[nagdu] heartworm prevention

Sun Jan 5 16:08:21 UTC 2014

CJ,
First, your dog must be bitten several times to develop a heartworm infestation.
Second, if your dog’s immune system functions properly, it will kill
off larval heartworms before they reach adulthood.
Your dog receives the pesticide. If your dog already has heartworms
and is bitten in September by a mosquito carrying L3s, then the
October heartworm pill should kill those L3s.
But let’s say you don’t give your dog the pesticide. If your dog
already has heartworms and is bitten in September by a mosquito
carrying L3s, the larvae will develop into L5s in 3-4 months if all
conditions are right. That means that the temperature must
consistently stay above 57dgF for those 3-4 months. If it doesn’t, the
larvae in the dog’s skin will die. If someone lives in an area where
the temperature drops below 57F anytime during the incubation period,
the larvae will die.
Even if the L3s develop into L5s, and those L5s reach adulthood in six
months and reproduce, they need another mosquito carrying L3s for
their babies to mature. If that mosquito never comes along, the worms
are doomed.

On 1/4/14, CJ Boynton <cjx4paws at gmail.com> wrote:
> So, in reading this scenario, is it correct to surmise that if the dog is
> bitten in September, infected with the L3, then,with the  3 to 4 months
> incubation under the skin for the larva to become L5, would bring the  larva
> into the blood stream in approximately December or January?  Therefore,
> wouldn't it be prudent to be administering heartworm preventative when the
> larva enter the bloodstream?
>
>
> CJ
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
> Sent: Friday, January 3, 2014 11:34 AM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] heartworm prevention
>
> the heartworm pill does not prevent heartworm, it is a pesticide that
> kills heartworm babies. Nothing can stop your dog from getting
> heartworm unless it can stop mosquitoes infected with heartworm from
> biting your dog. You can reduce mosquito bites with mosquito control,
> but obviously, that is not 100%. The ultimate solution to fending off
> pests and fighting worms is a healthy immune system.
> Getting a heartworm infestation is far more difficult than vets and
> drug companies would have us believe. There are 7 steps necessary for
> an infestation:
> Step 1: A hungry female mosquito of a certain species must bite your
> dog. Female mosquitoes act as airborne incubators for premature baby
> heartworms (called microfilariae). Mosquitoes thrive in warm, humid
> conditions, as I stated in an earlier post.
> Step 2: Our hungry mosquito needs access to a dog already infected
> with sexually mature male andfemale heartworms that have produced
> babies.
> Step 3: The heartworm babies must be at the L1 stage of development
> when the mosquito bites the dog and withdraws blood.
> Step 4:  Ten to fourteen days later — if the temperature is right –the
> microfilariae mature inside the mosquito to the infective L3 stage
> then migrate to the mosquito’s mouth. (Yum!)
> Step 5:  Madame mosquito transmits the L3′s to your dog’s skin with a
> bite. Then, if all conditions are right, the L3′s develop in the skin
> for three to four months (to the L5 stage) before making their way
> into your dog’s blood.  But your dog still isn’t doomed.
> Step 6:   Only if the dog’s immune system doesn’t rid the dog of these
> worms do the heartworms develop to adulthood.
> Step 7:   It takes approximately six months for the surviving larvae
> to achieve maturity. At this point, the adult heartworms may produce
> babies if there are both males and females, but the kiddies will die
> unless a mosquito carrying L3′s intervenes.  Otherwise, the adults
> will live several years then die.
> In summation, a particular species of mosquito must bite a dog
> infected with circulating L1 heartworm babies, must carry the babies
> to stage L3 and then must bite your dog. The adult worms and babies
> will eventually die off in the dog unless your dog is bitten again!
> Also, heartworms Development Requires Sustained Day & Night Weather Above
> 57˚F
> ...
> The University of Pennsylvania vet school (in a study funded by
> Merial) found: “Development in the mosquito is temperature dependent,
> requiring approximately two weeks of temperature at or above 27C
> (80F). Below a threshold temperature of 14C (57F), development cannot
> occur, and the cycle will be halted. As a result, transmission is
> limited to warm months, and duration of the transmission season varies
> geographically.”
> ...
> The Washington State University vet school reports that laboratory
> studies show that maturation of the worms requires “the equivalent of
> a steady 24-hour daily temperature in excess of 64°F (18°C) for
> approximately one month.”  In other words, it has to be warm day AND
> night or development is retarded even if the average temperature is
> sufficiently warm. They add, that at 80° F, “10 to 14 days are
> required for development of microfilariae to the infective stage.”
> Jerold Theis, DVM, PhD, says, “If the mean monthly temperature is only
> a few degrees above 14 degrees centigrade [57 degrees F] it can take
> so many days for infective larvae to develop that the likelihood of
> the female mosquito living that long is remote.”
> https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-1-truths-omissions-and-profits/
>
> http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/08/03/why-havent-pet-owners-been-told-these-facts-about-heartworm.aspx
>
> The vets at Holistic Vet Center say:  “… monthly heartworm
> preventatives are actually 100% effective if given every 45 days and
> 99% effective if given every 60 days.”
> https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/heartworm-medication-part-2/
>
> Also, people need to understand that heartworm positive results is not
> a death sentence. there are various herbs which treat heartworm; and
> there is also Heartworm Free, which is both a preventative and
> treatment.
> http://www.heartwormfree.com/heartworm_prevention.htm
>
> If you do a Google search for heartworm development and temperature,
> you will see the same facts on numerous websites.
> Sorry, vets are in it for the money, and the vets at guide dog schools
> are no more competent than the four vets I visited with my golden. You
> know that money is a top priority in the guide dog programs because
> they feed the dogs foods like Iams, Proplan, insert low-cost, low
> quality dog food here. And these vets truly think that these brands of
> kibble are healthy. Any vet who says things like: "Iams is a healthy
> kibble," or "Eating kibble cleans your dog's teeth," are not good vets
> in my opinion. Statements such as these demonstrate that a vet is
> concerned about money over health.
> Statements such as these come from the same vets who say give
> heartworm preventative once a month, even when there's not a chance of
> mosquitoes appearing for more than half the year. If you live in
> states with climates similar to Florida or Texas, I can understand
> where they're coming from. But in regions like the Northeast and
> Midwest, that is just overkill.
> --
> Raven
>
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-- 
Raven