Natural Cures For Canine Heart Worms

Since Fido is unable to tell you when something isn�t right, it is your responsibility to make sure your companion stays free of heartworms. While the pet care market is saturated with a variety of commercial preventive and treatment options, some pet owners wish to treat their canine friends using natural solutions.

What is Heartworm?

Spreading from host to host with the help of a mosquito bite is the heartworm � a parasitic roundworm that possesses a small, thread-like body [1]. While dogs are often associated with a heartworm infestation, there are actually more than 30 species of animals affected, including foxes, wolves, sea lions, ferrets, and coyotes. Even humans can fall victim to heartworm.

Dogs become infected with heartworm when they receive a bite from a mosquito carrying infective heartworm larvae. Once the infection is transmitted, larvae continue to grow. Once it develops, the larvae will travel throughout the body until it becomes a sexually mature male or female worm. Mature heartworm then position themselves in the heart, lungs, and surrounding blood vessels.

Depending on the severity of the disease, infected dogs will show the following symptoms of heartworm[2]:

Cough
Abnormal-sounding lungs
Abnormal-sounding heart
Resistance to exercise
Difficulty breathing
Enlarged liver
Swollen stomach cavity
Poor blood flow to the brain

Canine Heartworm Natural Cures

Before deciding to choose a natural cure for your dog’s heartworm problem, keep in mind that his or her recovery will take place over a longer period of time. Natural cures will kill heartworms at a slow pace, but are known to encourage a pet’s immune system to eliminate the heartworm on its own. In order to make a final decision, review some of the common ingredients or treatment options that natural canine heartworm cures may include:

a) Garlic:

With the power to repel parasites, garlic is used in natural heartworm treatments to fight microbes, stimulate the immune system, lower blood pressure, and serve as an antioxidant.

b) Tea Tree Oil and Lavender Oil:

Spritzing a small amount of these oils on the coat of your dog will keep mosquitoes at bay. To make a suitable solution, blend four drops of each oil in one cup of water and then place in a spray bottle.

c) Yucca Root:

This ingredient treats the coughing and bloating that comes with heartworm.

d) Grapefruit Seed Extract:

Working towards ridding the body of parasites, grapefruit seed extract proves effective against bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.

e) Sorrel:

Rid the vessels of parasites by using sorrel � a perennial herb also known as ‘spinach dock.’

f) Hawthorn:

Hawthorn is used to lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart.

g) Licorice:

Besides stimulating the immune system, licorice also cleanses the blood, fights inflammation, and supports lung tissue.

h) Black Walnut:

During ancient Greek days, the hulls of black walnuts were used to boost the intestinal system and treat the skin. Some natural cures for dogs will use black walnut to cleanse the body and make dogs less desirable to parasites. However, please keep in mind that some dogs possess an allergy to black walnut and may develop hives or another allergic reaction.

i) Black Seed:

This anti-parasitic is also known to effectively treat the liver, kidneys, intestinal tract, stomach, respiratory system, and immune system.

Resources

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartworm

[2] http://www.heartwormsociety.org/article.asp?id=11

Tara

There have been products at Petco that have given my dog a bad reaction. It’s good to know that you can treat something like canine heartworm with natural remedies!
April

I am a veterinary technician and it scares me that people really think that there is a natural remedy for heartworms. Heartworms are worms that live directly in the heart. They multiple rapidly and will kill your dog. The easiest and safest way to prevent heartworms is give your dog heartworm medicine and to have a heartworm test done yearly!
Anthimos Kiouppis

For Heartworms I used a single gelcap of grapefruit seed extract opened up and sprinkled on their meat portion once daily for eight to ten weeks. A single green hulls of Black Walnut gelcap was sprinkled on their meat portion just once every three days. Green hulls of Black Walnuts are an astringent that cause constipation so I was careful not to do that to the dogs. Clove on a homemade baked apples treat blended well with the cinnamon was given once every two or three days. A couple of odorless garlic gelcaps and a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds were given before and after all meals. I was pleased with the results! Read up on the Heartworm life cycle in the Wikepedia and treat seasonally. Relax and take a deep breath you do not need Wormwood or Mugwort to kill Heartworms. Now for fleas, tartar, and hot spots just boil enough Lunberg short grain brown rice for three days at a time. No fleas ever and the lighter tartar you could remove yourself with cotton swabs soaked with iodized salt water. Rub near the gumline for three days before attempting to use the hooked dental scaler. Do not hold the tooth with a finger ever and just gently side swipe with the the hooked human scaler to scale the teeth. Remember to properly disinfect the scaler before using it on the other dog. Yes you can feed your dogs some non dog food wheat items and still not have fleas or hot spots just do it in the very cold months only. Remember there is a direct relationship between yeast infection and consuming wheat.
Anthimos Kiouppis

Correction Lundberg rice. It has the original skin on it and plenty of starch for active dogs.
Vanessa

My dog has just been diagnosed with heartworms, Anthimos Kiouppis can you tell me how long it takes to rid the worms once the natural remedy is started and do I keep her on a preventative?
Anthimos Kiouppis

Vanessa the answer is weeks if you you want a negative result test, but there is no massive die off that clogs organs or bood vessels. At the first sign of bloating and lethargy minus coaughing some herbal remedy might be better. April take a chill pill; how do you think people feel about Arsenic?? Vanessa I tend to believe heartworms are very fragile. Anything even remotely caustic could kill them so I tend to believe dog food must be bland and too low on protein to protect from heartworms otherwise cats and people would get heartworms more often too. Expect herb bashers when it comes to pets. Just tell them to to eat the same thing over and over agin for years and see how well their immune system works.