How to Prevent and Treat Worms in Dogs

Whilst worms in dogs are mostly invisible, keeping your canine companion worm free is an absolute must for their health and comfort.

Even though worms aren’t obvious, it’s important that you know about what they can do to your canine best friend and how to keep them under control.

HOW WORMS IMPACT YOUR DOG’S HEALTH

There are a number of worms that can live inside your dog’s body, and none of them are very pleasant.

• Roundworm. Puppies can be infected with roundworm while still in the womb and also while nursing. They can cause ill thrift, vomiting and diarrhea. In large enough numbers, they can cause an intestinal obstruction which can make your dog seriously ill. These are quite large worms and you may see them in your dog’s feces or in his vomitus. Roundworm larvae can infect humans, and cause eye and liver damage.
• Hookworms live in your dog’s small intestine and drink blood. They can drink enough blood to cause anemia, and they can kill young pups. If your dog has hookworm, his gums may be pale and you can expect his faeces to be very dark and tarry, because of the digested blood in them. Hookworms also affect people, with the larvae crawling around just under the skin causing a red itchy rash.
• Whipworm. These can be found in your dog’s caecum, equivalent to your appendix, and his large intestine. The eggs are very hardy and can survive in the ground for years, which means the soil is a constant source of infection. Whipworm cause severe inflammation of the intestine, resulting in diarrhea containing blood and mucus.
• Tapeworm. Dipylidium is spread by fleas and doesn’t cause any major health issues except an itchy bottom. You may see tapeworm segments, like wriggling grains of rice, around your dog’s anus or on his droppings. Echinococcus also doesn’t affect dogs much, but the eggs shed by this tapeworm can infect people and cause fluid-filled cysts in organs such as the liver, lungs, and brain.
• Heartworm. These worms are spread from dog to dog by mosquitoes. Unlike the other worms, heartworms don’t live in your dog’s gastrointestinal tract but in the large blood vessels carrying blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. They cause blood clots and inflammation in these vessels and interfere with blood flow. If it isn’t treated, the result is heart failure with coughing, fluid accumulation and ultimately, death.

PREVENTING WORMS IN DOGS

There are many worming treatments available to dog owners and they are all similar in that they don’t actually stop your dog getting worms. They do however kill the worms before your dog has enough in his body to cause disease.

• Allwormer tablets are manufactured by several companies. Some will combine heartworm and intestinal worms, some just do intestinal worms. A good clue is that if the product is given every month, it probably does both intestinal worms and heartworm. If it is given every 3 months it is only treating intestinal worms. We absolutely love Interceptor, a tasty, convenient way to treat intestinal worms and heartworm.
• When treating worms puppies should be treated two weekly until they are 12 weeks old, then monthly until they are 6 months old. After this, they can be dosed every three months, just like adults. Heartworm should be treated every month from 12 weeks of age.  Pyrantel is the most commonly given treatment for puppies.
• Heartworm can be controlled with a monthly treatment such as Interceptor or spot on treatment like Advocate. You can also ask your vet to give the yearly injection called Proheart if you are prone to forgetting a monthly treatment.

TREATING WORM INFESTATIONS

If your dog has intestinal worms, then any of the worming treatments can be used. There is no worming treatment that is 100% effective, and they also don’t kill immature worms that are developing in your dog’s body. You can worm your dog as frequently as 3-4 weekly if necessary to clear up a stubborn infection.

Heartworm is more challenging to treat. Killing the worms can cause even more inflammation in your dog’s blood vessels, and his symptoms may worsen significantly. For this reason, treating them is a two-step process. Firstly, the adults are killed with a drug called Immiticide. This is done under close veterinary supervision because the dead and dying worms can cause clots in his blood vessels. Several weeks later, the immature larvae in the bloodstream are killed, usually with ivermectin or milbemycin. Because treating heartworm is so dangerous, if your dog has not had heartworm prevention for more than 3 months a heartworm test is necessary before you start using a preventative.

A WORM FREE DOG IS A HEALTHY DOG

If you’re a busy person with a lot of responsibility, it can be hard to remember to worm your dog regularly. However, if your dog does become infested with worms, the effects on his health can be devastating. It’s not worth the risk. There are a number of ways you can prevent worms in your four legged family member; you’re sure to find one that fits in to your schedule.

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