[nagdu] More about tick, heartworm, and flea prevention

Thu Aug 21 21:49:41 UTC 2014

Why monthly preventive drugs are unnecessary
By Peter Dobias DVM
When it comes to talking about parasites most people cringe - and for
good reason.
Parasites are freeloaders; they are like the guests that come to your
house unin-vited with no intention of leaving.
But parasites are important from an evolutionary point of view and
play a large role in the natural selection process. From a dog lover's
point of view however, para-sites are nothing more than unwelcome
invaders that threaten the wellbeing and sometimes the lives of our
best friends.
Most people are generally afraid of parasites and the pharmaceutical
industry has been making hefty profits cashing in on this fear and
making things look worse than they really are. But our goal should be
to minimize the use of drugs because no matter what kind they are,
they are foreign to the body and often toxic. No one can be absolutely
certain that down the road, the drugs will not cause side effects and
affect your animal friend's health in general.
>From time to time, I like to check the facts surrounding various drugs
and vac-cines to see if they can be reduced and still achieve the
objectives.
Today's topic is heartworm.
History of Heartworm Prevention Drugs
In the 90s, when the manufacturers appeared to be taking North America
by storm, drug reps used to visit the vet clinic I worked at on a
regular basis. They used to tell us that eventually heartworm would
spread widely throughout Canada and heartworm preventives were an
absolute must.
These visits were also accompanied by the side note that selling the
heartworm tests and preventive drugs could bring a significant source
of income for the practice.
As time progressed, the heartworm doom and gloom case scenario in
Canada didn't materialize and it was clear that the risks of
heart-worm infection in Western Canada were clearly exaggerated.
However, this doesn't mean that heartworm isn't a serious problem on
the East coast of North America and southern parts of the US and in
Mexico.
In order to evaluate the risks of heartworm, you need to ask the
following questions:
1. What is the risk of heartworm disease in the area your dog lives or
travels to?
2. What do I need to know about the heartworm life cycle?
3. What is the minimal drug frequency to prevent heartworm?
4. Are there any heartworm drug alterna-tives?
Let's look at these points in better detail.
1. Evaluate the risks of heartworm disease
The heartworm life cycle is very much dependent on temperature. The
parasite's life cycle will not be completed unless the region's
average temperature is 57 degrees F (14 C ) or more for a period of 45
consecutive days and at least two weeks of temperatures over 80 F. If
these conditions are not fulfilled, your dog is very likely safe
without giving a heartworm preventive or doing any testing.
Based on the recommendations of Dr David Knight and Dr James Lok from
the American Heartworm society, even with the most cautious
conventional medical protocols, the year round heartworm preventive
schedule is exagger-ated with the exception of Florida and some parts
of Texas and Hawaii.
2. Heartworm life cycle
Heartworms go through several developmental stages before reaching
maturity and it takes 2 1/2 to 4 months before the tiny microfilaria in
the first stage leave the muscles and start settling in the pulmonary
artery. When heartworm reaches its final destination of the pulmonary
artery near the heart, it then takes about 3 to 4 more months to reach
maturity.
One doesn't need to have a math degree to figure it takes a minimum of
5 1/2 to 8 months for microfilaria to mature into an adult worm. This
would mean that your dog should be safe if you reduce the heartworm
drug fre-quency to once every 3 to 4 months.
3. Why do the drug companies recommend monthly heartworm prevention?
The answer to this question is simple. Drug companies recommend
monthly heartworm preventive either because it doubles or triples
their revenues or because they don't understand the heartworm cycle
(which is highly unlikely).
4. Safe alternatives to conventional heartworm drugs
Advances in heartworm diagnostics now offer DNA testing on the basis
of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technology. This test allows you
screen for any presence of heartworm and is very reli-able with
practically no false negatives.
The great news is that DNA testing can eliminate the need for
heartworm medication completely unless a dog is infected with
heartworm.
In order to help you make a more informed decision, I have created a
simple chart above with a suggested number of DNA heartworm tests that
need to be done to eliminate the need for pre-ventive drugs
completely.
 (The season is less then four months in all regions of Canada and
only dogs living in regions with heartworm incidence need to be
tested).
Next, establish the number of tests needed from the table above.
How to evaluate heartworm DNA test results
Heartworm DNA tests can be performed in most veterinary practices by
collecting a blood sample and sending it to a veterinary laboratory.
Please ensure that the actual DNA test is run as other tests are not
as reliable and have a higher margin of error.
Negative DNA test means that your dog has no heartworm in the body and
all you need to do is to retest as recommended above.
Positive DNA test means that your dog has been infected with
heartworm. If your last test was done four months ago or less, your
dog does not have a mature parasite in the heart and heartworm
preventive can be safely administered. However, I strongly recom-mend
that you consult with your veterinarian before administering heartworm
preventive to perform general blood work and consider an ultrasound,
just to be sure.
CAUTION! Preventive heartworm medication must not be given if your dog
missed a test. Using preventive drugs on adult heartworm can cause
serious problems and a different treatment protocol must be used.
Conclusion
When it comes to heartworm prevention, it appears that it is possible
to dramatically reduce or completely eliminate heartworm drug use if
DNA testing is done on a regular basis.
I hope this information will help you make the best decision for your
canine friend and create a healthy and long life, naturally.
Dr Peter Dobias has been in veterinary practice since 1988. In 2008,
he decided to sell his thriving holistic veterinary practice in
Vancouver, BC to dedicate his future years to disease prevention and
transforming the face of veterinary care to less invasive and more
natural treat-ment methods. He believes that we can create a healthy
and long life, naturally. For more articles and learning, you can
visit Dr Dobias at peterdobias.com

Use this table to de-termine the number of heartworm tests your dog needs.
Season Duration, Number of Tests Required
Temperature below the required level: No tests are needed
Less than 4 months: 1 test (at the end of heartworm season)
4 to 8 months: 2 tests (at the middle and end of heartworm season)
8 to 12 months: 3 tests (every 4 months )
Please note that these materials are for information purposes only and
it is not intended to diagnose or treat heartworm.
>From DogsNaturally Magazine May/June 2013 issue

Further articles
Truth About Heartworm: Part 1
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-1-truths-omissions-and-profits/

Truth About Heartworm: Part 2
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-2/

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=595&S=0&EVetID=3001459

Natural Heartworm Preventative
http://www.heartwormfree.com/heartworm_prevention.htm


On 8/21/14, Raven Tolliver <ravend729 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Daryl, heart worm comes from certain species of mosquitoes. A mosquito
> has to bite a dog already infected with L1 heartworms. 10-14 days
> later, the L1's mature to to L3's and migrate to the mosquitoes mouth.
> Then the mosquito bites your dog and transfers the bugs. The L3's
> develop in the skin for 3-4 months into L5's before moving to the
> dog's blood. If the dog's immune system doesn't destroy the
> heartworms, they mature to adulthood, which takes about 6 months.
> After maturity, the adults may reproduce if there are both male and
> female heart worms. But the babies will die, unless a mosquito
> carrying L3's bites your dog. If no bite occurs, the adults die off.
> If the temperature drops below 14 degrees C or 57 degrees F at anytime
> during the process, the heartworms cease developing and die off.
> As you can see, the perfect storm has to occur for a dog to get
> heartworm. Unless your dog is imprisoned in the same place day after
> day like boarded, chained, or kenneled dogs, she will not likely get
> heartworms.
> My personal approach to pests is to repel them. All these poisonous
> pills and topical pesticides all work retroactively, it seems. They
> only kill the pests after your dog has them. Why not take an active
> approach and repel the pests altogether?  I would not use any of these
> poisons, no matter where I lived.
> Also, if these poisons are killing bugs and parasites, what are they
> doing to the dogs who are slathered in or who ingest them? Overtime,
> it will surely take a toll on the dog's organs. You cannot put poisons
> into the body for long periods of time and expect nothing to go wrong.
> That's not how poisons work. They build up over time and eventually
> accumulate into a gross amount that the kidneys and liver cannot
> handle. That's whether you give them orally or topically. The topical
> stuff is just as strong. Think about it: Your skin is the largest
> organ you have. Just as it secretes oils and sweat, it also absorbs
> many of the things you apply to it. That is how skin works. How is
> vitamin D taken. naturally? It's absorbed through the skin from the
> sun. How do birth control patches, nicotine patches, progesterone
> creams, and such hormonal controls work? Most substances that come
> into contact with your skin will have an effect. If it didn't, the
> skin wouldn't be doing its job properly.
> I have said this before, and I will say it until the cows come home.
> The best way to repel pests is through a species appropriate diet. A
> healthy body is able to repel and fend off pests independently. But
> people refuse to give the immune system the credit it's due. Maybe
> they don't put enough stock in the diets they are feeding their pets.
> Because I feed my dog a varied biologically appropriate diet, and thus
> support his immune system, I am confident in his body's natural
> ability to defend itself against pests and intruders. If my dog ends
> up getting an infestation of any kind, it will be because of a flaw in
> his diet. All summer, I have not even applied any essential oils or
> natural, nontoxic pest repellents to my dog, and he is free of all
> pests and intruders. This is a dog who not only does guide work, but
> does a fair bit of nighttime traveling outdoors, plays in the woods
> and swims in creeks. There are an abundance of opportunities for
> exposure to pests, and yet, he is pest and parasite free.
> If people cared for their animals properly, there would not be a need
> for any of these toxic soups and substances. No one goes around
> slathering wild animals in pesticides, and somehow, they manage not to
> be constantly infested with pests. I wonder how that is!
> If anyone is interested, my next post is an article on heartworm
> preventatives.
>
> On 8/20/14, Carmella Broome via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks to those of you who  provided information about pills that help
>> with
>> flea and tick control. I ran across this  helpful  blog entry earlier, as
>> well.
>> http://www.pbvetclinic.com/hooliblog.html
>>
>> Carmella and yellow lab Brooklyn in SC
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>>
>
>
> --
> Raven
> "if God didn't make it, don't eat it." - John B. Symes, D.V.M.
> http://dogtorj.com
>


-- 
Raven
"if God didn't make it, don't eat it." - John B. Symes, D.V.M.
http://dogtorj.com