I had a call from Golden Retriever rescue about a dog they just acquired who is heartworm positive, about 20 pounds underweight and was azotemic when they first found him. Ultrasound (I did not do) showed "one small kidney and one large kidney with abnormal architecture" per owner. Azotemia has resolved after 2 weeks on K/D diet. They do not feel he is a candidate for conventional heartworm treatment and are interested in alternative options. I have the protocol from Manual of Natural Veterinary Medicine involving Ginger, Wormwood, garlic, thyme, and cinnamon tincture combo. I was also planning on adding Bromelain. Is this tincture combo something I can order from you? If so, can you give me an idea of cost as the Rescue is asking me already. I see potential side effects from wormwood include neurotoxicity. I do not see other specific toxicities other than "not for long term use". I am assuming this treatment protocol qualifies as "long term use". How long would you recommend continuing treatment? Any thoughts or concerns about using this in a dog with potentially compromised renal function (I assume they did a UA but have not seen labs). I cannot find info about how this is metabolized in the resources I have (renal or liver), so not sure how to assess risk for increased toxicity in this patient. Thanks! Erin
Question Details
Heartworm Treatment
by
bannink
-
April 27, 2009
I had a call from Golden Retriever rescue about a dog they just acquired who is heartworm positive, about 20 pounds underweight and was azotemic when they first found him. Ultrasound (I did not do) showed "one small kidney and one large kidney with abnormal architecture" per owner. Azotemia has resolved after 2 weeks on K/D diet. They do not feel he is a candidate for conventional heartworm treatment and are interested in alternative options. I have the protocol from Manual of Natural Veterinary Medicine involving Ginger, Wormwood, garlic, thyme, and cinnamon tincture combo. I was also planning on adding Bromelain. Is this tincture combo something I can order from you? If so, can you give me an idea of cost as the Rescue is asking me already. I see potential side effects from wormwood include neurotoxicity. I do not see other specific toxicities other than "not for long term use". I am assuming this treatment protocol qualifies as "long term use". How long would you recommend continuing treatment? Any thoughts or concerns about using this in a dog with potentially compromised renal function (I assume they did a UA but have not seen labs). I cannot find info about how this is metabolized in the resources I have (renal or liver), so not sure how to assess risk for increased toxicity in this patient. Thanks! Erin
Replies
by
naturevet
April 27, 2009
Hi Erin,
Lots of good questions. In terms of routes of clearance for herbs, that's probably hard to answer, given that every herb has dozens of compounds that might all be contributing in some way, but vary chemically. All I can say there is I have used the formula in severely compromised (cardiovascularly and thus presumed renally) individuals.
In terms of renal effects, my only concern is the response to K/D. This would imply more the 'inflammatory' type of renal lesion, that we would usually diagnose from active GB points, an elevated pr/cr ratio in the urine, and elevated cholesterol. If that was the case, then the general strategy of pulling blood away from the kidneys is called for. Formulas high in aromatic compounds often bring blood to mucosal and epithelial surfaces, however. In that case, there may be a potential recurrence of azotemia. If, however, the dog if anything was 'Kidney deficient' from a TCM perspective, the aromatic nature of the formula is likely to help maintain freedom from azotemia, in the event it (as do Kidney tonics) increases renal perfusion. Hopefully your records will guide you there. Note that the risk of aggravation is far from certain, and is speculative based on crude hemodynamics.
Another element we added was garlic. Owners just use raw cloves for that. I can't see one raw lobe of a clove of garlic a day being toxic to a dog that size, but there would be a low theoretical risk of oxidative stress to RBC's, with associated anemia, similar to onion poisoning. Again, I've never seen that happen in dogs that are fed garlic.
As far as Wormwood neurotoxicity, we haven't seen that either, even with robust dosing.
The tincture you could probably make yourself using ingredients that are likely available at a Whole Foods Market. I'm guessing at retail prices, you might be looking at $75 for a few weeks of treatment.
In terms of duration of use, I think we saw the decline in heartworm antigen after the first few weeks. If that's happening, great. If not it may not work. It may not be possible to convert to a negative test. We were doing quantitative analysis years ago, and saw the antigen levels decline to near zero levels, but not to zero levels. Still, it was enough to get the dogs looking a hell of a lot better.
Hope that is enough information for you to decide on. Please advise how it's going. I'm sure others would love to hear the outcome, good or bad!
Steve
Lots of good questions. In terms of routes of clearance for herbs, that's probably hard to answer, given that every herb has dozens of compounds that might all be contributing in some way, but vary chemically. All I can say there is I have used the formula in severely compromised (cardiovascularly and thus presumed renally) individuals.
In terms of renal effects, my only concern is the response to K/D. This would imply more the 'inflammatory' type of renal lesion, that we would usually diagnose from active GB points, an elevated pr/cr ratio in the urine, and elevated cholesterol. If that was the case, then the general strategy of pulling blood away from the kidneys is called for. Formulas high in aromatic compounds often bring blood to mucosal and epithelial surfaces, however. In that case, there may be a potential recurrence of azotemia. If, however, the dog if anything was 'Kidney deficient' from a TCM perspective, the aromatic nature of the formula is likely to help maintain freedom from azotemia, in the event it (as do Kidney tonics) increases renal perfusion. Hopefully your records will guide you there. Note that the risk of aggravation is far from certain, and is speculative based on crude hemodynamics.
Another element we added was garlic. Owners just use raw cloves for that. I can't see one raw lobe of a clove of garlic a day being toxic to a dog that size, but there would be a low theoretical risk of oxidative stress to RBC's, with associated anemia, similar to onion poisoning. Again, I've never seen that happen in dogs that are fed garlic.
As far as Wormwood neurotoxicity, we haven't seen that either, even with robust dosing.
The tincture you could probably make yourself using ingredients that are likely available at a Whole Foods Market. I'm guessing at retail prices, you might be looking at $75 for a few weeks of treatment.
In terms of duration of use, I think we saw the decline in heartworm antigen after the first few weeks. If that's happening, great. If not it may not work. It may not be possible to convert to a negative test. We were doing quantitative analysis years ago, and saw the antigen levels decline to near zero levels, but not to zero levels. Still, it was enough to get the dogs looking a hell of a lot better.
Hope that is enough information for you to decide on. Please advise how it's going. I'm sure others would love to hear the outcome, good or bad!
Steve
Reply to this question.
You must be logged in to reply