Comments on Walk With Me: Curing Lily's Heartworm Without Drugs, Part One

I cant seem to find the next part of this store i have 1< 3< 4< and 5 but not 2 ? help please

thank you r. falconer for voicing your positive comments to dr. cal change is always difficult and swallowing ones pride is even more difficult.

I agree with some of your points, but I also don't like some of the wording.
1) Tramadol is technically an opioid in the US, but it is nothing close to what most people think of. In Canada, it isn't even classified as one.
2) Running a blood panel to test for issues before anesthesia has zero risk to the animal, and if someone refuses to have it done and then their pet had a complication or reaction to it, they have nobody to blame but themselves. It is 100% their fault.
3) Rabies vaccines have such a low rate of serious reaction that it is almost laughable. If you are worried about over-vaccinating, get titers checked. I'm appalled that any veterinarian can feel good telling people not to get their animal protected against a fatal disease, especially one that can infect humans as well. If one of these unvaccinated dogs happened to bite another person (regardless of reason), do you think the owners will 've happy they skipped a safe, simple vaccine that will now possibly result in their pet being euthanized?
4) Imitocide is used because it works. Yes, it is not something that is good for a dog. No vet enjoys giving it. I'm sure if you published scientific evidence of a better treatment that was as or more effective the protocol would change. As with most alternative medicine, I haven't seen any yet. If some exists, please link it, I would love to read it.
5) My dogs eat (gasp) dry kibble, get vacinattions followed by titer checks, are on flea and heartworm preventive, and could run circles around 90% of pets. Also of note, none of them have ever had parvo, rabies, distemper, heartworms, fleas, flu, or any of the supposed diseases and ailments that so many claim vaccines cause. I have also personally vaccinated hundreds of puppies, adults, and senior dogs and have yet to see a serious reaction. Same goes for spay and neuter.

I'd like some feed back on a treatment for my dog. I just found out today. He is a 100 pound Shepard mix 5 years old. Never had any kind of treatment till I just felt urged to go get him tested. I want to kill this work and prevent it from coming back. Please let me know how to do this!

sorry I mean to say Heartguard every 40 days and also do appreciate some of the tips given here

I took in a dog a last year that had received no HW preventative and got HW. Because of the severity of it he received the Immiticide treatment and no, did not have to stay in a cage for 2 months, just had to be gently walked and not allowed to run around. He made it thru treatment fine and I had him on Milk Thistle and other herbs afterwards for a couple of months and now he is a healthy boy but yes, he is on Heartguard every 30 days. While I prefer to do everything naturally and my dogs are fed a raw diet and no toxic flea/tick preventatives I have been around long enough to know that some things are necessary in this world we live in which includes rabies. Btw disappointing to see links led to having to purchase a book.

Here is the thing about giving your dog the 1 rabies shot. Let's say that you have a healthy young dog and that you would like him to get 1 rabies shot to have lifetime immunity.
Maybe it's different from state to state, but where I am the veterinarian (homeopathic or traditional) is obligated by law to notify the town clerk/dog officer every time they give a rabies shot. They provide your name and address. So, if you are flying under the radar already and maybe have other pets, things can get complicated. They will notify you to license the dog immediately and/or fine you if you don't cooperate. In one year they will notify you again that the shot is due. It goes on and on.... I hope they change the laws soon.

I wish I had found you a few days earlier. My 12yo Rescue Doxie Louise just had her first treatment for HW today. If I had known a non arsenic treatment was available, I'd have been all over it! She came to us from a puppy mill infected. I will now be following you!

Also I test for heartworm once a year.
I really have learned a lot from this website, I hope I didn't sound critical. I just don't like taking risks.
Since I have gone to a homemade diet and got rid of the kibble, my dog with allergies is much better. Thank you, Dr Falconer

It is confusing, isn't it? I believe most of of what the homeopathic vets say. Especially about diet (Although I still cook the food a little) and vaccinations. However, it is difficult to get around that rabies vaccine due to the laws, etc. Once you give the dog one rabies shot you are on the radar screen.
I lost a dog to Lyme disease/kidney damage, so I know what ticks can do. I use Advantix every month in the spring through fall.
Heartgard every 6 weeks (not 4) except when the ground is frozen. I'm afraid not too.

Hi Will
I know that I am New to a whole lot of this... I have only been making the changes again this way for about the last 3 months...But I have been going to as many websites on nutrition, raw diets, suppliments and the whole holistic approach to Vet. Medicine and driving my vet. crazy with a thousand questions and she really is a good vet and has put up with me somewhat...
But she simply says if she was holistic vet she more than likely would not be able to stay in business and her whole view on the vaccination and heartworm part, she says she understands where I am coming from, but she still begs to differ with my thoughts on the whole thing, because she said for every case she has treated or seen for adverse reactions to vaccinations, she has seen the results of disease effect, 100 times higher...
She is young and said that she will honor my requests and still do the routine yearly checkups and titer testing on my dogs, but she adamately advises against me not doing or using the heartworm preventative measures at least using Heartguard because it is much milder but still efective.... Because she personally feels like the risk is too high with the likehood of the HW disease happening vs. a dog having a reaction or long term effect on their organs from taking the HW preventative such as cancer being a lesser risk.
So here I am.... An avid all about the health of my dogs type person and I have 3 Dogs and one cat. 2 Westies and a new lab pup about 21 weeks old. Who is getting the benefit of all I have read on your site, Dr. Becker's, The Dog Food Advisor site and Susan Thixton's site as well...
Plus I am surrounded by people who do the whole Holistic approah in their own lives as well as myself and so Jess is my guinea pig with the "New way"...
Jess gets a semi raw diet with Orijen LB puppy kibble and Annamaet Satcha kibble while I am at work and he goes to work with me everyday. I suppliment his food with several things such as coconut oil, curcumin, probiotics, Kefir, super food veggies that I grow in my peticide free garden. I add a topper of canned healthy dog food, along with krill oil etc. and sometimes a few sardines in water are thrown in for a different flavor....
So now my major struggle is flea and tick and HW protection and I have read it all, but what I have ran into is everyone that is promoting the holistic approach it seems with the exception of your site is either selling their own high dollar brand of their own brew of stuff that you spray on every couple of days or they using items that when I read about them, seem to me to be as unhealthy as most. Especially when you read the labels or even oin their sites they are warning you to not get it into your eyes or it says you can't breath its dust or be careful about using too much of these essential oils or it can irriatate your dog's skin and so your only resort is use their brazilian obtained perfect mixture of stuff and so you can only use what I sell....It make me feel like the regular vets do promoting their own stuff...
I do know Heartworm issues are real in my area and I lost 3 prized and very beloved, highly trained labs to Heartworms and the first one was treated by the vet and not with arsenic treatment but some new kind and she died within a few days of the treatment although she was being secluded in her crate and allowed very little movement except to pee and poop and yet she died in first few days of the treatment and the other two I tried the treament once again with the same result and the last one I tried to treat naturally because of losing the other two and yet I found him dead down the road a month or so later and with all of them with the exception of one, they both got to the point of coughing up blood before they passed on... No don't get me wrong that was years ago and maybe the holistic medical vets were not as informed about what worked and what didn't but it consisted of different kinds of bark and herbs and I thought he was going to make it and yet I found him dead as well although he did appear to be getting better. I found him with blood coming out of his mouth and dead in his kennel as well.... So I do not want to ever go through that again...
Several years later, I had a Jack Russell that I rescued and he was HW positive fairly highly and so I told my vet of the others and told him treatment was not an options so he reccomend a slow approach and to simply treat him with Heartguard and he came up negative after 8 mos. and I left him on Heartguard from then on.
So anyway I am looking for answers right now and I know that heartworm infestation does kill dogs in our area and I never want to ever see another dog die like that again. It was horrible and so much so that I in fact told my wife that I would never have another outside dog again due to that very thing and I would never try to to naturally prevent Heartworms again... I mean I was using DE all over my yard, essential oil spray mixtures on my dogs as flea, tick and mosquito repellent and trying every new fangled idea or thing to keep pesticides out of my yard and garden and off my animals and here I am now... My Westies are on Heartguard and Comfortis Flea tablets and yes they have had all of their shots and yet even though I have the bad with trying to do it all naturally and even though I don't like this medicating my dogs....
I still find myself once again because of all of the reading that I do about the dogs health and my health....i find myself worried about GMO products, pet food ingredients, especially snacks and I have at least got all of my dogs eating right now and almost fully raw, but yet out of fear of what I have seen in the past, all of them have had their shots even though I was very reluctant for that to happen especially with the new pup.
And so now I am back to my reading and investigating late into the night and wondering what I need to do and my objective is raw diets as much as possible. Vaccinations only if I have to....But after losing my dogs to heartworm destruction, I sure can't go through that again and I fully understand the toxicity of spot on flea treatment and internal pills and treatments for the same.
So I want to find a factual based, not a Russian Roulette based HW treatment for a their preventative. Not something haphazard like....Me never let them outside during mosquito season and then wondering if you do just to let pee or poo that if you do and they do just happen to somewhat come up positive on a HW test then you can treat them naturally....
Well I will be flat honest with you about this....I do not want to go for his yearly checkup up with my fingers crossed just hoping every year that he doesn't have heatworms because I lost some of the most beloved dogs I ever have had, to those worms and I never want to ever have to play the risk games with any dog I ever have again in my life nor do I want to apply cancer causing topical flea treatment either....So I am looking for a valid answer and not just some jelly salesman's replacement to make them money instead of the med people that vets use....
Do I think vets peddle drugs for the suppliers? Yes because every time I go to a vet it seems like when I am going to Sonic and ordering a hamburger and then they want to also ask me to sell me tots and cheese sticks and as I tell them...If I wanted those things, then I would have ordered them when i placed my order and that is the way that I feel at vets as well....
So I am all about going the natural homeopathic way but I want to do it the right way and not the Russian Roulette way... I want thge tried and true no risk way. I do not want to gamble with their lives only to lose them to HW again anyway.... so please help me on this because I truly want to do what's best...
Thank you Rick

I am very interested in Lilys progress! What will you use to address her heart worms?
Good luck Lily & Margo!
Kathie

Thank you so much for sharing all that you do! I wish I had known all of the dangers my dogs would be confronted with long ago. My chihuahua puppy, now 5 years old, had a horrible reaction to 6 vaccinations (all at once). Today after having only mandatory vaccinations since he has horrible anxiety and has pretty much always. He hides and sometimes is withdrawn. Thankfully 90% of the time he is a happy and well adjusted little dog. The unfortunate thing is that our main stream veterinarians either don't know or just don't believe the long term damage caused by giving so many shots at once, as well as just over vaccinating. I wish I lived a reasonable distance to a great Holistic vet. It breaks my heart that I have done this to my sweet little dog!

I only wish I had known about all of this many years ago! I had 2 male chihuahuas that I loved dearly. I lost them 2 years ago and still grieve for them. They were only 8 years old. They began having identical symptoms and they were NOT even from the same parents. We had gotten one of them from a rescue organization.
I don't want to go into too much detail as it upsets me so much, but they were both having paralysis problems and eventually we made the very painful decision to have them put to sleep as we couldn't stand to see them suffer. Looking back on it now, I truly believe they would still be with me if we hadn't let the Vets talk us into all of those annual vaccinations (some were for things I had never heard of), the heartworm meds, topically applied flea meds, etc. They were such tiny dogs anyway and I think we poisoned them with it all and then it attacked their muscles, etc. Breaks my heart to think it could have been prevented if I had known better.

Thanks Doc! I am so happy for Margo and Lily, and as she has her miracle, the rest of us learn.
So happy!
Salli and the Havanese
Raw Fed/Vaccine free

Dr. Falconer,
As with the rabies vaccine I too am very worried. My two dogs ages 3 and 4 are coming due in Jan for their required 3 yr. The problem is 1 yr after they got the rabies vaccine they caught and killed a raccoon which turned out to be rabid. Animal control and the health dept got involved and required me to revaccinate them again. So my 4 year old has had 3 rabies vaccines. I am so upset about this. Other than that, they are both pretty vital animal. Raw feed, only puppy serious shots. No chemical flea or tick and I have decided not to treat monthly for heartworms. My question is, is there anything else I can do. Should I use Thuja or something else on a regular basis to hopefully prevent anymore damage that these vaccines may have caused. If there was anyway around their next scheduled vaccine I would love to know. I don't think my vet would considered them not healthly and not give me a waiver. Thank you, Katie

Will,You are a breath of fresh air:)) I thank you for your insight & your email contact.Never ending OK's from me to you:)
Please keep on doing what you are doing.
Hugs/Barb/Behaven Shelties
Raw Fed/vaccine Free X 30 Years

I learn so much in reading your blogs, some of which confirms the way I have come to believe about feeding raw and avoiding drugs.
It will be interesting to see how Lily responds to your treatment. I hope she tests negative for heartworms. Having both a rabies shot and an operation at the same time seems like a lot to subject an animal to!
I learned about thuja with a previous dog whom I did vaccinate. My present dog is due a 3-yr. rabies shot (he's 8 1/2 and in good health) and I am hesitant. He has been vaccinated for rabies three times previously and, as you say, is probably immune for life.