Comments on Natural Heartworm Treatment for Dogs Without Drugs

Hello... my dog just got a HW positive test and I am so worried. She has all those symptoms you listed above (lameness in her legs—all at different times, reverse sneezing from time to time, etc)... I feel like a terrible dog mom ???? I would rather treat her naturally if possible. How would I go about finding a vet that would work with us?

I’ve been reading these articles and they are very similar to what I’m going through with my rescue. His cough has seemed to get worse but he doesn’t have a bunch of bad symptoms. I want to try the sulphur and graphite’s treatment but I don’t know dosage or what exactly to get. He is a 83 lb Catahoula leopard dog mix.

I have been searching for answers to the sudden death of my beloved dog from what I can only guess was heartworm related. I live very remote and was used to home treatments for everything. I had been giving him black walnut hull extract every day for a couple weeks when I was concerned about the presence of heartworm microfilia..with only positive or neutral results. I stopped for a good while, 5 monthsish, and recently noticed him having a progressively more frequemt cough. He would also seem more uncomfortable at night, sometimes panting a lot or pacing the house. And on two occassions he had weird short lived (5 min max) incidents of having apparent trouble standing up and even seemed to lose control of his hind legs one of the times. Amd on two other occasions, randomly and seemingly unprovoked, experienced mild seizures.

When the cough started and began to occur more frequently ( a few like 5 times a day) I thought either heart condition or heartworms. So I decided to start the black walnut extract again and ease him into adding other natural aides. I gave him roughly 240mg of the black walnut hull extract, same as before, and accounting for his weight of 50 pounds. That was in the morning. By that night he was standing around panting heavily and I took that to mean it was working and it was normal to have more labored breathing or panting when the stuff is working and killing off larvae. Proportedly it does not kill the adults? I kept him calm all day and the next morning came out to find some blood on the floor nearby where he lay gasping for air. He had vomited his dinner and was mildly responsive to my voice and presence. He died within 10 min, in what I would describe as heart failure poasibly heart attack, as there was a significant moment where he lifted his head and arched back in pain and cried out, then he was not responsive as his lungs continued to heave for air.

I had come to feel fairly confident in home treatments and management and had read hundreds of articles on the particulars of various natural methods and am still in shock as to how this single, one time, reasonable? dose of black walnut hull extract, taken from a closed capsule and the same he would receive a few months ago without issue, could kill him?

Is it likely that it actually did kill off the adults all at once? Would the larvae cause a clot or if there was just a crazy amount of them? Could this have been a coincidence or could the black walnut extract have been poisonous in the presence of some other condition like heart problems?

Of course I am devastated and will not give my animals natural treatments without a vet signing off but I would like to know if this could actually kill a dog of that size at that dose and if it was definitively that extract as the cause.

Thank you in advance.

Will,
I really enjoyed reading this article and it has given me some hope that my dog, Jett, has a chance. He has recently developed a cough (about a week ago) and seems to get winded quicker than usual. His breathing is more rapid than usual and he has been skipping breakfast at least every other day. I read one of your replies above where you hinted that a homeopathic vet doesn't need to be nearby to receive help from them. If you could maybe recommend someone for me or just point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. Hope to hear from you soon!

All the best,
Jonathan

Hello I just read this and was trying to see if I could get a phone appointment with you. I live about 1 hour from Austin but I have a busy schedule and it's hard to drive there
My dog is showing some of the symptoms that Mr. Piggy was showing but I don't want to just try to do the same thing for my dog since everyone is different. Please contact me or someone in your office I truly would appreciate it.

Kevin

I live in North Georgia. We do have plenty of mosquitoes especially since I live close to the town reservoir. My dog is a small, 14-lb female Manchester terrier mix. I got her from the local shelter at the end of April/beginning of May and had her spayed. Would the vet have tested her for heartworm in bloodwork before the spay or is the test elective? They did not tell me anything about a heartworm test when I picked her up from the vet after her spay. Here are things that she has had from the first day I got her and I had mentioned all of this to the vet when I took her in to get the suture trimmed: Atrophy to the left rear hip musculature that is associated with limping (she always holds the leg up and limps when she trots or runs and does not like that leg or her feet to be touched which makes me think someone may have injured the nerve through abuse), intermittent episodes of reverse sneezing that last for one minute that happen about 3x/month. She has never had any coughing. I had a Gordon Setter when I was a kid and he got kennel cough at age 3. He had a wheezing, hacking cough, no appetite or energy, and hard, swollen glands like ping pong balls. My current dog has none of those symptoms. She has a good appetite, is very playful and enjoys going on hikes; even when we are out for over an hour, she still has stamina. However, I am freaked out in thinking that she had the reverse sneezing a little longer than usual today, and it happened 7 hours after we took a 2-hour hike. Does this mean she could have heartworm and I am hurting her by taking her out to exercise? I am just worried because I don't know if I can just order the ELISA heartworm test online and then get treatment from the vet or if the vet will make me pay an arm and a leg to get her tested by them for heartworm before handing over the preventative heartgard Rx if the test is negative. Should I be this concerned about it?

I'm so glad I came across this wonderful article and learning about graphites and natural medicine..... i recently rescued a very neglected small dog, 8 pounds, but she is hw+, and I can't afford the $800 to up to $1000 dollars for the treatment at the vet, and I don't wanna take her to a shelter where I won't know her luck.... i search already for homeopathic vet in the area (Houston, Texas) but there's only 2 for acupuncture. .... do they sell this remedy online? Any recommendations? I'm so sad and desperate, i don't want her to die, she's so little and sweet and she doesn't have any symptoms at all....thanks for your time and information

My sweet Sahara was recently positive for heart worms, She didn't have any when I tested her back in July of last year. I would like some help on this my vet wanting me to do a very strong treatment that would have her locked up for basicly 3 months straight. Any advice would help Thanks

I would love to discuss this article with a relative (who is a vet) - can you tell me what doses of sulpher, calcarea carbonica, and graphites that you used? You said "single, high potency dose" for the sulpher and graphites. I would love to hear your reply. Thank you!

I live in Georgia and there is a mosquito problem here but I did stop giving heartworm pills back in November. Last month I had my two dogs tested (negative) and told my vet that I wasn't doing vaccines (except rabies) or heartworm "preventative" anymore. She was ok with the vaccines but was horrified I wasn't doing the heartworm pills anymore but instead was giving them a tincture three times a week. She asked me if I thought she would give her dogs something she considered to be toxic. Sigh. I didn't want to get in an argument about it so I kept my mouth shut but I have to admit it does worry me with the number of mosquitoes we have here.

WOW, great article. Love your articles, I tell all my friends that have pets to get your emails. Thanks for all you do

Thank you for this whole newsletter what a wonderful article Dr. Falconer, very informative. I remember my male dog was given Arnica before surgery by a homeopathic veterinarian, her partner was the one doing the surgery. There was some problems with the anesthesia but I did not know it was because of Arnica. No one told me that.
It is nice to know that you can treat heartworms with homeopathy. My dogs have not used preventative since last year. We have just have a negative test. It would be nice if you answer Tricia's questions about Antigen test instead of microfilaria? I do not know what test they did, I guessing the usual but this veterinarian does not know I am not using preventative. I was using your heartworm nosode but the homeopathic doctor the dogs are being treated by do not want me to use it because she says it will interferes with remedies. We have lots of mosquitoes here, and even during the day we have the Asian mosquito.

Loved the info on Arnica. Use it alot but did not know about the preop issues. Also, I am getting very close to not treating for heartworm with the monthly pill. My dogs are raw fed, only had the puppy shots and the dreaded required rabies vaccine. I am still afraid of the wrath of shame I will get from my vet if I don't treat and I'm not sure I could handle the guilt if they did test positive for some reason. Help. How can I overcome these issues :) Also, if I understand the article correctly a dog can test positive one time and neg another is that correct? I am going to order the vital animals book. I really want to get on a competely natural path. I have to Bernese Mt. Dogs ages 4 and 3. Thank you for the wonderful info you put out for us. Katie

Thank you for another very informative article. Yes, unfortunately most conventional veterinarians still have very closed minds when it comes to healthier alternatives for our animals. I recently took my two Shih Tzus in for their "required" rabies vaccines. Long story short, I told the doctor that I was only going to do the rabies vaccines because that's all they needed (well, the law says they need them). My dogs are 7 years old and have already had all the other vaccines, and after the last full round at age 4 I said no more, other than the rabies. After a bit of back and forth, his opinion versus mine, he left the room and had his technician finish up with me. He tried very hard to be polite but I could that tell he was furious with me. Anyway, I was just glad to be done with that. I'm not looking forward to dealing with this again three years down the road but, who knows, maybe the laws will change prior to that time; at least to maybe stretch out the rabies requirement even further to say every 5 years or so. We'll see.

I think the recovery was wonderful, wish we had a vet in my area that practiced this type of medicine.
Well I have read your book, which I thought was a great read. I have four doggies and I will be taking them in for an annual test soon. Have to admit I'm a little worried because I haven't given heart worm treatment for almost two years now, last test was negative. Keep you posted. My dogs are raw fed and I don't use any type of white coat treatments for anything, I seem to solve many things with very simple remedies

Thanks so much for talking about heartworm and what a great success story for Mr. Piggy. I know Lily will be just fine as well.
So how do I "prevent"? Well, I mostly track the weather. I think its important to know when infection is even a possibility vs. just a regular mosquito bite.
I follow the 57F rule with loosely calculated HDU's after that. When I lived in Texas I think there was only 60 days that year that infection was even a possibility in my area.
During that time we AVOIDED mosquitos. Staying in at dawn and dusk. Draining all water from pots and puddles. Mosquito dunks in the pond. And consistent, liberal use of Wondercide on both my dogs and myself. I then heartworm tested 6-8 months later. All good.
Now that we live in Seattle I think we'll have an easier time of it due to low temps but we'll still use the Wondercide. I know I don't like getting bitten by mosquitos so I imagine my dogs don't either.
I recently heard that for folks not using preventatives, if we decide to test, we should ask for the Antigen test instead of the Microfilarial. What are your thoughts on that Dr.?

Thank you for this whole newsletter. Arnica... was a Wow, I did not know the preventative prior to surgery was a No No... The success story with Mr. Piggy... PRICELESS! Thank you so much for this Share!
Salli and Havanese gang.

I love this success story. Also, just want to make a connection with another like minded veterinarian.
I love Transfer Factor and Austin ;)
Nice job!!
I enjoy your blog. I don't have many people to share info like this with here in Birmingham.
Thanks again!

You're lucky - I would say 100% of conventional vets in Australia recommend vaccination. Even the vet I use (only for sterilisation) does and he uses homeopathy! There is too much money tied up in it, as well as pressure. Great article on that!