Prevent and Protect Your Dog From Worms
No matter how hard we try to protect them, our pets can get worms from their surrounding environment. Puppies are especially susceptible to worms, so it’s important that responsible pet owners learn how to deworm their pets at an early age to avoid health problems later.
In general, worms include several types of intestinal parasites that get their sustenance from the food you feed your pets. Both dogs and including cats can get hookworms, roundworms, and tapeworms as well as heartworms. Symptoms of worm infestation include weight loss, decreased appetite, poor condition of the coat, diarrhea (sometimes with visible blood), anemia (gums are pale rather than bright pink), vomiting, constant anal area licking, and visible worm segments (like rice grains) around the anus.
The best way to start checking your canine friend for worms is with a general check-up. Your veterinarian can give your dog a thorough examination, administer necessary vaccinations and prescribe appropriate de-worming medication. It’s best to worm dogs early and often and to keep them on medication to prevent heartworm, which is extremely expensive to treat and could be fatal to your pet if left untreated. This last item is especially important if your dog is pregnant.
Many veterinarians recommend worming a pregnant dog once her pregnancy is confirmed. That’s because a mother dog will transmit her worms to her puppies. Roundworms in particular pass easily from the mother to the pups via her milk.
The best time to worm a pregnant female is approximately halfway through her gestation, which is normally 9 weeks in dogs. Breeders strongly recommend getting a good quality wormer such as a pyrantel paomate-based medication. This type of wormer can be found at veterinarians’ offices or sometimes from breeders. Experts strongly caution against giving dogs any over-the-counter wormers sold in the pet sections of grocery stores or discount stores because of their poor quality and potential harm to the animals. Don’t try to worm a pregnant dog past the halfway point of her pregnancy as it may cause her to miscarry her litter.
However, the mother can be wormed immediately after the pups are born. The pups themselves should be wormed when about 1 week old. Again, veterinarians and breeders urge pet owners to use a puppy-safe quality wormer containing pyrantel paomate. Worming the mother right after delivery and her puppies one week after birth are both practices intended to give the pups the best possible start in life.
Once puppies start eating solid food, they’re likely to eat something infested with worm larvae, since puppies like children put anything and everything into their mouths. Dogs get tapeworms from ingesting a infected flea, so it’s crucial to keep the dogs as free from fleas as possible. Certain medications available from veterinarians can serve to help prevent heartworm as well as keeping off fleas that could transmit tapeworms.
Good hygiene is the best defense against worms in all pets, and that goes for people as well as dogs and cats. Store pet food properly to keep away parasites. Always “scoop the poop” with a plastic bag when walking your dog and dispose of bagged feces properly to avoid infecting others. Keep your dog away from other animals’ fecal matter.
To get more information about the different types of canine worms, read this Dog Owner’s Guide: Canine worms, or Dog Worms Guide – A Complete Guide To Worms In Dogs. Also view Canine Intestinal Worms and Inexpensive Treatment. For signs and symptoms of canine worms view this Identifying Dog Worms and Their Symptoms.
