I treat a LOT of dogs for heartworm disease. The treatment is not complicated to perform, but managing the dog's six to ten weeks of convalescence can be quite complicated. That's why I took the trouble to produce my own brochure to help explain the process to clients. There are lots of ready-made sources of […]
Category Archives: Parasites
So here's another set of questions about heartworm treatment where the answer bears repeating. This is a continuation of a dialog that began in a previous post about heartworm treatment. This fellow is out east and has adopted a stray, and unfortunately, the dog has heartworms. At present, he doesn't feel that he can take […]
Doxycycline’s Role in the Treatment Process This also relates back to our problems with heartworm treatment. Doxycycline kills L3 and L4 larval stages of the heartworm, and it decreases embryogenesis (the production of microscopic baby heartworms — microfilariae). It has intrinsic anti-inflammatory effects. It greatly inhibits Wohlbachia, which is a symbiotic rickettsial organism needed by […]
Immiticide Treatment to Kill Adult Worms In re failure to clear dogs of worms with the Immiticide treatment, there are several considerations that are important, particularly in dogs that have not been receiving preventive medicines. I have written previously about problems with the treatment. Immiticide does NOT kill immature adult worms, or “juvenile worms”. These […]
Mosquito ConsiderationsIn an October 2008 seminar, Dr. Tom Nelson made much of the increased numbers of tropical storms hitting the Gulf Basin in the past several years since Hurricane Katrina. His thesis is that more storms equals more rain, equals more flooding, equals more mosquitoes. This was not much accepted as an explanation for the […]
Preventive Medicine Considerations Heartworm preventive products have never been “100% effective”, but they have been pretty close. It is interesting to note that in the drug approval process, testing is done in a (relatively) small number of Beagles in a laboratory setting, using only 100 microfilariae to infect the subjects. This is a far cry […]
Heartworm Testing Considerations One explanation proposed for the increase in dogs diagnosed with heartworm is an increased sensitivity (or accuracy, if you will) in the tests that are being used. In other words, if you have a better test, you'll find more dogs with low numbers of heartworms that you might have missed previously. Thirty […]
The Problem In the past three years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of dogs where heartworm preventive medication has not been 100% effective. In addition, it has been more difficult to clear infected dogs of the worm burden with treatment. It has also been more difficult to clear microfilariae from dogs […]
After my last post, one reader asked me if I would post the questions and answers. I replied (pretty much without thinking) that they are posted as comments on the original post. So how would you know where to look, gentle reader? I'm going to start posting the ones that have more general interest. I'm […]
"Dr. Mobley!" cried Shannon, "There's something on this dog's head." "Oh, it's probably just some trash." "No, it's a tick." "Shannon, it's January. It was nine degrees yesterday." Son of a gun, though, it was a tick, and alive, and attached, and partially engorged, at that. This pup is an outside dog, and he does […]