have been stool issues especially the Enzyme Miracle. That led to another vet visit with bloody stools. She has been on the last item I listed for about a month and problems are starting again. If I keep her off the digestive enzymes she is fine. Right now as far as other supplements all she is getting is fish oil and calcium. And the last few weeks all she has done is itch and chew. Since stopping the enzymes she is finally getting better with that too. Why aren’t enzymes helping her? I just don’t get it. She also had nasty diarrhea when taking heartworm meds so I stopped those. She cannot tolerate flea medication – makes her extremely loopy. I love her to pieces – she is the sweetest dog and so smart. I just feel so bad that she is so sensitive to things. But digestive enzymes???????

[Judy M]

any vets I have been to will require a heartworm test before renewing the HW meds if you have a lapse in monthly treatment. , but if continually on the monthly med, they will renew it without the ktest (and additonal test charge), BUT the holistic vet I consulted recommended giving the HW every 45 days rather than once a month, to lessen the amount of toxiic med given. and she recommended natural methods for flea control and not spinosad (Comfortis) at all, cuz too toxic

[theBCnut]

Heartworm medicine is a prescription drug and vets are NOT supposed to prescribe it to dogs that have not been heartworm tested within one year. If your dog is positive and they give you meds and your dog is one of the ones that has a reaction and dies, they would be liable because they didn’t test like they are required to do. They can also lose their license.

[jakes mom]

Just wondering your opinion on keeping a dog on hw meds year round. I live in Ohio so don’t need to keep him on it all year but he had a traumatic experience with his hw test last spring, took 3 techs and a muzzle to get a sample. I was thinking I’d spare him the bloodwork next year and just keep him on the meds. I know people in the south have to use meds all year but if I don’t need to, should I give him a break in the cold months?

[theBCnut]

Talk to your vet about heartworm prevention. My epilepsy dog had other problems too and we always knew he would not have a long life, so really didn’t worry about heartworms once he started seizuring, so it was a no brainer to take him off of them. If your vet really wants to keep him on the heartworm meds, get ivermectin sheep drench from Jefferspet.com and have your vet help you to figure out the right dose. That way you don’t have to have the flavoring and you can get the right dose for his actual weight rather than a wide weight range.

[theBCnut]

Now, I’m going to say something that sounds like the opposite of what others are telling you, but bear with me. NONE of those things caused the seizures. Epilepsy, diabetes, renal and/or liver failure, brain tumors, poisoning, these types of things cause seizures. Those other things only trigger seizures, but the underlying problem is already there.

Your dog need to be checked out to make sure the seizures are from epilepsy, because any other cause left untreated can kill your dog. If it is determined to be epilepsy, then chemical exposure, stress, and a number of other things can trigger the seizures. So as was mentioned, getting him off flea meds, heartworm meds, clearing out cleaning chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, scented candles, air freshners, etc. can reduce or even eliminate the seizures, so it’s important to do as much of that sort of thing as possible, especially early on when you can see if it is making a difference. Cleaning up the diet is really important too. Go natural as much as possible.

[Jessica S]

Thanks for post Dori. I have found this to be true about Heartworm. In my gut I feel like these toxic medications are so dangerous but the same can be true with infestation of heartworms, etc. My dog is recovering from cancer surgery and I’m uneasy putting more toxic meds into his system than necessary.

[Naturella]

So, we went to the vet today to get Bru his 3-year rabies shot he was due for (last year he got the 1-year one). I also wanted to talk about titers and skipping the rest of the vaccines. The vet we saw was not my usual semi-holistic vet, who does TCM, but another one. Still, she seemed nice and talked to us about titering and how most vaccines last a while, BUT, that if we plan to be taking Bruno to the dog park and socialize him with “questionable” dogs, we should vaccinate, and how it is cheaper than titering, and how expensive it is to cure some of those diseases that he may get if we don’t vaccinate and he happens to get sick, etc. My husband was so absorbent of the information and I was worried. I didn’t want to do the DAPP and Bortadella again because I KNOW he has immunity for at least the Bortadella (kennel cough) – my roommate’s dog got it bad, and Bruno did not, and he was around her a lot. So he has some good immune strength, I believe. But the doc said $250 for titers and $150 for shots, so that was kind of the dealbreaker for us there… It was one or the other for the hubs, and shots won… 🙁 He took them ok, was acting normally and what not. Now he’s all sleepy and seems a bit distressed… He growls at every movement – the wind blows outside, he growls. Ice gets dispensed in the freezer, he growls. And he was growling occasionally before, mostly at people/kids/dogs making noise outside, but OMG, it is like he got growl shots today, not rabies/DAPP/Bortadella shots! Geez… Last year he had no negative reaction to the shots and I don’t know if the sleepiness and growling are from the shots per se or just from the distress of being at the vet and being done things to, but otherwise he eats okay, pees and poops okay so far, and was playful with a dog-friend who lives in our complex, so he’s mostly alright…

Bottom line, I’m not too happy though – I think because we got the 3-year rabies, I will just “forget” to remind my husband of the other annual shots until 2017… And by then, I hope he will be more okay with skipping them… I’m thinking every 3-5 years as a booster should be fine (do them in 2017, then 2020, then 2025, 2030, etc., for as long as my sweet little baby is around), aside from rabies, which is every 3 years anyway. Hope it works out…

At least everything else on Bru checked out with accolades! He has great body condition and weight – now at 14.5 lbs – still growing as a lean muscle-machine! lol Vet did say to try to keep him between 14.5-15 lbs though, would be ideal for him. But as long as his body condition is good, I don’t care what he weighs… Muscle is heavier than fat anyway. Also great eyes, teeth (yay RMBs and brushing!), skin/coat (yay raw eggs, coconut oil, and sardnies!), and ears! Negative heartworm test and fecal float. Clean bill of health. 🙂

P.S. Vet also said to do year-round HW prevention… @Dori and @weezerweeks, what do you do for HW – year-round or no? (They live in GA as do I, and I think y’all may have told me in another post, but I forgot… 🙁 )
I read somewhere that it’s safe not to administer the pill between December and April, so I MAY try that if hubs does not notice… He freaks out at the possibility of Bruno being sick, and even more at huge vet bills, sooo he would rather take ALL preventive measures than “risk it” (even if it MAY be okay and better for the dog) and have a sick dog and a humungous bill…
I mean, I do understand him… But I am trying to instill a more holistic lifestyle in our household and all these meds and shots are messing with my philosophy, lol… Oh well, I’ll take meds too in emergencies – like when I had a pinched sciatic nerve – “ohmygodworsepainIhaveeverfeltIwantedallthedrugs”… After all the meds I was a happier camper, with nice crazy vivid dreams from them narcotics ;)… But still… the less chemical additives, the better I believe. Anyway, went off too far on a tangent, reeling back in to vaccines and opinions on them! 🙂

• This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by Naturella.

[Lucky22124]

My dog had a horrible reaction to vaccines earlier this year. The good thing was that I didn’t get very far with her & was able to rush her back in for treatment. They said that in the future they would give her pre-med before vaccinating her, but we got a second opinion just to be sure. The new vet said that other than rabies every three years, it’s too risky to vaccinate my dog because the reaction will be worse each time. So now we can’t really bring her into places like petsmart because of the risk of contracting parvovirus or bordatella.

She gets the heartworm preventative every month, but I don’t put flea medicine on her. She’s never had fleas in her whole life. We check her for ticks when we go to parks or other places where she might get them. I just always had a hard time applying the flea meds, which is why I stopped using it.

I think people should vaccinate their dogs if it’s safe to do so, but some dogs are allergic, and in that case, they shouldn’t vaccinate. It was our vets advice to not vaccinate our dog, and after almost losing her to the last vaccine reaction, I’m okay with that. I just have to be extra careful with my dog now.

[Akari_32]

Hey guys. I’m currently interning with a vet that is very excited about Bravecto. He says it’s the same as NexGuard, only it lasts longer. I’ve not personally explored it myself, but he seems to be liking it. He believes in a “why use it if you don’t have to” approach to veterinary medicine, but living in Florida, you cannot skimp on flea control.

That said, such a new product is a bit worrisome. Especially a product that’s got such a high dose of flea meds that it’s lasts three months. However, if it’s what works for you and your dog, go for it. I’m taking my dogs off Trifexis (Comfortis plus heartworm preventive) because it really bothers me, especially with my oldest dog.

For just fleas, I really like Little City Dogs (a sort of generic Program pill). Its safe even at extreme over doses, and it’s new enough that fleas are not yet immune to it, yet the active ingredient (lufenuron) is well known enough not to be sketchy. Not to mention, it’s extremely affordable, at just $25-80 a year for cats and dogs of all sizes.

http://littlecitydogs.com/smallpetfleacontrol.html?

I will be trying Sentinel this go around as my new alternative to Trifexis. It’s $90 for a whole year for my 60 lb lab mix. Seems like a safer and MUCH cheaper alternative.

[Dori]

Hi Naturella. As I mentioned I’ve been using Sentinel Flavor Tabs (regular Sentinel) for years and gave them the last of that kind August 1st. It is my understanding that they are fazing out the regular Sentinel and only what is in stock will be available. After that only Sentinel Spectrum will be available. I’ve actually ordered the Spectrum already. At first I was concerned about using the Sentinel Spectrum but after extensive research I realized (and queried the vets) that the tape worm preventative itself has been around for years and years. I give the girls Sentinel the first of every month without fail. As you know, living in Georgia you can never really count on a hard winter. When I lived in the northeast I only used in Summer and Fall. Here I give it year round. Last Winter I stopped cause it was so cold but then read Losul’s plight with Turbo and decided that I’m not taking any chances and have decided that I will stick with year round treatment. I’ve had a lot of dogs all my life and none ever had an issue with it. I know a lot of people have issues with HW meds but I have to air on the side of caution and do what I think will be best for my girls. The treatment for Heartworm is to horrifying for me to even contemplate.

[Nancy C]

I have been throwing one in the food bowl at breakfast and then sometimes at supper (during high season — summer). I’m in NC. Looking at this bottle it is WF 365 Odorless Garlic 500mg and is PINK on the label. My vet nicely chewed me out late last fall for NOT giving the Sentinel year long. I had ONLY been giving it in the warm months (May-Sept) which is what my breeder told me 25 years ago when I got my first golden. THat golden lived over 15 years! She got heart worm meds during those warm months ONLY. With this second Golden ( 10 yrs old and GREAT HEALTH) I did the same until the vet realized it last fall and told me I was PUTTING HER AT SERIOUS RISK. SHE COULD GET HEART WORMS EVEN IN JANUARY! I am not sure I believe that, however, this is an excellent vet so I started the sentinel. I HATE IT. Now that I do the Sentinel there is no reason to continue the garlic.
I have learned about a product that is NON TOXIC which works also as heartworm prevention. I know someone who I consider “very informed” and connected in high places maybe I should say — has two extraordinary dogs to whom he is devoted and he uses this non toxic stuff. The company does not advertise it for heartworms, nonetheless this individual says that it covers them and many people use it for heartworms. Here is the website: http://www.firstchoicenaturals.com/resourcearticles/parasitesbegonefrommypet.php
This individual knows such information and would NEVER trust a company unless he KNEW. His dogs are big in his life. So go and see.
I will add this: The same vet who got me BACK on the Sentinel Wagon full time also in June initiated a conversation about LEPTO VIRUS, recommending that I get the shots for both my dogs. I have been researching LEPTO VIRUS and so far as I can tell there are too many strains of it for the vaccine to cover AND there are risks in taking the vaccine. The vaccine is expensive and you start with TWO SHOTS. Also you must keep up with it annually. This is a MONEY MAKER FOR THE VETS. Lepto is not new. It was “discovered” back in the late 1800’s and my suspicion is that the vets and researchers AND BIG PHARMA have created this hype about YOU NEED THIS VACCINE!! A neighbor’s dog supposedly died from it in March but her other 2 dogs did not catch it. And I am even wondering if the diagnosis was correct. I read that sometimes it is MISdiagnosed. Bottom line: This is a subject that warrants more research and WAKEFUL OWNERS. I am interested in any other opinions.
Good luck with the Garlic. OH – my dog would just eat it up in the food. The capsule is so small that unless you have a picky eater it will disappear. Otherwise you could wrap it with cheese softened in your hand and the dog will hopefully swallow it.

[Jerri N]

Greetings pacer1978. You will love the north Ga mountains. I have a pet friendly cabin company very near Morganton. I live on a river. It is very, very rare for me to see mosquitoes, I guess the fast moving water and fish take care of that. There are times that our doggie guests will pick up fleas while out and about. They are sharing the same land with all sorts of animals, and we do have chiggers up here. Personally I don’t have my pets on flea prevention and they have no fleas. Don’t slam me… But I don’t have them on heartworm meds either because we had a horrible experience this winter after giving them Trifexis and I haven’t found a heartworm med that I feel comfortable giving to my fur fur babies. I hope that helps, the weather has been WONDERFUL up here.

[Nancy C]

Just for the record, my 10 yr old Golden hs been titered since age 2 when she finished the mandatory vaccinations. Every single year the blood work has come out GREAT. The breeder of my first golden who lived over 15 yrs told me to TITER and not vaccinate. She was always healthy. She also told me to ONLY give heart work meds during May through September, which I did. I also did that with my present 10 year old Golden and 1 year ago my vet chewed me out, saying she could get heartworms and I should do it ALL THE TIME. IT scared me so badly I started full time. HOWEVER, I am researching a protocol that is not unsafe and is holistic which I will share later. When I took my two dogs in back in May for annual check ups the vet gave me a pamphlet on LEPTO VIRUS. NOW she wants to vaccinate BOTH DOGS for that virus. I have been studying it and from what I can tell there are several strains of it and not all are covered by the vaccine, plus getting the vaccing CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS… in other words, like ALMOST ALL VACCINES it is not risk free. The vet office called me yesterday to SCHEDULE THE 1st LEPTO SHOT (they come in twos apparently) and I told her I was not ready to commit.
I am sharing this because the vets are tied in to BIG PHARMA, sorry, but they are. It is part of their bread and butter. The Pharmaceutical Industry is HUGE and they are in bed with the FDA. Don’t be fooled that the FDA is looking after you. NOPE. They look after themselves. BIG HUGE MONEY. At the 9/11 tragedy in NYC of all industries in the USA, BIG PHARMA did the best economically. I studied for 6 yrs with one of the FOUNDERS of the AMERICAN HOLisTIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION and learned more than I could absorb about the Pharmaceuticals. Marcia Angel MD writes a wonderful book, THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DRUG COMPANIES; WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. She was the EDITOR IN CHIEF of the NEw Engl Jour of Medicine for 20 years and explains HOW the Pharmas control the journals now. PRESSURE. And the clinical trials — watch out. Enough on that but suffice it to say that you DO need to keep your eyes open and go HOLISTIC when you can. Last comment: My daughter is a doctor at Stanford Medical Center and I will tell you that MEdical People are marinated in Pharma Talk. IT’s all they have: Meds and Surgeries (Procedures)…. and I am suggesting that mainstream vets are pretty much prey to them too.
That’s it for me. Good luck.

[Mom2Cavs]

I used to vaccinate when I went to my regular vet, who btw loves to vaccinate and give steroid shots like crazy. Stella (who is at the bridge now) and my cat Princess definitely had vaccine reactions and this particular vet would just give a steroid shot to help, and then vaccinate the next year. I would even bring up the reactions and he would still insist. Can’t believe I went along with this then, but I was ignorant about vaccinations and flea meds at that time. After a very bad experience at this particular vet and learning a lot more, I finally switched to my holistic vet who does titers, except for Rabies because it is required by law. I’ve been titering now for 3 years and give the Rabies vaccine every 3 years. I do natural flea meds, but I do heartworm (use Tri Heart Plus) around every 35-40 days because we have bad mosquitos here in Ohio. Everyone is doing fine. I will continue to do this with any pet I have from now on.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by Mom2Cavs.

[theBCnut]

Some Yorkies are born with a liver shunt, which does mean that they have to watch their diet, but I haven’t heard about them, as a breed, developing liver problems later in life. Toxins contribute to liver disease, so keeping the chemical usage in your home as low as possible would help. Milk thistle is known to help detox and support liver health, but don’t use it for a few days after monthly heartworm prevention. Use heartworm prevention and flea meds as little as possible. Give antioxidants and consider making homemade food, so you know the quality of ingredients that go into it.

[Shawna]

Excellent info losul!!

Reminds me — Dori – from memory you aren’t using flea/tick meds any longer but if you are still giving heartworm I would stop that (for now at least) and ask for a rabies exemption. If memory serves you aren’t doing rabies any longer but just in case my memory isn’t serving me well. 🙂 You give filtered water too right?

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
I’ve ordered from Canadavet before and would use them again!

Something to consider is consulting with your Vet as to the most effective heartworm meds. I used the same HW preventative for years until recently. A few months ago my Vet asked that I consider changing due to immunities being seen in parasites. I plan on re-visiting my choice yearly to be certain it is the most effective HW med for the area I live in.

[Akari_32]

I’m liking the looks of that site! I found some Valuheart heartworm meds on there and I love the price and dose of ivermectin it gives. It’s cheaper than HeartGuard and you get a higher dose. Living in Florida, and Haley (and Dweezle) being an outdoor dog (not by my choice, btw), I’m not even gunna get near HeartGuard. A lot of people are saying it doesn’t work, and I saw one website that said it’s only 95% effective. What the crap is that?? If I did that for Haley, it’d be $70 for ValuHeart and Little City Dogs for a year vs $300+ for Trifexis for a year, plus I wouldn’t be worrying about her having a reaction to the Trifexis (which so far she hasn’t, but they aren’t looking too good with the trouble they’ve been causing to people’s pets). That’s a lot of money I could be spending on dog food, car payments, bills…. I really like the sounds of that…. I’m still going to look around and see what else I find, but that’s looking pretty good right now. I’d like as high a dose of ivermectin as possible for my budget. I do know it’s pretty cheap, though, and all you’re paying for for most meds is whatever company’s name is slapped on it, so I should be able to find a good generic with a little digging.

An update on the Little City Dogs: The cat, Alec, ate the pill right from his food. I tried to break it open to sprinkle the insides over his food, but I had a headache and didn’t want to deal with it, so I just tossed the pill on top of his food. He avoided it for a while, but slipped up and accidentally got it (he’s an enthusiastic eater, and likes to play the eat-as-much-as-you-can-in-one-bite game lol). Must have tasted ok, because after the initial look of “what just went in my mouth??”, he dug back into his food like it was nothing. They’re supposed to be chicken and beef flavored, depending on which ones you get. Dweezle ate his right out of his food, as well. Being 130 pounds, he’d be hard pressed to actually dig through his food to pick out stuff he doesn’t like anyways lol

[Bobby dog]

Hi Naturella:
I recently switched to Sentinel Spectrum at the beginning of the month. I was using Iverhart Max (ivermectin/pyrantel) and Frontline plus during flea season. I also did not give heartworm meds during the winter months. The beginning of this month I took Bobby in for his 3 year Rabies, reg exam, did bloodwork to check for heartworms, and checked his stool for worms. Everything came back negative.

My Vet asked me to consider changing my HW preventative and the routine I follow for dosing it. She said there were allot more cases of tick born illnesses in our area that were previously only seen in the southern states and my HW/flea med choices were not the best anymore due to possible immunities in some parasites.

I tried Trifexis the first year I had Bobby and he still had issues with fleas. I stopped using it after 2 mos. My reasoning being that he was being exposed to a chemical for flea prevention that did not seem to work so I switched to Iverhart and tackled fleas with Front Line Plus and regular baths during flea season. Also, there were allot of reports of adverse reactions in dogs using Trifexis that scared me so the decision to discontinue it was easy.

I only bought one dose of the Sentinel to make sure Bobby was okay using it and he seems fine with it. I will now make that his HW preventative and will be administering it year round. There is a risk of illness using any HW preventative and that does scare me. I will still keep looking for other alternatives, but for now Sentinel seems to fit the bill.

The Vet Tech also gave me info on another topical for fleas Activyl. I think it may be a fairly new product. IDK My Vet did not mention anything about it during our discussion so I am not sure what her clientel has experienced with the product.

[Naturella]

Cyndi, theBCnut, Nancy – thanks so much for the invaluable advice. I also have seen that people have had issues with Trifexis, but Bruno was doing just fine on it, so I figured – no problems. Really, Sentinel was $100-cheaper and sounded similar in all-encompassness (not a word but I hope you get what I mean) – Akari, you may want to check it out on 1-800PetMeds’ website.

I would look into the garlic pills and cedarcide – interesting indeed. As far the other worms, though, what is best to be used? If Ivermectin only protects against heartworm, would just about any all-worm preventative be okay? I apologize for the possibly stupid questions, I’m just trying to learn…

Thanks to all again!

[pugmomsandy]

Just because a dog is “senior” doesn’t mean it has these problems. All those problems can potentially happen at any age. I’ve fostered many dogs under 5 (even as young as 1 yr) with joint/eye/digestion/ear issues and have needed hip/knee surgeries and prescription eye and ear drops. A healthy senior can eat regular food (adult, maintenance and all life stages, puppy food). I have a 14 yr old with no active health issues. He is blind and deaf which he was already when I got him last year at 13. He is not on any medications and eats the same foods as all the other foster dogs I have. I use 3.5-4.5 star kibble and top it off with 5 star canned foods which is normally at least 43% protein. He even gets some raw food which I usually make without any plant matter. The dogs get joint supplements and vitamins, antioxidants, supergreen supplements and fish oil. My personal dogs don’t get chemical pesticides which has been linked to some cancers nor do they get unnecessary vaccines. You might want to research “over vaccination”. Try looking up Dogs4dogs dot com, b-naturals dot com, wholedogjournal dot com, dogsnaturallymagazine dot com. These are just a few of the sites pertaining to more “natural” care of dogs. If one of my dogs had late stage kidney disease, at that point I would change the diet, but I wouldn’t change the diet just because they’re a senior in general. Some things possibly connected to cancer is chemical laden commercial kibble, vaccines, the constant application of poisonous pesticides (heartworm and flea/tick meds, fertilizers), even air pollution.

http://dogs4dogs.com/

[theBCnut]

A couple things

I wouldn’t stop heartworm prevention on the other two, and I would still get rabies vac also. An undamaged liver should not have any trouble processing HW meds. I just wouldn’t add additional challenge to an already damaged liver in an already senior dog.

All the symptoms you are seeing now are completely normal under the circumstances you attributed them to, so of course you couldn’t put 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 together and get 10, however as a totality of symptoms, it does look quite suspicious.

When are you taking her back for more tests?

[Bobby dog]

Hi Akari:
What a great Goodwill find!!!! It sounds like he is learning how to walk in his harness well. I used to work with a guy that took his cat out for a walk on a harness daily.

I love Bently and Gary together. They are sooooo cute! Bently is really a cute dog.

I don’t use the meds you mentioned above so this may be a silly question, but will your Vet sell you a months supply of flea & heartworm meds? My vet will sell heartworm and flea meds by the month if needed; it helps if you are short on funds or for any other reason. She will also sell weekly supplies of other meds that she dispenses if she is able to. Also, have you checked online to see if you can get a better price? You would just have to get your Vet to write a prescription and fax it to them. One other thing to check into is the companies that make these meds sometimes offer rebates on their websites.

[theBCnut]

If Turbo was tested within 6 months of getting him and this is the first time since then that he was tested, I would strongly suspect that he already had heartworms but was not far enough along to test positive. Many, many times a year, we got dogs in that had come from the shelter and had tested negative, but 8 months later they turned out to be positive after all.

I corresponded with someone who claimed to work at the plant where Heartgard was made. They said that the ivermectin and the meat paste carrier are mixed in a vat then pressed into molds of the appropriate size. That tells me that other than not giving enough or allowing air to spoil the meds, splitting should not be a problem. Example, if I have a 35 lb dog and a 15 lb dog, I should be able to split a chew for a 60 lb dog into thirds and give one dog 1/3 and the other dog 2/3 and it should be fine as long as I can split them accurately. I should not save some for the next month though, because the drugs could oxidize. The vet and the company make more if I have to buy a pack of the appropriate size for each and since it is a prescription drug, the laws don’t allow sharing anyways, but trimming off excess should not make the whole dose ineffective. My dogs weigh 42 lbs and usually I have to buy drugs for 60 lbs. Trimming off 1/4 should still leave enough drug for a 45 lb dog, but if it is a drug that comes in sealed pods/blister packs, I assume that it should be kept away from oxygen until use.

[Melissaandcrew]

I just wanted to comment on Avantage. I have never used the muti nor would I due to the moxidectin. For me after the proheart issue its a drug I won’t consider. Even without the moxi, i will not use spot on flea and heartworm in one products. My concern here is how can I be sure the vector used to cause the heartworm preventative to be absorbed into the blood stream is not also carrying in the flea meds? I don’t want anything extra in the bloodstream.

I never used Advantage or any other products containg imiclopramide (spelling) either until last year when some of those products were given to me. I figured what the heck and gave them a try for one month. One week aftef using my doxie got spayed and it was the only time I feared losing a dog from the anesthesia. This dog had clear bloodwork prior to and ivs during as a “just in case”…it took her 3 days to eat/drink afterward (and a visit back to the vet in the meantime for more fluids etc) it was tbe longest spay recovery I have ever experienced. Perhaps it was coincidence but it was enough for me to toss it out. It ws d the one that did fleas and ticks only.

[JeffreyT]

Yes, the theBCnut, you have a point about treating the actual heartworm. It is a higher dose of heartworm meds plus an antibiotic. But my precautions (flea/tick spray, not going out dawn/dusk, etc) should ensure I will not have to make that choice.

Marty Goldstein DVM (and many holistic vets) believes heartworms are less of an epidemic than the disease causing toxicity of heartworm meds. I lost a dog to cancer and swore that I’d do everything possible to avoid repeating that nightmare.

If I chose to do meds I’d probably do the low dose Safeheart medication.

[JeffreyT]

Yes, I’d get the dog to the vet immediately.

After reading Scared Poopless by Jan Rasmusen we decided not to give heartworm meds because they are basically poisons meant to kill the heartworm/larvae.
http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/2009/05/13/heartworm-medication-safety/

For prevention we always apply natural flea/tick spray like Mercolas, and test twice a year for heartworm to get it early when it’s not dangerous and treatment is easy. From what I’ve read, it’s not as easy to get heartworm as vets make it out to be.

How is he doing?

[InkedMarie]

Rambunctious: I have heard the same thing. I’ve also heard that places repackage the meds & use expired ones. For this reason, I buy only from my vet. Heartworm isn’t something I am willing to chance. A former vet price matched for me, when I asked.

[pugmomsandy]

I rescue and the group only does immiticide back to back. Rarely they do the immiticide 30 days apart. If it were my dogs, I think I would opt for slow kill. Has your vet staged the heartworm disease? In the early stages with a small amount of worms, it’s less stressful on the dog, but still dangerous none the less. I’ve had 4 dogs in 4 years die from complications of heartworm treatment (pulmonary embolism). One is at the vet right now with complications. If you use topical flea/tick/mosquito meds, you can still also use essential oils like Sentry Natural Defense and Halo Herbal Dip.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/11/22/cheaper-safer-therapy-for-heartworm.aspx

[Colorado huntress]

Give Heartgard as well, but would like some advice here, please. I got my female Brit lab from Tenn in June – she lived outside in a run/pen there & was given heart worm preventative on a monthly basis. I had her tested in June & she was negative, but the vet there said to keep her on the meds & have her re-tested in 6 months. We have very few Mosquitos here, & only for about 2 months of the year, so….most people only give Heartgard during that time (the vets are ok w/ that here). Also, same situation with my little guy that I got from LA in July – he tested negative & I have him on Heartgard as well. My question I guess is this……is it possible that they could still test positive for heart worms if I stopped giving the preventative in December?? We usually have snow staying on the ground & temps going below 0 degrees -January we get a lot of -30+ temps. I haven’t done much research on the ‘cons’ of heart worm preventative, but it IS a chemical, & I don’t know anybody from here that gives it to their dogs except for maybe 2 months in early Summer. It has nothing to do with the cost of the meds, I bought enough for a year for each of them. So…anybody have any advice?

[dog34747]

I have an 8 year old male, retired racing greyhound with a very sensitive stomach and allergies. He’s had severe ear infections, nasal congestion, compulsive licking and digestive problems. He is also hyper allergic to flea bites, with them even turning in to mini staph infections at each bite. Over the past 3 1/2 years I have tried nearly every brand on the market from Purina on up to Orijen. If it’s sold anywhere between the specialty boutique shops and PetsMart, I have probably tried it. I’ve tried grain-in, grain-free, corn-free, soy-free, gluten-free, chicken-free… etc. etc. I have tried chicken, turkey, fish, lamb, beef, bison, and I think one even had ostrich or something. Basically I’ve tried everything. I have even tried the high-end frozen raw diet food, he just simply won’t touch it. He does not appear to be allergic to chicken specifically, I’ve tried poultry based foods and foods with absolutely no poultry of any kind and the result is the same.

Every single grain-free food causes, horrendous breath, loose stool and severe gas. No amount of pumpkin, yogurt, supplement pro-biotics or pre-biotics seems to fix it, sometimes those relieve things for a day or two but never permanently. It seems directly linked to the percent of protein, above a certain point and these issues start. He seems ok around 22% but usually anything in that range is not grain-free.

The grain-in foods (and treats) increase his nasal congestion (like a kid sucking the snot in vs. blowing his nose, not the same as a reverse sneeze) and the obsessive licking, and they also exacerbates the ear infections. He has had the ear infections recurring, or perhaps even continually but low level, since I got him. He was on a grain-in food when I got him and I immediately switched to grain-free but the ear never fully cleared up even on grain-free. The ear is finally cleared up (for now) after lots of meds though I’m worried his diet will bring it back.

I have tried some raw foods and veggies but they seem to pass through him without even being digested at all.

Any kind of food with potato as a major ingredient seems to act as an immediate diuretic, causing him to be constantly thirsty, panting and drinking and therefore needing to go out 7+ per day every few hours and even having accidents in the house which otherwise he has never had before. This includes all those limited ingredient foods because they all seems to be potato based.

The only time I have had any luck with a food is with Iams Sensitive Naturals Ocean Fish. Yes, I know it doesn’t rank highly and many people here are against it, but it was literally the only food that stopped the breath/stool/gas problems in their tracks, nearly overnight. I’ve heard others say they had similar good luck with Iams and attribute it to the beet pulp, not sure if that’s really true but I can say it worked for my dog. He went about eating it with no digestive issues for 9 months or so but the silent ear infection got worse and worse and the nasal issues got worse. Then we tried Eukanuba Wild Salmon/Rice and the ear/nasal continued to get worse and the licking started. The only benefit to the Eukanuba was his coat was suddenly full, fluffy and soft and the traditional greyhound bald spots were even filling in. I was bothered by the increase in allergies so I’ve gone back to looking for something else.

So I’ve since re-tried several other grain-free foods and the Biljac Sensitive formula, all produce the same old problems. Re-tried a limited potato food, same problem.

I’d like to note he has been tested repeatedly for worms, giardia, heartworms, etc. and all negative. He has had bloodwork taken regularly and it is all absolutely perfect, including thyroid. His teeth have been cleaned by the vet recently and are good. He has absolutely no medical issues outside of the allergies and stomach sensitivities. Also, several vets and others suggested giving him claritan or benedryl to relieve the nasal and skin related reactions but it seems to do nothing for him.

I’m sorry this post is so long, thanks for reading all of it, I was trying to give the full background so folks know what I’ve already tried on this great food adventure. I’m looking for any suggestions, advice, testimonials, whatever on food and treats. I’m willing to try any food to get him to be comfortable, as long as it doesn’t require a second mortgage to pay for it. Thanks in advance!

[Shawna]

Hi Lagotto,

We noticed (at the breeders) that she had excessive drinking and urination, as compared to her 5 siblings, when she was about 6 weeks old. She came to live with me when she was 9 weeks old. At about 4 weeks old she started failing to thrive — because she had a collapsing trachea and couldn’t get enough milk from her mommy. So the breeder put her on raw goat milk and egg whites, syringe fed every 2 to 4 hours, til she could eat on her own. She was weaned onto raw food — mainly hamburger, eggs, raw milk etc.

When she came to me I was making a home made raw diet for my current dogs and she went on that same diet. At her vet visit I told her holistic vet she urinated/drank a lot but her vet poo poo’d my concern and said puppies drink and therefore urinate more. She has bright eyes, she’s very smart, good coat quality etc. She’s a healthy puppy… In looking back I’m actually thankful that happened. Audrey continued on the homemade raw diet til her one year checkup where her bloodwork showed high bun and creatinine. I started tweaking her diet and would take her in every three months for additional bloodwork to see what the tweaking was doing. Turns out, the diet I had been feeding her all along was the best for her with one exception. To the diet I added a “prebiotic” and probiotics to help lower her BUN. Works like a charm..

Audrey continued on the homemade diet for several years but then I got too busy to keep up with homemade exclusively so I started incorporating commercial raw diets — Bravo as an example. Became busier yet and moved exclusively to commercial raw — Bravo, Darwins, Answers (recently started) and premixes like The Honest Kitchen Preference and Steve’s Premix with raw meats.. Audrey turned 7 years old the end of June and is still going strong. I have NOT lowered her protein. I have not lowered her phosphorus or made any other changes than adding prebiotic/probiotic and supplements. I use Garden of Life’s Primal Defense probiotic and Fiber35’s Sprinkle Fiber as the prebiotic. A really good prebiotic, made specifically for dogs, can be found on Dr. Mercola’s website under the “Pets” link and then under “Products”.

I would NOT regularly feed her kibble if I was paid to do so. In my opinion, kibble will cause a much earlier death in a kidney disease dog.. Kibble is a POOR QUALITY food for kd dogs/cats—even the best kibbles on the market… At the very least, feed a canned diet. If you can, feed raw or lightly cooked. I also don’t feed Audrey any grains. IF you are going to feed grains it needs to be either sushi rice (aka glutinous rice) or cream of wheat (or farina). These two grains are low phosphorus. All other grains have higher phosphorus and don’t add anything to the diet that can’t be found in a more species appropriate food.

You also want to feed higher fat foods — ditch the lean ground beef.. Feed the highest fat foods you can get (unless she is showing signs of pancreatitis). Fat adds calories without phosphorus—adding organic coconut oil is a good idea too. Protein is NOT damaging to the kidneys and only needs to be reduced to prevent symptoms of uremia in the later stages of the disease — such as vomiting or depression. Audrey has NEVER to date ate low protein.

Let her have ALL the water she wants. Audrey used to sleep in the water bowl when it was empty — she was that obsessed with water and, I’m guessing, desperately trying to tell me she needed some. She started this, sleeping in water dish, at the breeders. I kept potty pads ALL over the house for her. I was lucky in that she used them. During the night I keep her in a 4 foot by 4 foot enclosure we made (for our foster puppies). It was made out of wood and plastic chicken wire. I had her water bowl, her kennel, a blanket outside the kennel and a potty pad with LOTS of newspapers under it — she would fill a potty pad to the point of leaking during the night. As she got older she was able to hold it. Since about three months of age she has slept with me in my bed at nights.

Darwins now has a kidney diet.. I haven’t seen it yet but I do think it is worth checking out. Urban Wolf has a premix designed for kd dogs that can be added to raw or home cooked meats. And I think Grandma Lucy’s has a lower phosphorus premix that is also suitable for dogs needing their phos lowered..

Also consider adding a whole food B and C vitamin to the diet. These two vitamins are “water soluble” and because of the excessive urination can become depleted if not supplemented. I use Standard Process Cataplex B and C. I also give Audrey a whole food multi as a precaution. I use Standard Process Catalyn. Standard Process also makes a whole food supplement specifically for dogs with kidney disease. It’s called Canine Renal Support — I HIGHLY recommend using it. I also give liver support also by Standard Process — Canine Hepatic Support. The liver can become overstressed in a kd dog.

I HIGHLY recommend only using reverse osmosis or distilled along with a mineral water like Evian. Mineral waters (only those lower in sodium) have shown some positive benefits to kidney patients.

Also try to eliminate as many chemical toxins from your house as possible. I was already living in a relatively toxin free environment but I had to eliminate my Swiffer mop, candles ets. These have chemicals in them that the kidneys have to filter — putting an extra strain on them OR adding to the blood poisoning when the kidneys can’t filter as well. DO NOT use flea/tick or heartworm meds on her. And DO NOT vaccinate her. Audrey has only had one set of shots (given by the breeder before I got her) and has NEVER had a rabies shot. She was diagnosed before getting the shot and I was able to get a lifelong exemption for her in my state.

As mentioned, Audrey turned 7 last month and is not on any medications (no phosphorus binders, no sub-q fluids etc) just the supplements.

I don’t use it but I know others that have had positive results with the herbal tinctures from Five Leaf Pharmacy. http://caninekidneyhealth.com/ I would NOT follow their diet though… 🙂 http://caninekidneyhealth.com/

I would also highly recommend reading the material on Mary Straus’ dog aware website. This is the site where I got most of my knowledge / as well as courage to continue feeding Audrey a high protein raw diet. She has some EXCELLENT info on the site — when to feed low protein, when to lower phosphorus and how much (phosphorus is an essential mineral – lowering it too much too early can have unintended consequences), which foods are lower in phosphorus etc. http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidney.html

Your puppy can still have a fantastic quality of life.. Learn as much as you can, stay positive and enjoy her fully!!!!!

If you ever want to chat offsite, I can be reached at shawnadfaemail @ yahoo. com (take out the spaces–they are included here to prevent robot spammers from sending me junk mail).. 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

I give it 3 or 4 times a week all year. But if you don’t want to do it all the time, I’d definitely recc’ at least for a week after heartworm/flea/tick meds. Some folks give milk thistle for a week after heartworm meds to detox the liver. I give supplements all the time because we live in a polluted world! Just going on walks can be somewhat toxic! Who knows what’s in other people’s yards or the dog park. Even eating kibble can be taxing on the body and certain body organs.

Her history of being on many abx suggests she needs some sort of booster as abx kill off the good and bad organisms in the gut where the immune system is. Do you give probiotics regularly? Those help seed the gut with beneficial organisms and boost the immune system.

Demodex can take a long to recover from too. Can take months even with negative scrapes. My pup was a funny looking alien for almost a year. Had demodex, hair came back, demodex again, finally got over it. This was without any kind of booster since I didn’t know about them back then.

Since giving them boosters they don’t get sick even when my fosters come in with kennel cough or other skin infection and even sarcoptic mange. And they do mingle together when it’s p/p time.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[pugmomsandy]

Those sound good. I also give astaxanthin and a supplement with Transfer Factor (currently Immunel with Transfer Factor from Swansonvitamins.com).

You also don’t want to give her or at least space them out for longer intervals (45 days) heartworm prevention and flea/tick meds because those are pesticides and add to her toxic load. Also don’t walk her in or let her play in areas that have been sprayed with pesticides. Also use a non toxic shampoo. I think good examples are Earthbath and Green Bulldog and I’m sure there are several more.

[theBCnut]

Liver enzymes can be elevated due to any insult to the liver, such as heartworm meds, flea meds, fertilizer, bug sprays, herbicides, cleaning agents, etc. They just usually go up for a short time and then go back down again. It’s when they don’t go back down that you start worrying about liver damage, so having bloodwork repeated is the way to go. But make sure there is nothing going on around the house that might be an exposure.

[pugmomsandy]

How old is your dog? Two of my dogs had an elevated liver enzyme at one check up and then normal the next. It is not just diet that can affect it but also things like medications and pesticides (ingested or topical like heartworm/flea/tick meds) that are filtered through the liver. Ask you vet about milk thistle and have the enzymes rechecked. What are you currently feeding your dog?

[Shawna]

No, Audrey has never had any other issues except the kd. Blood pressure is good.. Her kidneys didn’t develop properly before being born. I do everything in my power to make sure she has little to no inflammation in her body. I don’t have any toxins in my home that the kidneys/liver have to filter. I looked at the ingredients in all the products I used (swiffer sweeper cleaning liquid etc) and checked their MSDS or the CDC to see if each ingredient was kidney friendly. I got rid of almost all cleaners etc I was using prior to Audrey coming to me. Many (actually most) of them were “green” too.

She also only gets reverse osmosis or distilled water.. The tap water in my area is not truly “clean” (has fluoride etc).

I do give her nutraceuticals as well — she gets enzymes with EVERY meal. She gets the pro and prebiotics as needed. She gets a product called Canine Renal Support from Standard Process which I think has been a HUGE part of her health. I also give her Canine Hepatic Support to help her liver. The liver is more likely to get stressed because the kidneys aren’t doing their part. She gets extra vitamin B complex and C — these are water soluble vitamins and are lost in excess due to the large volumes of urine so they need to be supplemented. Most vets don’t discuss these kinds of things that will help our kd pups live a longer healthier life…

Audrey has NEVER had a rabies shot. She is exempted for life. She’s never had any vaccines except her first puppy shots (distemper, parvo and adeno). No lymes, lepto, kennel cough etc. They know that vaccines can stress the kidneys. She also has never had flea/tick or heartworm meds, pharmaceutical dewormers etc. ALL of these add insult to injury.

I haven’t used it but I’ve spoken with others that have had very very good success with an herbal regimen by Five Leaf Pharmacy (my father is a Master Herbalist so he could make these for me at less than half the cost—otherwise I probably would have tried them).. He liked the formulas.. http://caninekidneyhealth.com/

[Toxed2loss]

Hi Weimlove,
I don’t have a huge Heartworm threat up here but, to be on the safe side I did some reading up on it & non toxics approaches. Dr. Wil Falconer, a holistic DVM, wrote a book on natural Heartworm prevention. His website is here: http://vitalanimal.com/immune-path/.

Another sight that might be helpful is this one, it gives 6 homeopathic methods and it encourages the same kind of program that Shawna mentioned. http://www.danebytes.com/heartworm-cures.htm

The bottom line is a healthy animal defends its self against Heartworm, and other parasitic attacks. Meds are insecticides… Poisons. If you use Heartworm “Meds”, you are also making your pet sick. Parasites are stronger than mammals. They’re harder to kill. In order to kill, or poison the parasite the dose of poison has to be pretty high. Keeping your pet optimally healthy, and using non-toxic repellents on your pet for the insect vector (Mosquitos) is a much better foundation. Like Shawna, I strongly believe that garlic can kill the wolbachia. But check out some of the homeopathic site’s cures. 😉

[Shawna]

Honeybeesmom ~~ I haven’t used heartworm preventatives in any of mine for over 20 years. HOWEVER, if you feel better about using it then I think you should by all means!!!!! Since we all have to live with the consequences of the decisions we make, I think it best we make the decisions that make the most sense for our personal situation!!! 🙂 Yes, heartworm is technically a poison but because you feed well, you don’t over vaccinate, don’t treat your yard with chemicals, you limit other toxins etc, the poisons in heartworm meds are not as likely to cause a problem as in an immune compromised animal. It’s all synergistic in my opinion.. And if you use milk thistle after you can help the body eliminate the poison more efficiently.. 🙂

[Shawna]

I too agree with Hound Dog Mom BUT there is an alternative to giving the full dose — you can have a compounding pharmacy make a product specific to your pups weight. Dr. Becker mentions it in an article she wrote a year or so ago

“•Providing your dog is healthy with good kidney and liver function, go with a chemical preventive at the lowest effective dosage (compounded if necessary for dogs that weigh at the low end of dosing instructions), at six (not four) week intervals, for the minimum time necessary during mosquito season.” http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/08/03/why-havent-pet-owners-been-told-these-facts-about-heartworm.aspx

I also agree to only use heartworm meds as fleas are not, in most cases, life threatening and can be treated naturally as HDM mentioned. I also agree with giving every 6 weeks instead of 4 weeks. Additionally, look into the herb called milk thistle. Milk thistle helps the liver process toxins more efficiently. If you decide to give milk thistle, the product needs to be standardized to at least 70% silymarin (the “active ingredient”).

[Hound Dog Mom]

Debra23 –

If you’re concerned with giving your dog too much medication, I’d avoid Trifexis. Trifexis is a heartworm preventative, broad spectrum de-wormer and an oral flea medication. Go with a formula that is for heartworm and only heartworm – all that other stuff is not necessary and if your dog doesn’t have fleas or worms why worm it and give it flea meds? My vet got me to try Trifexis last summer and one of my dogs puked everytime I gave it to her. Worms and fleas can be effectively treated naturally anyways. I personally give a preventative that does only heartworm, I space doses 6 weeks aprart rather than 4 and only administer during late spring, early fall and summer (I’m in northern new york). I wouldn’t recommend giving a lower dose than what’s recommended.

[debra23]

Hello I have a question on the heartworm medicine. I have a min. schnauzer 9 months old. She weighs 10 lb. 2 oz. She will be small because mother was 11 lbs. and father 13lbs. My vet gives Trifexis for heartworm prevention. When she weighed in over 10 lbs he bumped her dose up for dogs that weigh 10.1 to 20lbs. That made the meds go from 140 mg to 270 mg. per dose. So last month I split the pill and just gave her 1/2 . I am uneasy doubling the dose when she only weighs 10.2. I will give her the other 1/2 next month. I am not sure about giving her that large of dose because she is still so small. I live in South Carolina and she is inside dog, goes for 2 walks a day and potty breaks only. Of course I don’t want her to get heartworms, but I also don’t want to pump her little body full of this stuff, month after month, if the smaller dose will do the job. I think Trifexis is new and not sure about long term side effects.

[Honeybeesmom1]

After 8 years of Honeybee on heartworm meds
he hasn’t had any HW pill in one yr. He’s so sensitive to everything.
The others haven’t in 4 months.
I’m scared that I haven’t given to them…but I was also scared of the dangerous side effects they could have.
I do give them garlic 4 days per week and careful on what hours I let them outside.
I’ve read up on herbs that prevent heart worm…but there’s just sooo many different sites and herbs – I don’t know which to give.
Do you give or not give? What info can you give on the herbs. Thanks