Black Walnut
Artemisia Combination
If anyone is interested in an all-natural flea repellant, Tea Tree Oil and/or Lavender oil work well; just make sure to dilute it with water as it's potent!
I'm wondering if anyone knows of a pet-store or veterinarian in Switzerland that offers homeopathic products for 'natural' prevention/treatment of heartworm? Some examples:
I thought that the `non-natural` prevention and treatment drugs were based on the `natural` drugs, just refined and processed? It has certainly been this way with modern medicine.
Just don't confuse `homeopathic` with `treatment`. It's closer to `placebo` IMHO
I'd have to respectfully disagree with equating homeopathic treatment to a placebo. I hope this thread won't turn into a debate about homeopathic vs. conventional; I'm just looking for some leads on products/services in Switzerland.
I don`t think there are many vets around who studied years ending up selling voodoo.
Yes - I don't think you actually need a vet to get homeopathic treatments, as they can't be prescribed as they are not medicine. Try looking on the internet, you can probaly get something shipped over from the US.
I'd be more than happy to provide such, but I have to warn you that such a
treatment for canine heartworm is bl**dy expensive. After all, such cures
don't just grow on trees. No sirree, I have to use litres and litres of tapwater
too.
You don't really like your dog, do you
.
Rayna, prevention of a Dirofilaria immitis infection is a subject near and dear to my heart (no pun intended), as I have gone through the heartbreak of trying, and ultimately failing, to treat a heartworm positive dog. It is a terrible disease, and I would not want another dog to suffer that way - especially when preventatives are available. Whenever necessary, and with my dogs who can tolerate the drugs, I use preventatives as recommended by my vet.
However, I also have two dogs who are MDR1-/-, a genetic defect. Many common drugs that are safe for most dogs, chief among them the Ivermectin family of anti-parasites, are toxic and potentially fatal to dogs with this defect. But when living in an area where heartworm incidence is a concern, not using a heartworm preventative is of equal risk; the drugs needed to treat a heartworm infection are also toxic to an MDR1 -/- dog.
So... what to do?
From what I have read of the effectiveness of 'natural' preventatives, there is nothing I would feel safe using against heartworm. My risk assessment is colored by my experience of losing a heartworm positive dog. YMMV.
.
So I am left with ultimate in 'natural' prevention - I stay out of areas where heartworm is a known risk. That means, we no longer venture down to Tessin, Italy, southern France, etc. - the dogs stay north of the Alps. Fortunately, the risk is not as great here in Switzerland as in the US.
Sorry I can't be of more help.
I would suggest you contact the Heartworm Society; perhaps they could give you some suggestions.
http://www.heartwormsociety.org/
Hope you find a solution that works for you and your dog.
--
(I avoid general preventative wormers with my MDR1 -/- dogs as well, instead I check stools for signs of worms daily, and send a sample off to the lab once a month. If parasites are found, we then treat.)
No. My daughter is a vet plus she studied Homeopathy and only treats her dog with alternitive medicine, but for Heartworm even she resorts to school medicine.
Still, don't confuse herbal medicines with homeopathy.
If you do want to enter the discussion, then this would the thread you are after: Homeopathy: Placebo or Real
Okaaay... Did I miss the memo that mentioned snappy replies are to be expected when posting a question?
Thanks for all the information, both useful and not-even-remotely-amusing. I'm sorry to see that homeopathy & herbal medicines aren't received well here ("voodoo".. c'mon now).
Ah, so when we went to the vet and I asked about heartworm, the vet said it wasn't an issue here (in Bern). We used to treat Lily regularly in the US (North Carolina looks like heartworm central from the map at the heartworm society map). But if we plan to take her to France or Ticino, then I should ask for some heartworm preventative. Maybe I'll ask anyway since she tolerates the meds and we have lots of mosquitoes.
Unfortunately Rayna, at times the very premise of your question must be rejected in as public a forum as the initial question. Homeopathy is just tap water and alternative medicines are just unproven theories (when a herb demonstrates efficacy through clinical trials it just becomes "medicine"). You are looking for help in abusing your pet by not taking appropriate care to stop it dying. I would regard this as gross negligence and if the pet were a child instead and according to courts across the western world, criminal negligence. I hope you understand now why responsible members of the forum must call vociferous attention to posts such as yours, lest they influence others to murder their pets through similar negligence.
I'm sure everyone here has a much-loved pet, so okay, I can understand the hostile responses if you think I'm a flighty hippie trying to advertise unsafe prevention/treatment of disease. Heartworm is a serious disease, and I'm not attempting to make light of it by suggesting treatments with "tapwater and/or unproven treatments". Nor am I neglecting the health of my pet, and surely I don't have to respond to an accusation that I'm trying to murder my own dog...?
Perhaps I was wrong to assume that alternative medicine would be regarded by readers as just that: alternative. Maybe this will fall on deaf ears, but in the interest of not advocating that you blindly follow me: Any type of medicine you administer - to animal or human - should always be questioned.
The most common conventional heartworm prevention drug contains ivermectin, which causes neurologic damage to the parasite, resulting in paralysis and death. The dosage of ivermectin found in heartworm preventatives is usually low. Great. Let's assume you treat for fleas, ticks, and guard your pet as much as possible from mosquitos (carriers of heartworm larvae), so now your pet is at low risk for heartworm. Personally I've simply asked myself if the ivermectin doesn't have some side effects on my dog, and not just the possible larvae/parasites.
In hindsight, I should not have included 'treatment' in my initial post, as heartworm is a serious disease and requires serious treatment, and even I recognize that alternative treatments do not apply here. As for 'prevention': I apologize to all the members if my initial post suggested that you simply run out and get some 'natural' oils, sprays, tinctures or what have you in lieu of thinking, researching and considering all options for heartworm prevention . I am not a veterinarian or a trained medical professional in any sense: talk with your vet and research the options provided.
There is a big difference between 'herbal' and 'homeopathic'.
Tea tree oil and lavender oil are 'herbals' but they are still 'toxic' - perhaps more toxic than proper tick preparations...I worked in a research lab on tea tree oil for 3 years and two out of five of our research staff ended up with contact sensitivity (assumulated allergic reaction from everyday exposure) to tea tree oil.
When talking about herbals...just because it's 'natural' doesn't make it less toxic. You wouldn't want to get tea tree oil in your eyes! Or eat Eucalptus leaves...
Homeopathy is not the same thing, it is based on an idea that you can mix something with water and dilute it to 'nothing' and somehow there is still 'something' there...and there's no science for it, only belief...
Agreed: just because something is 'natural' doesn't mean harmful side effects are not an issue; you still have to do your research. I did say that you need to dilute tea-tree/lavender oil in water for an effective flea repellant; if you're going to try this, do your research. Some pet owners pop pills into and spread creams between the shoulder blades of their pets without thinking. I'm certainly not saying you should do this, with homeopathic, herbal, or conventional medicines. You gotta take a little responsibility for your actions, no?
And thanks to members for re-clarifying the difference between homeopathy and herbal medicines. I'm guilty of throwing out these terms simultaneously in my initial post. As a lay person curious about alternative medicines I continue to discuss alternative options with both my dog's veterinarian and my own MD, alongside more conventional treatments. Sometimes I take it for granted that others realize there's a difference.
Just because this is one of my soapbox issues...
If one is worried about Ivermectin sensitivity, a test for the MDR1 defect will tell you if your dog is at risk, or not. It's a simple blood test, cost is ca. CHF 100.
Ivermectin sensitivity/toxicity was first seen in rough collies some 20 plus years ago; it was noticed that an unusual number of purebred rough collies experienced seizures, motor difficulties, and other signs of toxicity after taking on heartworm preventatives. Many of these collies died. We now know that the cause is the MDR1 gene defect. This gene encodes a protein, P-glycoprotein, that is responsible for pumping many drugs and other toxins out of the brain. Dogs with the defect cannot pump some drugs out of the brain as a normal dog would, which can result in the neurological symptoms mentioned above.
The problem was first noticed with Ivermectin and anti-parasite drugs simply because heart worm is so widespread that millions of dogs must take the preventative to combat it - the sample size was large enough for connections to be made fairly quickly. Further study shows that the problem extends to many other drugs - including anti-diarhea drugs, cardiac drugs, anesthetics, and chemotherapy drugs. The defect in now known as the Multi Drug Resistence Gene.
Ca 33% of all collies are affected - but other breeds are also, albeit at far lower incidences, including the aussie, mini aussie, sheltie, long-haired whippet, silken windhund, McNab. New studies have shown a few affected individuals in other breeds as well.
(Because the incidence is so high in the breed, all rough collies should be tested as a matter of course.)
That said, one should neither under nor over play the seriousness of the drug sensitivity problem. It is equally wrong to withhold necessary drugs from a non-affected dog, leaving him at risk of serious illness, as it is to give potentially toxic drugs to an affected one. One needs to proceed on fact, not assumption. Breed alone is not enough to decide whether to use or avoid a drug; if you have concerns for you own dog, discuss this with your vet, take the test. You will then know if your dog is affected, or not.
Info on the defect and drug sensitivity from the University of Giessen (DE) and Washington State University (US):
http://www.vetmed.uni-giessen.de/pha...dr1_defekt.php
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-VCPL/#Drugs
And a good general article from Hunde Magazine:
http://www.hundemagazin.ch/pdf/shm_4_07_mdr1.pdf
Because of the incidence of affectation in their breeds, I have tested all my dogs. One of my collies was affected, one of my shelties is. All the rest are/were either free from the defect, or carriers. So - I am very careful with drug usage with the affected dogs, but I know that I can safely give the unaffected dogs the drugs in question if needed.
FYI, there are heart worm preventatives that are considered safe for MDR1 -/- dogs; if I lived in an at-risk area I would have my affected dogs on those, as I have in the past. But as we are not at risk here preventatives are not necessary now.
As far as I'm aware everything in existence was created either in the big bang or through nucleo-synthesis, so everything is natural.
I agree this subject should not be diverted into a discussion of the nature of homeopathy. It's being adequately discussed here .