The Importance of Worming Your Dog

Worming should be done at least twice a year. You should also be astute enough to spot the tell tale symptoms if your dog already has a worm infestation. Symptoms can include weight loss, increased appetite, poor coat condition, mucus in the eyes, excessively bad breath, lethargy, constant irritation around the back passage, visible spine, pot belly and in some cases vomiting. If you do suspect your dog as having worms then, although unpleasant, you should closely examine the dogs faeces for evidence of either round or tape worm. Tape worm is rarer and it appears in segments and is flat. The more common round worm is pointed at both ends and looks like small strands of noodles, it is a pale yellow.

If you suspect your dog of having worms but don’t find any evidence in the faeces this does NOT mean that your dog is worm free. Dogs do not always pass worms until they have been well treated. If you are slightly concerned with the prospect of your dog having worms then you must treat it immediately. It is quite common for people to suspect their dog of having worms and yet fail to treat the animal as they believe that the dog is only meant to wormed at a specific date and then wait until that date before worming.

You can not harm a dog by worming it more than twice a year. You must be aware of not worming too much within a short space of time between wormings and even more so with pups but it is not out of the question, in theory, to worm a dog more than 6 times a year if that dog is prone to picking up worms. There are many different worming treatments available. Some are for specifically for the treatment of round worm and others are multi-wormers. It must be noted that dogs can pick up worms other than round and tape but these are rarer.

You will usually find that if your dog still appears to be infested after a good treatment with a quality worming product that your dog may have one of the other forms of worm and vetinary advice should be sought.

An Introduction to Canine Parasites

Parasites, particularly intestinal worms such as hookworms, tapeworms and roundworms, can be transmitted in a dog’s feces. Some tapeworms have fleas as intermediate hosts: the worm egg must be consumed by a flea to hatch, then the infected flea must be ingested (usually by the dog while grooming itself, but occasionally by a human through various means) for the adult worm to establish itself in the intestines. The worm’s eggs then pass through the intestines and adhere to the nether regions of the dog, and the cycle begins again.
* Intestinal worms cause varying degrees of discomfort.
* Heartworm is a dog parasitoid. It is hard to eliminate and can be fatal; prevention, however, is easily achieved using medication.

As the name suggests, an infected mosquito injects a larva into the dog’s skin, where it migrates to the circulatory system and takes up residence in the pulmonary arteries and heart, growing and reproducing to an alarming degree. The effects on the dog are quite predictable, cardiac failure over a year or two, leading to death. Treatment of an infected dog is difficult, involving an attempt to poison the healthy worm with arsenic compounds without killing the weakened dog, and frequently does not succeed. Prevention is much the better course, via heartworm pills which are fed to the dog and contain a compound which kills the larvae immediately upon infection without harming the dog. Often they are available combined with other parasite preventives.

* Hydatidosis is caused by a cestode Echinococcus. This is usually noticed among dogs, wild dogs, foxes, etc. Due to its importance as a zoonosis, these worms are important to treat. Preventing hydatidosis is an easier task than treating the same. Anthelmintics such as praziquantel may help prevent this condition. Prohibition of the feeding of dogs with uncooked offals may be the best prophylactic measure against these tapeworms.