Dog Worming

Are you looking for a preventative to stop them getting worms or a cure to get rid of worms they already have?

I've never used preventative wormers for my dogs, I get a worm count done once a year which have always come back clear. My latest adopted boy had worms when I adopted him so I got Drontal for him, he had the initial dose to get rid of the worms, a second dose 8 weeks later in case of any remaining eggs and a further 8 weeks I got a worm count done and it came back clear.

gt568 wrote: »

Preventative.


I thought you were supposed to regularly worm dogs?

Strictly speaking “preventative” treatments in this context are preventing disease, not preventing infection. It’s all a numbers game. Carrying parasites is the normal condition for all animals (including humans!). In most cases there is nothing that you can treat the dog with to stop it becoming infected, so to limit the risk of harmful numbers building up, you treat it every so often. It’s worth bearing in mind that in some places and for some parasite species, animals can take in a large infecting dose over a very short period and rapidly develop clinical signs. Also, some worm species can be harmful before they commence egg-laying and hence before the infection is detected by an egg count.

gt568 wrote: »

Preventative.


I thought you were supposed to regularly worm dogs?

Current recommendation for roundworms is once a month from weaning to six months old, and then at least every 3 months after that for normal risk or monthly for high risk dogs.

Because the wormers essentially "flush" the system and don't linger, if you worm less than 3 monthly you don't really affect how many parasites the dog carries. If you worm three monthly you reduce the worm burden by a significant amount and stop them building up. If you worm monthly then there's no chance the dog can ever shed eggs (because you're eliminating immature worms before they've had a chance to become adults).

As others have said, most adult dogs will tolerate a small worm burden without any ill effects, but the main reason it's advisable to worm dogs even if they don't show symptoms is the public health risk, especially to small children. Even if you pick up all your dog's faeces you can still leave microscopic worm eggs behind (this is why councils put huge efforts into their pick up the dog poo campaigns).

If your dog is going to be around small children (7 and under) it's worth doing monthly, because they're the highest risk group. If you've had cases of lungworm in your area it would be worth doing monthly as well with a lungworm-specific product. Otherwise, every three months is generally fine.