It seems to me that the real problem is that allopathic attitudes have instilled in many of us a fear of disease, fear of pathogens and parasites, fear of rabies, as if these are evil and malicious entities just waiting to lay waste to a naive and unprotected public.
Disease is not caused by viruses or by bacteria or by heartworm-bearing mosquitoes. Disease comes from within, and one aspect of disease can be the susceptibility to various pathogens. So the best thing to do is to address those susceptibilities on the deepest possible level, so that the pathogens will no longer be a threat. Most importantly, don't buy into the fear.
That having been said, there are practical considerations of risk versus benefit in considering heartworm prevention. The risk of a dog contracting heartworms is directly related to geographic location. In heavily infested areas the risk is higher, and the prospect of using a preventive drug more justifiable. Whatever you choose to do, a yearly blood test for heartworm microfilaria is important.
There are basically three choices with regard to heartworm prevention: drugs, nosodes, or nothing.
There are currently a variety of heartworm preventive drugs, most of which are given monthly. I don't like any of them due to their toxicity, the frequency of side effects, and their tendency to antidote homeopathic remedies. Incidentally, the once-a-month preventives should be given only every 6 weeks.
The next option is the heartworm nosode. It has the advantage of at least not being a toxic drug. It has been in use it for over 10 years now, and I am reasonably confident that it is effective. It is certainly very safe. The biggest problem with the nosode is integrating it with homeopathic treatment. But at least it's less of a problem than with the drugs.
The last option, and in my opinion the best, is to do nothing. That is to say, do nothing to specifically prevent heartworm, but rather to minimize the chances of infestation by helping your dog to be healthier, and thereby less susceptible. This means avoiding those things that are detrimental to health, feeding a high quality homemade diet, regular exercise, a healthy emotional environment, and, most of all, constitutional homeopathic treatment. Of course, this will not guarantee that your dog will not get heartworms, but, under these conditions, even the worst-case scenario isn't so terrible. If your dog were to get heartworms, s/he shouldn't develop any symptoms as a result.
For what it's worth, I never gave my dog any type of heartworm preventive, even when we lived in the Santa Cruz area where heartworms were very prevalent. I tested him yearly, and he never had a problem.
Rich, thank you for posting this! Honestly, people buy into these things because of very powerful marketing designed to induce guilt in people if they don''t buy. While I realize there are lifesaving drugs out there, I do not trust the phamaceutical industry as a whole! I read years ago that it was highy questionable to give pets yearly vaccinations. You really have to weigh whether the drugs and vaccines cause more harm than good. Tough decisions. (Oh, and this really applies to people pharmaceuticals as well.)
I agree with this. Over the years our thinking has changed about the use of vaccines and preventative heartworm treatments. When we adopted out Chihuahua this year, for the first time ever we found that we had a dog that was prone to severe allergic reaction to certain vaccines. So, we decided less is more for her too. Our vet always recommends maximum preventative measures for everything and we just don''t agree. We''ve never treated our dogs for fleas, and none of the 3 have ever had fleas. We take it as it goes. So far we have 2 very healthy oldtimers, 11 and 13, and one fiesty but sensitive 1 year old.
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