Is there a natural heartworm prevention for dogs?
Nakia Johnston
2025-07-30 16:14:30
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But natural therapies can reduce your dog’s risk of being infected. Anecdotal evidence suggests that herbs such as garlic, black walnut and wormwood, and the homeopathic heartworm nosode, may actually prevent as well as treat infection. Reduce the frequency of vaccinations, feed your dog a healthy diet, and use antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation and oxidation. This will improve your dog’s overall health and make it less likely that infection could develop into heartworm disease. Limit your dog’s exposure to mosquitoes. They can be controlled naturally with citrus oils, cedar oils, and diatomaceous earth. In my practice, monthly oral heartworm preventives combined with minimal vaccines, a natural diet, and a sound nutritional supplement regimen work very well to prevent infection. Dogs needing conventional treatment may benefit from herbs such as milk thistle and homeopathics such as berberis; these minimize toxicity from the medications and dying heartworms.
Lily Nienow
2025-07-30 14:23:57
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While there are natural ways to slightly decrease the likelihood that your dog will develop heartworm disease, none are effective enough to make skipping prescription heartworm preventatives a wise or safe decision. One natural approach they likely won't recommend is natural heartworm prevention. Mosquito-Repellent Tactics Since dogs contract heartworms through the bite of infected mosquitos, many common home remedies for heartworms involve making dogs less attractive to mosquitos. The problem is that while mosquito repellents may reduce the number of mosquito bites, they don’t completely eliminate all bites. Just think back to the last time you were slathered in mosquito repellent but still came home with a couple of itchy welts. Since one mosquito bite is all it takes for your dog to develop heartworm disease, ensuring fewer mosquito bites is not enough protection to be considered an effective, natural heartworm treatment. Immune-Boosting Methods Other natural heartworm prevention methods focus on building up a dog’s immune system so that it’s better able to fight off a heartworm infection. Your veterinarian will absolutely support a healthier lifestyle for your pup; however, a good diet and exercise regime is not going to protect your dog from heartworms. Just like with people, a stronger immune system can help reduce the chances of contracting illness, but individuals who “do everything right” still get sick every day. There are, however, natural or drug-free options that can be used in addition to preventatives.
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