What is the best treatment for heartworm in dogs?

An injectable drug, melarsomine (brand name Immiticide®), is given to kill adult heartworms. Melarsomine kills the adult heartworms in the heart and adjacent vessels. This drug is administered in a series of injections. Your veterinarian will determine the specific injection schedule according to your dog’s condition.

Is there a cure for heartworm in dogs?

It is not an overnight cure for heartworm, but it does help as a holistic natural treatment for heartworm in dogs. Natural heartworm treatment does not directly target heartworms in dogs, but helps your dog sustain healthy balances in the body which allows them to get rid of heartworms naturally.

How long do you have to give your dog melarsomine for heartworm?

Using Heartworm Prevention: Your dog must be on heartworm prevention for a minimum of 60 days before the first treatment. Heartworm prevention takes the form of monthly pills and is given beforehand to make sure that all the worms in your dog’s body can be killed by the melarsomine treatments.

How does a heartworm get into a dog?

Dogs are “natural” hosts to heartworms, meaning that once they become infected, the juvenile heartworm parasites can complete their entire life cycle. As the heartworms mature, they work their way into your dog’s heart, lungs and associated blood vessels.

What’s the best way to treat a heartworm infection?

Once a positive test is confirmed, our veterinarians (in alignment with the American Heartworm Society) recommend treating adult heartworm infections with 3 treatments (injections) of a drug called melarsomine. This treatment kills the adult heartworms quickly and reduces the amount of damage that they do to the heart and lungs.

What’s the best way to treat heartworm in dogs?

The ONLY advised method to successfully and safely treat heartworm disease is called the Adulticide Treatment, and it involves these steps: Keep your pet on monthly heartworm prevention for at least 3 months before treatment. Start a 30 days course of Doxycycline, prescribed by your vet, leading up to the day of treatment.

Using Heartworm Prevention: Your dog must be on heartworm prevention for a minimum of 60 days before the first treatment. Heartworm prevention takes the form of monthly pills and is given beforehand to make sure that all the worms in your dog’s body can be killed by the melarsomine treatments.

Can a dog still get heartworm after slow kill?

Often times when pets test negative for heartworms after being on the slow kill treatment, it is actually a false reading because the treatment did not eliminate all life stages that are still developing. The ONLY advised method to successfully and safely treat heartworm disease is called the Adulticide Treatment, and it involves these steps:

When to recheck a heartworm positive dog?

Consequently, in most cases, a dog that is still antigen positive at 4 months should be rechecked 2 to 3 months later before determining whether there are still adult heartworms remaining, and a second treatment course may be required. Copyright © 2018 American Heartworm Society.