2/28/2024 0 Comments Sentinel heartworm safety revuews![]() “I have no intention of ever living through what I lived through with Raven and Bran. Although she and her vets eventually came to the conclusion that Bran’s renal failure was caused by Lyme nephritis rather than heartworm disease, it was disturbing to realize that heartworms can affect more than the heart and lungs. In her research to try to find the cause of her dog’s death, Christie discovered that glomerulonephritis is a potential side effect of heartworm infection. Necropsy results were inconclusive, showing that Bran had glomerulonephritis, but not why. Unfortunately, Bran died of acute renal failure not long after that. Bran became heartworm-free after months of using the “slow kill” method of heartworm treatment, with no sign of any adverse effects. He had never been sick a day in his life.”Ĭhristie successfully treated both her dogs, though Raven almost died of a pulmonary embolism during treatment. He was, by any definition available, extremely healthy and robust. His mother and her mother were raw-fed and unvaccinated other than minimally for rabies. He was unvaccinated other than minimally for rabies. “In contrast, my dog Bran was a third-generation, naturally reared dog of my own breeding. She came to me at 17 weeks with bad ear infections and severe allergies, and no one could argue that Raven was healthy or had a normal immune system. “One of the positive dogs was Raven, a Deerhound I bought from another breeder. At the end of that 16-year period, on routine testing, I found that two of my dogs were heartworm-positive,” says Keith. “I went 16 years not using any form of allopathic preventative on my dogs. The only way to know for sure that your dog is protected is to give heartworm preventatives.Ĭhristie Keith, who lives in an area of Northern California where heartworm is relatively uncommon and has raised Scottish Deerhounds naturally for over 19 years, learned this the worst way. If only this were true! These measures may help to some degree, but they are not foolproof. In fact, most (certainly not all) holistic veterinarians consider the use of pharmaceutical preventatives to be less harmful than a heartworm infection.Īs the co-moderator of an e-mail list on dog health and nutrition, I frequently see people allege that as long as you have a healthy dog, feed a raw diet, and do not over-vaccinate, your dog will not get heartworms. Even the treatment for heartworm disease can be deadly, regardless of which method is used, so it is important to understand the risks that you take if you choose not to give your dog heartworm preventative. The disease often leaves its victims incapacitated, incapable of doing much more than a slow walk without gasping for air, and kills many dogs. Dogs with moderate or severe infestations display a chronic cough and can’t engage in much activity, as worms choke their heart and major blood vessels, reducing their blood (and thus oxygen) supply. On the other hand, heartworm can be a devastating disease.
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