Heartworm preventative,necessary EVIL?

[shandoggy1]

I was reading one of my ACD books written by Charlotte Schwartz it is an American Kennel Club book (copyright 2004). Anyways, I was reading about parasites and stuff and came across this info: Heartworm preventatives
There are many heartworm preventatives on the market, many which are sold at the vets office. These products can be given daily or monthly, depending on the manufacturer's instructions. All of these preventatives contain chemical insecticides directed at killing heartworms, which leads to some controversy among dog owners. In effect, heartworm preventatives are necessary evils, though you should determine how necessary based on your pets lifestyle. There is no doubt that heartworm is a dreadful disease that threatens the lives of dogs. However, the likelihood of your dog's being bitten by an infected mosquito is slim in most places, and a mosquito-repellent(or an herbal remedy such as Wormwood or Black Walnut) is much safer for your dog and will not compromise his immune system(the way heartworm preventatives will). Should you decide to use traditional preventative "medications" you can consider giving the pill every other or third month. Since the toxins in the pill will kill the heartworms at all stages of development, the pill would be effective in killing larvae, nymphs, or adults, and it takes four months for the larvae to reach the adult stage. Thus, there is no rationale to be poisoning the dogs system on a monthly basis. Lastly, do not give the pill during the winter months since there are no mosquitoes around to pass on their infection, unless you live in a tropical enviroment.
I personally do not give my dog's heartworm all year round because I live in New England, Massachusetts and we have cold winters so from Sept. to March they don't get it and then only get it once throughout the course of the summer and I also use some all natural products. However, after reading this I am going natural as that is my choice and what I think is best for my dog. I don't like the fact that I am poisoning my dog everytime I give him something to prevent a disease that can be prevented by using a more natural approach. I hope this info is helpful to others who always wondered what exactly is in a heartworm pill and if it is doing more harm that good I always like to know what exactly I am putting into my dogs body. I personally feel that if your dog is left out in the yard or chained to a tree for hours on end and not treated( I mean lets be realistic because it does happen with some owners ) that your dog is more succeptable to the disease than a dog who lives indoors and only goes out to do potty or go for walks such as mine do. But whatever you choose make it the right choice for both of you

[doberkim]

personally, i do give both my dogs heartworm preventative - i give it every 45 days or so, and i dont give it over the winter - however i have started to give it already because ive seen ticks, so skeeters arent that far off.

ive used and continue to use many natural remedies - however, heartworm disease is something i am NOT going to play around with - it can, and still does, kill dogs every year. (for the record, i am in MA too). its a disease that is VERY dangerous to treat once it has progressed, and quite frankly its not a chance i want to take with my dogs life. the risk is just too great, in my eyes - and i have seen natural preventatives NOT work on my own dogs - it has never stoppe the mosquitoes from biting him, so...

we each make our own decisions. personally based on my own experience and my own medical/veterinary knowledge - i continue to give it. the disease to me is worse than any possible preventative.

[Pugdawg1]

I think it depends on your area... I'm lucky, heartworm is practically unheard of here. Vet has seen three cases in 10 years.. all in dogs from out of state. So I do not give it to mine, the whole idea makes me uncomfortable.. however, if I did live in a different area and my vet told me to get them on it, I probably would.. I would not like it, but I'd do it. Kinda stinks either way ya look at it.

[cszmommy]

I like the idea of giving it everyother month or so. BUT I live in the Deep South, but my dog isn't outside except to use the bathroom. But Heartworms is something that I can't mess around with. But, I am concerned as well about the poisons used. My vet hasn't even started putting my dog on a preventative, b/c it's winter time and also to she is recoverying from neglect of a previous owner so we are taking it slow on vaccines and all other procedures. She's doing great though.
Thanks for sharing your research.

[Owned by Lucy]

I did a bit of research on this because I was leary of giving a poison to my dog every month "just in case". What I found was that there has been no decrease in the incidence of heartworm cases since the advent and mass prescribing of the various heartworm medications and in reality the rate of infection was not any where near epidemic levels, it was/is not even all that common. I do not currently give any heartworm medication and I live in the "deep south", I never used it when I was living in the Caribbean nor when I was living in Maine.

I do have her tested 2-3 times a year and will treat if it ever becomes
necessary but I will not continually assult my animals system to prevent something that is not likely to happen and even if it does it is easily treated if caught early (hence the frequent testing).

[RIo&Nickysmommy]

I was giving my two dogs heart worm pills but I had stopped they have so many allergies and they only go out to go potty of for short periods of time for walks and things like that and to play ball in the yard with me. I do have them tested. I worry about anything going into their systems that doesn't have to be their.
Rio&Nickysmommy

[CTDog]

I keep in contact with dog rescues that rescue from the south and "deep" south. Probably two out of four dogs they take in from shelters are heartworm positive. Those are some terrible odds. I live in connecticut and I frequently see mosquitos up into november. especially if it is warm. I suspect it isn't nearly cold enough down south to kill off mosquitos all winter.

I work in an animal hospital and mostly the treatment goes o.k. with the dog feeling terrible for a few days. The hard part is keeping them quiet for at least a month. We have experienced a couple of cases (we are a small clinic) where the dogs became extremely painful and could not walk. It is so sad seeing these dogs suffer so badly for something that is preventable.

[shandoggy1]

I probably should have put this topic in the "debate" section of the forum, not sure . However, it is controversial among dog owners as to whether heartworm is necessary given every month as the article stated. I had worked as a vet tech part-time here in Mass. for almost five years and never saw a dog with heartworm so I don't think it is very common around here. I have never given it to my dogs in the winter some vets tell you (even mine) to keep them on it "all year round" but I don't see it as necessary. I guess just as we have had the shot topic on here and lots of people feel that a dog should have its shots every three years as oppose to every year that people are going to have different opinions of the heartworm preventatives. I still want to do more research on the whole thing. I may give it every 3 months or I may go the natural way. I had a dog who lived till 14 and never had a flea or heartworm as a matter of fact in all my years owning dogs we never had fleas , he couldn't take the Heartworm because something in it bothered his system so we had him checked every 6 months instead. In a way it is a necessary EVIL depending on where you live and in other ways it is just EVIL to keep poinsoning your dogs system every month to "prevent". But I also think the every other or every 3 month thing is the way to go when administering heartworm.

[elegy]

i live in PA and i've seen a number of heartworm positive dogs be treated, and i sure as heck wouldn't want to put my dogs through that. we do have skeeters here. we do have heartworm here. it's just something i'm not interested in messing around with, so i do give preventative.

i know that many many dogs that were pulled by rescues around here after the hurricane were heartworm positive.

[BellFounder]

I used to give heartworm meds when i lived in other countries, i am thankful the UK has no heartworm problem so the meds are not required.

[CTDog]

I had a hard time finding a current map on line but this is a distribution map in 1986. This was 20 years ago so I'm sure heartworm is more widespread now.

http://www.lawestvector.org/images/heartwormdist.gif