perhaps a man can answer this for me...

"Same goes with heartworms. We have mosquitos everywhere here and heartworms are a major problem. I know there is natural flea remedy stuff but what is the alternative for heartworm meds"


this is where I look at the risks, my area has a huge heartworm problem here, they say 20% of dogs tested, test positive, so my dogs get heartguard pills, but I would never do the heartworm vaccine

 

Lyme disease from ticks has gotten fairly prevalent here...although I don't trust the vaccine from it.
Heartworm also can be a problem and I've used the monthly HeartGuard for years on my dog(s) with no problem, although I have cut back on Sadie's dosage (if she got heartworm at her age she won't be around long enough to have to deal w/the affect of the heartworm)
I have a feeling once al this rain stops and it warms up in the NorthEast (and I'm assuming it will - eventually) mosquitoes will be horrible.
But spaying and neutering....for my pets is a must. I'm 40 something and I have never ever had a pet reproduce nor do I intend to ever let a pet of mine be responsible for unwanted litters be it male or female.
Fostering brings it all to light...just going to the shelter during the height of puppy and kitten season is enough. Luckily our shelter is 100% no-kill and even then it's difficult to see these pets who once had homes and are now stuck in a cage. I can't imagine having to deal with that in a kill shelter knowing the animal is doomed is it doesn't get adopted.
And if people would just spay/neuter their pets - the number of animals being PTS everyday across this country would drop drastically. Dropping these number is only something people can do....hoping unspayed/unneutered pets can control their natural urges isn't going to do it.

 

As far as you know, you haven't had any problems with the flea or heartworm meds. Some dogs have immediate reactions and some have delayed reactions. Some never have an obvious reaction, but their immune system is so weak that eventually it breaks down and they get other diseases or autoimmune diseases such as allergies, cancer, arthritis, etc. Most of the old age diseases that we regard as "normal" now are actually NOT normal - they are just common. Everyone gets them because of poor nutrition and all the damage to the immune system through the years.

Garlic is one alternative to heartworm meds. There is a garlic barrier spray that you can treat your yard with. Dogs can eat garlic tablets or a clove of garlic per day. Do not overdo it, though, because too much garlic is harmful. I had trouble finding a dose, but I have seen some lately that I can try to find again.

Testing every 6 months is a very good idea if you don't use preventives, because that way if there is an infection it can be found immediately. Early detection means treatment is a lot easier on the dog. Also, holistic treatments are MUCH easier than the conventional treatment your vet does. Martin Goldstein's book "The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat" talks about this. He said began to realize that it was silly to poison your dog every month to try to prevent a disease that is curable. Also, if a dog's immune system is healthy (good nutrition, no vaccines, no medications or poisons) chances are they can be infected and fight it off without you ever finding out about it. It's only when their immune systems are damaged that they can't do it and get very sick.

Everyone has to make up their own mind about the risks and benefits. There are a lot of mosquitoes here, but I feed garlic, spray my yard, and test every six months. I have a holistic vet, a homeopath, and info from other dogs who have been cured more naturally from heartworms with no ill effects, just in case. An interesting side note is that once a dog has had heartworms, they don't get it again - a natural vaccination, if you will.

Don't ever forget that vets get most of their information and continuing education from pharmaceutical companies, who have a vested interest in everyone being scared into buying their products.

http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/ has some info on raw feeding, vaccinations, and heartworm alternatives.

This page has more preventives: http://www.jeanesholistics.com/heartworm.html. And here is a quote from that page:

I also used the heartworm nosode (from my homeopath) for Bonnie the first summer we had her, because she had not been raw fed or free from vaccinations long enough for me to feel confident about her immune system. In fact, now that both dogs are probably in much better shape, I'm sure I don't even need the garlic. But it's easy to do and they think they are treats. And garlic is good for the heart.

Oh, here's another page about Bandit, a dog that got heartworms and was treated naturally and recovered fully and easily. None of that crate-rest stuff that the conventional treatment requires. Her vets were amazed: http://www.banditsbuddies.com/

 

I dont agree with them either, but at least here its not a death sentence (although some see it differently)....there is still a stigma attached to having a Pit, Am Staff, Staff or Bull Terrier, we have a really sweet Am Staff at the shelter, hes been there since November, longer than any of the other dogs but no one will adopt him....because of the stigma. I think I posted something about the hysteria though, a little boy was killed about 6 years ago, the dogs that attacked him were a Pit Bull and an Am Staff, one of the dogs had not eaten in 3 days and on a necropsy they found meth in his body. The owner was a Turkish immigrant that had a criminal record and had been in trouble with Animal Control and the Police for his dog being involved in previous bites, he was 'ordered' to keep the dog on a leash and muzzled when out in public, the dog was not muzzled and was not on a leash when he walked it past a school where it jumped the fence (followed by the Pit) and attacked and killed the 6 year old. This started off a crazed hysteria where 'vigilantes' where attacking people in the streets if they had any bull type dogs or dogs 'they' thought looked like a bull type dog, a long legged Jack Russel Terrier was dragged out of a car and kicked to death, people had bricks and worse thrown through the windows of their houses, there was a story of a blind woman who had a GSD (I think a mix) as a seeing eye dog, she was attacked and the so was the dog....Ive been here since the end of last year and Ive seen Pit Bulls, Bull Terriers on the street with their owners and Ive not seen any kind of reaction from anyone so hopefully this is not going on any longer....incidentally when the hysteria took off there was not one charge of animal cruelty brought against anyone. I get the impression it was outrage at the death of the little boy followed by mass hysteria....followed by the Government stepping in with the BSL's and Dangerous Dog Laws which seem to have got things under control.
As for the dog fights, from what Ive been told the people involved in this are Russian, Turkish and Polish (its not illegal in their countries, it is here), so I know it goes on here but Ive heard that they dont just use Pits, they use ' hardier breeds' Ive never even heard of some of them before though, other than that....Im sure the longer Im here the more Ill learn about it.

This is Spike, the Am Staff at the shelter, he's 4 years old and really sweet.

 

What a beautiful dog! Hopefully he is not going nutty from being in the shelter for so long. Sometimes that's enough to cause bad behavior.

 

I agree totally, Ive seen it, I worked with a few no-kill rescues in LA and while I do understand that they dont want to PTS any dogs, one of them, the runs were about 3 ft by 8 ft, if volunteers came in theyd get walked but if not they would be in their run indefinately, I saw many dogs that had been there for 3 or 4 years and were literally cage crazy....just pacing constantly....so sad.

The good thing about this shelter is there are plenty of volunteers that come in and walk the dogs, he gets at least 2 good long walks a day and between 11:30-3:00pm he isnt locked up in a run, hes in a good sized enclosure with trees, grass, toys....and usually a volunteer. also he gets occasional 'spoilt time', we have breakfast at 9:30 every morning and we try and bring a different dog in each day so they get to interact with the staff...a few little treats and a lot of personal attention... hes not necessarily agressive with all other dogs but there have been a couple of close calls with him so he doesnt get to play with the other dogs (theres a few that cant be completely trusted...and theres others that have 4 or 5 playmates). I really like this shelter, considering its a city one they really do their best to make the dogs happy....Ive seen a couple of shelters here and there all very similar. And its so nice to know theyre not on a time limit for euthanasia.

 

HEHE This is a pretty funny topic. I work with teenagers, and I always laugh at the boys, running around trying to prove who's alpha male.
I do however wonder about those young men in the park. Perhaps they feel their dogs make up for something they lack......




confidence silly's!! Get your minds out of the gutter.

 

I think it's a badass thing, you know? The bigger the "organ", the more badass the dog. Maybe its kind of like penis envy....testicle envy? :shock: With some men, I wouldn't be surpised.

I had a friend that was proud of his cat's testies. He said his cat was badass and always complimented the cat on how big they were and...Well, thats weird enough so Im going to stop there. But he say my cat wasn't a man anymore because I had him fixed...I say I would call it population control...Because you and I know, his cat is out there humpin' the night away.

With no condoms in his wallet, either. :?

 

whats with the guy bashing? lol its mostly due to that being a horrible thing for a guy to picture and cant see having it done to his best buddy

 

LOL, I don't think it's really guy bashing...more that it's puzzling (and yes, I admit, kind of amusing) why men seem to be so psychologically/emotionally 'attached' (uh, you know what I mean...) to their dog's testicles. Uterus/ovaries are important female reproductive organs, but most women don't seem to have a problem with spays. So the only explanation I've been able to understand is that men attach a whole bunch of significance about masculinity, happiness, etc. to their testicles and project it on to their dogs. I sincerely believe the dogs couldn't care less, but many men seem to see a neutered dog as an emasculated dog because they attach to much meaning to their own testicles. Given that some men boast about the size of their pets' testicles, it seems that some people associate the state of their dog's or cat's genitals with the way that they want the outside world to perceive the owner (or at least the owner's maleness). Hmm, I don't know if this is coherent -- I should probably get some sleep.

 

lol ive never heard anyone boast about there own testies let alone there dogs i guess where im from us men have better things to talk about

i didnt take it realy as guy bashing lol it was kinda funny

 

:lol: I dont know if Ive actually heard a guy boasting about his dogs...(heard a few boast about their own....sorry that just slipped out)

I have seen the colour drain from mens faces though when Ive had to discuss them with them...the dogs....I remember one guys dog that had to be neutered due to it being a cryptorchid, he was adamant that he stayed with his dog through the surgery....he was extremely 'shaken' at the thought of the procedure and thought the best way for him to handle it would be to watch, I was guessing he would most likely feint within a few seconds so I told him I had to explain exactly what the vet would be doing before he could go in there....I told him "where the incision would be and that the vet would then have to dig in and grope around for the 'hidden' testicle...could take a while to find it....then he would pull it......."and the guy was gone!!!!! ....maybe I need to work on my 'client communication skills'.

 

I recently watched a show on discovery about science of sex or something, but they used gorillas vs apes (I think, but I forget which had which) and one has small balls, the other rather large, and what we have learned from them is that the smaller the balls the less likely to wonder and the more to stay with one female, bc the sperm aren't as many, therefore more important, and vice versa for the bigger balled gorillas.

 

I'd think that has more to do with the amount of testosterone. Perhaps more testosterone results in bigger balls and therefore more "male" behavior?

I hear it all the time at the park. It's usually young men, like early 20's, and they are so proud of Fido and his big nuts. When I see a guy like that with a pit bull, I steer clear! I love pit bulls in general, but with owners like that, you never know if they are teaching the dog to act mean.

LMAO. :lol:

 

As far as I know, the size of the testicles is related to the animal's reproductive behavior. For instance, male gorillas have small testes in relation to their body size because gorillas are polygamous and live in a social group that is made of of one male and many females (and their young). Therefore, there isn't much pressure to have big testicles for more sperm. The male silverback will be the sire of all/most of the group's infants.

In contrast, chimpanzees live in multi-male, multi-female groups, so there is considerably more competition to be the father of offspring. There's an obvious advantage to being able to produce more sperm in this situation, so male chimps have quite large testicles for their body size.

Predictably, monogamous species (like various spider monkeys, if I remember correctly) have very small testicles.

Of course, these primates are wild animals. Dogs are domesticated and humans are the ones who have selectively bred them for particular traits, so I wouldn't be surprised if this way of predicting testes size doesn't work with them.

(Yes, I probably could have majored in something more useful. On the other hand, you never know when primates' privates will be a topic of conversation.... )

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: