Some Useful Facts About Methods of Heartworm Therapy
by Alison Graham
Filed under Dogs
There are a number of websites advocating natural or herbal heartworm treatment options. Some sites claiming that these treatments are effective and safe and will protect your pet seem to be offering advice that is directly opposed to that of the American Heartworm Society (AHS) that has done so much to enhance the treatment and prognosis for heartworm afflicted animals and to raise public awareness of correct treatment and care.
The AHS advice is uncompromising and suggests that there are no natural or herbal therapies that have been proven as effective and safe treatments for heartworm disease. That being said, for dogs which have heartworm disease, treatment with the only medicine that has FDA approval for heartworm disease treatment, (Immiticide) isn’t suitable in every case.
Online they propose that continuous, all year round treatment with a once a month dose of the heartworm preventative medication may be used to clear adult worms. However, it’s not generally thought to be a substitute for the normal Immiticide treatment because first of all, whilst these preventive medications will shorten the life span of the immature worms in addition to adult worms, the more mature the worm is at the time when it first gets exposed to one of the drugs within the preventives, the longer it takes to kill them.
So in tangible terms, this may mean that your pet will eventually become heartworm free but it could take longer than two years for this to be accomplished; during which time, your dog’s internal organs will go on being damaged as a result of the worms.
However, if for whatever reason the arsenic-based Immiticide treatment is not indicated for your dog, the long-term preventives treatment if closely monitored could eventually cure your dog of heartworm. However, reports say that it is Unsuitable for either very active dogs or dogs who are showing heartworm symptoms – it is simply suitable for asymptomatic dogs which have tested positive.
This process is not a cheap option either because although the medicines employed for the monthly heartworm treatments are not too expensive, the veterinary care and thoroughly managing the dog, monitoring the quantity of exercise and testing to evaluate how much damage is being inflicted to your dog’s organs runs up quite a bill over time. Another thing that the American Heartworm Society has expressed concern over regarding using this method of treating heartworm-positive dogs, is that it could potentially lead to the development of strains of worms that are resistant to the ingredients in the preventative medicines.
There has been recently an encouraging report by the American Heartworm Society on the type of combination treatment that could really help dogs that for reasons uknown cannot be given Immiticide although they have tested positive for the presence of adult worms. This combination treatment consists of Ivermectin as well as an antibiotic, Doxycycline. The outcomes of tests about this combination therapy that is spread on the thirty-six week period, demonstrates quite a amazing decrease in 78% in the quantity of adult worms residing in the dogs tested.
To get answers to all your questions about heartworms and to learn more about heartworm signs to look out for, visit Heartworm Treatment For Dogs.com today.
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