As some dog owners will know only too well no matter how wet or cold it may be outside donning even a coat is just a step too far for some mutts let alone a wig and sunglasses. But step aside Gok Wan because with the Plerion website you can become your dog’s personal stylist without having to instigate a battle of wills.

Simply visit www.plerion.co.uk and click on ‘Primp Your Pooch’ where you can upload a picture of your dog and start primping! The lucky owner of the pooch with the most online votes will win spa vouchers to the value of £1000 – voting closes on 31st July 2010.

Remember, there are many different types of parasites: hookworms, ascarids, tapeworms, whipworms, coccidia – all of which are most commonly identified. Since some of the parasites are quite difficult to kill, while others are relatively simple, many of these over-the-counter preparations must be quite toxic to fulfill their claims of being all-purpose anthelmintics. Therefore, you may be medicating your puppy with a very potent worm medicine which could be eradicated more easily with something less dangerous to your dog’s health.

photo credit: alohateam

These medications are poisons after all, designed to kill living creatures that are inhabiting your puppy’s body, And they have the potential to kill your pet along with these parasites. Proper worming also takes into account the life cycle of the specific parasite involved and this life cycle varies for each individual pest.

In order to assure prompt, efficient eradication of internal parasites without repeated need for re-worming, anthelmintics must be administered on a schedule that coincides with their life cycles and kills, in turn, the adult worm, the larval form, and the worm eggs.

Having The Correct Tests Done

Since animals may harbor any number of different parasites simultaneously, it is important to determine exactly which of the internal parasites are present in your pet’s gastrointestinal tract. This is done by submitting a fecal sample (sample of your puppy’s bowel movement) to the veterinarian for laboratory analysis.

By microscopic examination, he can identify the eggs produced by the offending parasite and will then be able to administer specific medications, in proper amounts and at proper intervals, to rid your dog of internal pests.

Intestinal parasites are often responsible for more serious problems such as vomiting and diarrhea, severe anemia, malnutrition, central nervous system signs (ataxia, convulsions), and verminous pneumonia. Since patent medications cannot deal with these problems at all, it is vitally important to worm only under veterinary supervision.

And of course, do not make the mistake of assuming that a parasitic condition that your puppy has will magically disappear without treatment. If you see worms in and around your dog’s fecal matter, you must take him to the veterinarian as soon as possible before severe internal damage, and possibly death, may occur.

Perhaps the greatest single cause of diarrhea is a change of diet. Thus, a dog that has been used to eating a commercial brand dog food and is suddenly given table scrapes is very likely to suffer diarrhea. A change in drinking water, especially when traveling, can also cause temporary diarrhea.

Abrupt changes in diet are particularly distressing to puppies whose intestinal tracts are still very sensitive. If you purchased your puppy from a breeder, you have probably been told what to feed the dog based on what he had been fed in the past.

If, on the other hand, you got the dog from other sources such as a friend or an ad in the paper, it is advisable that you find out what he is eating. In any case, you should consult about your dog’s diet with a vet. There is always the chance that the dog is not getting the proper nourishment he needs.

If you find that your puppy has been used to a raw meet diet and you are going to feed him a commercial food product, be sure to make the transition a gradual one. Start by mixing just a bit of the commercial food into the raw meat. Gradually increase the amount, day by day, until you have completely eliminated the raw meat. This gradual change will prevent your dog from suffering diarrhea.

Other causes of diarrhea are overfeeding and underfeeding. A dog that is very hungry and overeats is apt to get sick, as is a dog that is fed less than once a day. Such a dog will usually overeat when he is finally fed. All the evidence reveals that dogs are less subject to diarrhea if they are fed half a total amount twice a day, rather than the whole amount at one feeding. Many breeders, as well as veterinarians, recommend self-feeding, where the dog is left a full dish of food to eat as he chooses. Only dry commercial food is used in this situation, and diarrhea is very rare.

Another cause of diarrhea is excessive water consumption. The dog that drinks too much water is often suffering from something more serious than diarrhea, and a visit to the vet is recommended. During the months of summer, of course, it is something else again. Dogs, like humans, tend to overdo the liquid intake and diarrhea becomes more common.

Summer is also the season of another serious source of diarrhea – spoiled food. Be cautious of moist food that becomes moldy and keep the dog away from garbage cans. In addition to spoiled foods, garbage cans carry a number of baneful morsels like sawdust or soap, any of which can cause serious digestive problems.

Summer diarrhea from garbage cans may be just a symptom of something more serious. Intestinal inflammation (enteritis) can result from the dog eating rotten meat. Diarrhea is also associated with distemper, leptospirosis, and a variety of worms, from whip to hook. Therefore, feed your dog less in the summer and never increase the amount of his food.

Sometimes, the cause of diarrhea has to do with specific elements in your dog’s diet. For instance, egg whites, unless they are cooked, will cause diarrhea. The same is true with excessive lactose. Therefore, do not feed your dog too much milk or milk products.

In older dogs, a heart malfunction can signal diarrhea. So can a malfunction of the kidneys or the liver, abdominal tumors, and many other conditions. All dogs can get diarrhea from such intestinal irritants such as salts and acids or from the ingestion of foreign matter like toy balls, splinters, or lint.

Normally, a dog’s diarrhea will pass in a day or two. Be sure to avoid milk or broth, and mix some cooked rice or macaroni with his regular food. If the diarrhea lasts after a few days, or if it is accompanied by blood in the stool or vomiting, contact your veterinarian.

This isn’t all that surprising. Dogs have always been scavengers. They’ll eat roadkill as readily as their suppers. Old trash, pond muck, and dead sparrows on the lawn are no less appetizing. Dogs start getting hungry whenever they sniff something with a pungent smell, and dung certainly does smell.

photo credit: Vato Bob

Not all dung tastes the same, of course. Dogs seem to have different preferences. Some are attracted to the stools of deer, cows, or horses. Others will eat the stools of other dogs. And a great many dogs are attracted to cat droppings, possibly because cat foods are very high in protein and the dogs are going after undigested nutrients.

The Attention Factor

Dogs, no less than children, crave attention. And they do whatever it takes to get it, including things they know you hate. This probably explains why some dogs only eat dung when their owners are around to watch. It’s probably the equivalent of a 6-year-old saying a dirty word and then watching for his parents’ reaction. “Look at me,” the dog is saying.

Boredom has something to do with it too. Dogs entertain themselves by putting things in their mouths. When not much is happening, they often nose around the yard, picking up sticks and putting them down, even mouthing rocks on occasion. Since they aren’t offended by the smell or taste of dung, it’s just another thing for them to pick up, play with, and explore.

Dogs occasionally eat so much dung that they get sick to their stomachs. For the most part,
however, it’s not likely to make them sick – although they may get worms from eating the stools of an infected animal. Their digestive tracts are very forgiving.

The people who live with dogs, however, are less forgiving. For one thing, it’s an ugly sight that no one wants to watch. There’s also the fact that dogs who eat dung have heart-stopping bad breath. It takes some serious devotion to get past that!

Dung-Eating Tip: Veterinarians sometimes recommend adding garlic, canned pumpkin, or Accent meat tenderizer to a dung-eating dog’s food. Assuming that it’s his own dung that he’s attracted do, these ingredients may give it a taste he dislikes – although it’s hard to imagine that anything could make it taste worse than it already does. This isn’t a perfect solution, but it does work for some dogs.

Dogs can contract worms so easily, all they need to actually do is inhale the eggs and they can be infested with worms. So keeping a dog from eating poop is important for hygiene and health reasons. The short answer is yes: dogs can get worms from eating poop.

Vet Dane Walker from Streatham Hill veterinary surgery in south-west London says: “Most dog owners are unaware of the condition because it is new. Most vets including myself have not been taught about it.” So to rectify this Bayer animal health, makers of the flea treatment Advocate has launched a nationwide campaign to promote lungworm awareness. A Bayer animal health spokesman explains: “The campaign is to raise public awareness of the parasite’s existence. We are running advertisements in the national press, and we have a broadcast campaign featuring celebrity vet Emma Milne from Vets in Practice.”

And the campaign is being backed by Vets from across the UK who are also trying to make owners more aware of the condition. Dane explains: “We are making clients more aware of the condition through leaflets at the surgery and articles on our website.”

Caroline Reay Chief veterinary surgeon at the Blue Cross hospital in Merton adds that the Blue Cross are also trying to raise awareness through displays in the waiting rooms of all Blue Cross hospitals.

So clearly it’s an important issue, but what is a Lungworm? And how does your dog catch it?

There are several variations of the Lungworm parasite, and the majority are found in warmer climates, and are not found in dogs. Different types of the parasite have often been found in farm animals like cattle, and some strains can affect our cats, although this is not common, and those parasites cannot be passed to dogs.

But one parasite does affect our dogs, and it’s this one that’s causing all the concern.

The parasite cannot be passed to humans or to other pets in the house, but the spokesman for Bayer Animal health explains: “The lungworm Angiostrongylus Vasorum is a potentially lethal parasite that can infect dogs. It’s sometimes referred to as the French Heartworm, and left untreated this parasite represents a very serious risk to a dog’s health and can kill.”

He continues: “Dogs become infected with the lungworm through eating slugs and snails which carry the larvae of the parasite Angiostrongylus Vasorum. Most dogs do not habitually eat these garden intruders, they may do so by accident – e.g. when a slug or snail is sitting on a bone or a favourite toy, or when drinking from a puddle or outdoor water bowl. But some dogs do take great pleasure in eating these miniature ‘treats’, and should be considered at risk from infection.”

Animal care manager at the Mayhew animal home, a London based charity and re-homing centre, Gillian Scott adds: “Lungworm is caught via contact with animals that host the parasite. It can also typically be caught from fox faeces as well as from snail or slug slime.”

But Caroline Reay from the Blue cross adds that while it is suspected that the parasite can be caught from the molluscs’ slime this theory is, as yet unproven.

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.

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.

One thing that no pet owner wants to think about is the nasty subject of parasites – or even worse, your pet passing on a parasite to your child. Because of their diet and inclination to eat things they find, dogs are a lot more succesptible to picking up parasites such as worms. This is why responsible pet owners give their dogs a worming treatment. A dog’s health and happiness will be severely compromised if he picks up worms and the ramifications of parasites being transmitted to members of the family are extremely unpleasant.

It is uncommon, but it is not unheard of for a dog to transmit a parasite to a member of the family. With proper precautions, this can be avoided.

What are parasites?

Parasites are organisms that live on a ‘host’. They attach themselves to a host either externally (fleas, ticks) or internally (worms) and feed off the host either by intercepting food inside the body or by sucking blood. Parasites can move from host to host, causing illness, weight loss, sight loss and in extreme cases, fatality. In domestic pets such as cats and dogs, worms are the biggest concern.

What are parasitic worms?

Parasitic worms live inside of their host, normally in the digestive or respiratory system. Common parasit worms in dogs include tape worm, ring worm, round worm, whip worm and heart worm. Each are different physically and have differing effects on their host. They are normally picked up through spoiled or uncooked meat, faeces, carcasses or by contact with other animals carrying parasites.

How do you know if your dogs has worms?

• Weight loss
• Dull coat
• Worms in the stool
• ‘Scooting’ or other signs of discomfort around the back passage

Unfortunately, children can pick up parasites. Children can get infected when your pet dog licks their faces and transfers the larvae through the mouth or even in the pores of their skin. Children and dogs are often inseparable and sometimes the contact may be too close.

Fleas can also get into their fingernails and travel all the way around and all throughout their bodies. The worse thing is, sometimes, you can’t find any symptoms that are identifiable to the naked eye.

Look out for signs of itchiness, irritation, weight loss, and general malaise in your children and always ensure that your pet is treated for parasites.

–Sponsors Message–

Sign up for quarterly worming reminders at www.stopwormsdead.co.uk

Kids are affectionate and love to cuddle and play with the family pet. This close contact could be all it takes for a parasite to move from your dog to your son or daughter.

So it’s important to make sure that your dog isn’t carrying anything that can be picked up by your children. Parasites are more common in dogs than humans due to the fact that we live fairly clean lives and cook our meat. Dogs will happily eat something from the floor or bin given half a chance. Normally this isn’t a problem, but when they come into contact with spoiled meat or the faeces of other dogs (which always causes curiosity in dogs) – the risks of parasitic infestation becomes higher.

However, by preventing parasitic infestation in your dog you are not only protecting him, but you are protecting your family too, especially your children.

How do I protect against parasites?

• By giving your dog a worming treatment, especially if he’s a puppy
• By keeping worming treatments up to date
• By being vigilant and knowing the signs of infestation
• By keeping your pet and your home clean
• By giving your dog an anti flea treatment

Protecting against parasites is a part of any responsible pet owners routine. It doesn’t cost a lot and takes hardly any time at all. Most treatments can be mixed in with a dog’s food so he’ll never know that he’s taken his medicine – and the peace of mind from preventing parasites from invading your family is invaluable.

–Buy Dog Worming Medicine & Dog Wormer –

Drontal Puppy Worming Suspension:100ml Susp

£20.14

Drontal Plus XL Dog Worming Tablet

£5.81

Here we explain more about these five types of dog worms, the symptoms of dog worms and their life cycle.

Nematode
(Whip worm, round worm and hook worm).

There are over fifteen thousand species of parasitic nematodes. They can be found in
deserts, in the arctic, in oceanic trenches and in your dog.

Life Cycle: Anything up to three years.

Symptoms: Weight loss, dull coat, scooting, diarrhoea, vomiting.

Cause: Lack of prevention, infected food, contact with infected carcasses.

Treatment: Oral treatment or spot on treatment, although prevention is more effective.

Luckily in the UK we are not likely to come into contact with some of the more worrying species of parasitic worm and their primary carriers, the mosquito.

Parasitic organisms in general have quite complex life cycles, migrating between several different hosts or locations in the host’s body, including the intestine, the bowel and the heart. Infection usually occurs against biting insects, particularly if it travels orally, but parasites can enter a host via an open cut in unfortunate circumstances. One of the main problems associated with a nematode infestation is the dramatic weight
loss.

Since the nematode will live inside the small intestine of its host for most of the duration of its stay, it can easily feed on anything your dog eats, meaning that the nutrition is being diverted and the worm subsequently grows and grows. In addition, anaemia is also a symptom of roundworm infection. Some species of roundworm are bloodfeeders, either they attach themselves to the wall of the gut and suck blood or are pool feeders whereby the worm bites into the gut wall, creating a pool of blood which
they then digest.

Of particular significance to pet owners is the risk of zoonoses, or the transmission of worms from animals to humans. Toxocara canis (the dog roundworm) eggs may be passed to humans in dog faeces or through touching a dog’s coat.

Treatment and prevention are fairly simple, in fact responsible pet owners should ensure that they pick up their pets’ faeces and that their dogs have a roundworm control routine. Treatments do not prevent the parasites from entering the body, but they do kill the worms before they reach sexual maturity and before they can do any harm. It is recommended that dogs are wormed at least four times a year, however if your dog is in regular contact with children, you may wish to use a monthly roundworm treatment, either in a tablet or spot on product, to ensure the risk of transmission is reduced.

There are many species of intestinal worms in Europe, but some of them are restricted to warm climates. One particularly nasty example is the heart worm. This parasite uses a mosquito as its primary host. Once the mosquito bites a mammal, the larvae are injected into the blood stream. Once the larvae reach the heart of the secondary host, they begin feeding on blood. They then grow and this is where the health problems begin. A serious infestation of heart worm can be fatal for a dog, as the symptoms are hard to spot and treatment can sometimes fail.

In order to reproduce, the heart worm distributes its eggs into the bloodstream of its host, and then it is a matter of chance. If the host is fed on by another mosquito, it is that mosquito’s next meal that will become infected with the eggs. If that animal is already a host then the eggs will be fertilised and a larger infestation will occur. It is therefore important to ensure that your pet is effectively protected bowel and the heart. Infection usually occurs against biting insects, particularly if it travels with you with its PETS Passport to continental Europe or further afield.

Cestoda
(Tape worm, parasitic flat worm)

Certain tape worms can grow up to 80ft long inside their host, causing potentially fatal
intestinal blockages.

Life Cycle: Up to 3 years

Symptoms: Weight loss, dull coat, scooting, diarrhoea, vomiting.

Cause: Lack of prevention, infected food, contact with infected carcasses, contact with contaminated soil.

Treatment: Oral treatment or spot on treatment, prevention is recommended. The symptoms and treatment of this type of parasite are very similar to that of the nematode, although the Cestoda have a different adult morphology which is more often segmented, meaning that they can break up without dying. They also posses male and female reproductive equipment, meaning that they can breed independently and do not rely on cross infestations to reproduce.

Cestoda
(Tape worm, parasitic flat worm)

Certain tape worms can grow up to 80ft long inside their host, causing potentially fatal intestinal blockages.

Life Cycle: Up to 3 years

Symptoms: Weight loss, dull coat, scooting, diarrhoea, vomiting.

Cause: Lack of prevention, infected food, contact with infected carcasses, contact with contaminated soil.

Treatment: Oral treatment or spot on treatment, prevention is recommended. The symptoms and treatment of this type of parasite are very similar to that of the nematode, although the Cestoda have a different adult morphology which is more often segmented, meaning that they can break up without dying. They also posses male and female reproductive equipment, meaning that they can breed independently and do not rely on cross infestations to reproduce.

–Sponsors Message–

Sign up for quarterly worming reminders at www.stopwormsdead.co.uk