Diagnosing and Treating Heartworm Naturally

Heartworm is parasitic worm that can grow to be twelve inches or longer, and left untreated, will kill your beloved dog. Heartworm is a serious, life-threatening disease requiring immediate treatment once infection has been discovered. Herbal heartworm treatments and other natural heartworm treatments are certainly available, though less well known than the toxic conventional treatments. Although these natural heartworm treatment regimes are nowhere near as painful or risky as conventional heartworm treatments, recovery from well established heartworm can still be considerably uncomfortable for your pet.

Mosquitoes infected with the heartworm parasite transmit heartworm. And once a mosquito is infected, whenever the mosquito bites another animal, heartworm is spread. Although heartworm is not contagious, it is certainly possible, and relatively common, that more than one animal in the household can contract heartworm. This is obviously because an infected mosquito is likely to bite more than one of your pets, and/or if there is one infected mosquito in or around your yard, there are very likely to be more of them. There is no risk, however, to housing a heartworm positive dog with an uninfected animal, as there is no risk of direct infection from the infected dog to an uninfected animal.

Heartworm is a parasitic problem much more common in warmer climates than in more temperate countries. Heartworm is therefore prevalent in every State in the U.S., and countries as far flung as Australia and Hong Kong, as well as southern France, Spain, Italy and the Mediterranean, and many others. In fact, some experts believe that heartworm is now present on every continent of this planet, with the exception of Antarctica. While that may be, heartworm is as yet relatively unknown in the U.K. and some other cooler climactic areas. There does appear to be a growing awareness of the problem, but many people have very little knowledge of how heartworm is spread, and why preventative medications are so important.

Heartworm is caused by the bite of a mosquito and the adult heartworm is found in the right ventricle and the nearby blood vessels of the dog's heart. Heartworm is a disease that every dog that is ever exposed to mosquitoes is susceptible to.

Symptoms of heartworm disease usually include coughing, weight loss, lack of energy and breathing difficulties. However, during the early stages of infestation, there may be few, if any, symptoms. Indeed, heartworm can develop to a very advanced stage before your pet shows any symptoms at all, and this process can take anywhere up to 18 months. This is one of the reasons why a heartworm diagnosis is such a serious matter – by the time your pet is diagnosed, he or she is likely to have a mass of heartworm clogging up his/her heart and surrounding blood vessels.

Heartworm can be diagnosed with blood tests, and/or X-rays, as well as various other types of tests. Heartworm testing will only be carried out as a matter of course in areas where heartworm is prevalent. However, you have every right to request that your pet be tested for heartworm, and to expect your vet to adhere to your wishes in this regard.

For more information on treating heartworm with herbs, click here: www.HealthyHappyDogs.com/Heartworm

Prevent Heartworm Naturally

Heartworm is a completely preventable disease. Do not ignore your vet when he or she tells you that heartworm prevention is important for your dog. It IS. In fact, it can literally save your dog’s life, or at the very least, save your dog from an expensive and painful treatment regime.

The heartworm prevention your vet will recommend will likely be one of the well known brands such as Heartgard. Such preventative medications do work very well, but then again, so do natural alternatives such as herbs.

Prevent Heartworm with Herbs

Heartworm Natural Treatment and Prevention Options

Does your vet tell you about natural heartworm prevention, or only about the chemicals that most vets recommend? Heartworm is a deadly condition which must be avoided by some type of prevention regime, and natural heartworm prevention works just as well as its chemical counterpart. What you need to know about preventing heartworm in your dog naturally …

Although it may seem like a harmless mosquito, the result can be much more devastating than one may assume. Heartworm can cause serious, and life-threatening, problems for dogs making it essential that you give them an ongoing herbal heartworm treatment of some sort. So what is the best natural heartworm prevention you may wonder?

So, what’s your take on mosquitoes? A pesky little fly which can bite you, draw your blood, and cause a nasty, itchy patch? Well, that’s the least damaging problem that mosquitoes can cause. For humans they can, in certain locations, cause the debilitating condition, Malaria. And for pets, they can cause heartworm. In case you’re uncertain as to what heartworm is, it is a life-threatening condition which, if left untreated, will prove fatal to your pet. Natural heartworm prevention is a viable alternative to the chemical heartworm prevention methods recommended by almost all vets.

The goal of herbal heartworm treatment is to kill the larvae off before they develop into adults. As soon as the larvae turn into adults, they fill the heart and block the flow of blood to the lungs. By giving the dog a pill, as recommended by many veterinarians, the ongoing small dosage can have toxic side-effects.

Mosquitoes are parasites, making it essential to get an anti-parasitic herbal heartworm treatment. A few anti-parasitic herbs will not only fight off mosquitoes, but also the common fleas and ticks.

One particular herbal heartworm treatment that is very effective on dogs is Geranium, which is oil that repels mosquitoes, ticks and fleas. Make sure you use the Geranium oil externally, though. The same goes for Lavender Oil and Tea Tree oil – also good for repelling nasty parasites when applied externally. The best way is to add a few drops of these oils in their pure, essential oil form, to a spray bottle with water in it, and spray your dog at least twice per day, and preferably several times per day.

Some other herbs which have excellent anti-parasitic properties include Garlic, Black Walnut, Artemisia, Wormwood, Clove Fower Buds, Ginger Root, Turmeric, Spearmint, Hawthorn Berry, and Capsicum.. The key is in using the right combination of these herbs to do the best job, and these herbs are given to your dog as an interal cleanser – either in tablet form or as a powder sprinkled on your dog’s food or mixed with water and licked up as a paste. The taste is rather bitter, though, so many dogs are not keen on the taste. There is some evidence to suggest, however, that a dog with heartworm will readily lick up these herbs because the dog instinctively knows that the herbs are what he needs.


You can find more information on natural heartworm prevention, at the Heartworm Treatment and Prevention website where you can find articles, treatment methods and other information on how to treat heartworm naturally with herbs.
http://www.healthyhappydogs.com/heartworm