Answered by Dr. Christina Chambreau
Yes, there are natural preventatives for heartworms if you’re trying to avoid the chemical ones. Most importantly, if you’re choosing the natural approach, I recommend that you get a blood check every 6 months to make sure that your dog hasn’t been infected at all.
The six months are important because it’s very important for natural protection or for making your decision on how often to give the conventional medication to understand the heartworm cycle. First, a mosquito has to be born. Then the mosquito has to fly around and find a dog that has heartworm babies in the bloodstream, suck that blood, and now here’s the critical piece, for 30 days if the temperature is below 57 degrees, that heartworm cycle cannot happen or if it starts it gets interrupted. Then the mosquito finds your dog, bites, the larvae fall out and have to find that hole and then they begin a several-month climb through the body.
Now, that’s where the conventional preventives come in. They’re not really a preventative, they’re a morning-after pill. They kill all the migrating larval stages so adults don’t occur in the heart. What we mostly do with natural preventatives is, number one, keep the body so healthy that the natural immune system will come in and kill those migrating larvae and, number two, use essential oils tags that put out frequencies that repel mosquitoes. Having good screens up on your house so you don’t have mosquitoes indoors, avoiding the times that you go outdoors, and when they’re going to be out for very long, just a quick potty break I wouldn’t worry about it, but if it’s longer than that I would use the essential oil sprays. There are many different ones, they’re all about equally good.
So be informed and be an advocate for your pet. I’m Dr. Christina Chambreau, licensed veterinarian and faculty of HolisticActions!. Bye-bye.
Suggested Treatments:
- Use screens to avoid mosquitoes
- Essential oil sprays to stop mosquitoes from biting
- Build health – healthy dogs naturally kill the migrating larvae. See HA for steps to build health
Related Symptoms:
- Cough
- Exercise intolerance
- Panting
DISCLAIMER: Holistic Actions! does not provide advice on certified medical treatments. Content is intended for informational purposes only and to equip you with the tools needed for Holistic Medical Decision Making (HMDM). It is not a substitute for clinical assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. Never use content found on the Holistic Actions! website as the basis for ignoring advice from your veterinarian to seek treatment. If you think you may have a veterinary emergency, please call your vet or an animal hospital immediately.
Dr. Christina
Christina Chambreau, DVM, is an internationally known homeopathic veterinarian and associate editor of the Integrative Veterinary Care Journal, she’s written several books on animal healthcare.
After opening her own homeopathy veterinary practice in 1983, she founded the Academy Of Veterinary Homeopathy and was on the faculty of the National Center for Homeopathy Summer School for ten years.
Dr. Christina is also an integrative medicine adjunct faculty liaison for the Maryland Veterinary Technician Program and lectures on a wide array of topics including integrating holistic options into veterinary practices, as well as guidance on how to choose the best approaches to heal animals and sustainability.