How to Tell If Your Dog Needs Wormed

The lack of worming your dog not only will kill the dog, but eventually spreads worms to you and your family. A simple routine procedure on a monthly basis can prevent this, but the majority of pet owners do not follow through once they bring the cute little puppy home. What they do not realize is that worms inside a pet means the pet is becoming sick, and by the time the worms are seen--the dog may be beyond fixing.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Good relationship with the family vet
• Stool gathering kit
• Routine worming schedule
• Rubber gloves
• Good hand cleansing hygiene

1. 

   Maintaining some form of worming scheduling to prevent the animal from getting worm should be practiced from the day you bring the little puppy or adult dog home. An overall worming is usually done through a vet or a public place like Petco. Keeping records with routine wormings, vaccines, health exams, bathing, spading/neutering, and toenail clippings is part of being a responsible pet owner. If you cannot do this, then you do not need the pet. By preventing adequate care from being given to your animal, you can be charged with animal abuse.

2. Most people take their new animal to the vet within a short time of being it home. Most breeders are responsible and have the puppy worm-free by the time they leave at eight weeks or older. But just as often, puppy mill owners will not care for their puppies as required or lie on paperwork to get the dog sold. Physical signs of a dog having worms are easy to see: dull coat, lifeless eyes, bloody/mucous stools, vomiting, hair falling out, lethergic movements, and even worms around the rectum or in the stools on the ground. I always use the "excess thirst/hunger" symptoms as a red flag. A dog who continuously drinks at all times has a pretty good chance of needing wormed, or one who is excessively hungry yet does not gain weight--maybe even losing weight unnecessarily.

3. If the dog has not been wormed, or you feel the dog has worms, taking a stool sample and/or the dog to the vet is necessary unless you are familiar with the many types of worms and required medications. The types of worms that dogs have that humans can get are roundworms (Ascariasis), pinworms, hookwarms (Necator), and whipworms (Trichuris).

4. PIN WORMS: Pin worms(Enterobius)are only found in the human body. They are the largest percentage of human intestinal worm infections in our country. Hand washing is of the highest priority to prevent pin worm eggs from entering the body through the mouth. If pin worms are suspected or seen, purchasing an over-the-counter medication like Reese's Pinworm Medicine or Vermox (a prescription medication) can be done. Small as a staple, they can easily become lodged under the fingernails and live for about two weeks before dying in bedding, food, or live in the anus area causing itching. Once hatched, they can be seen with the naked eye as a piece of thin thread. The eggs are small enough to fly around in the air, to be easily ingested through the mouth.

5. 

   ROUNDWORMS: This is the worm most normally seen in puppies if they are not worming regularly. They are about four to to thirteen inches long, and can be found in both dogs and cats. Breaking up the life cycle is the only way to prevent roundworms from continuing their destructive path within the pet. The medicine of choice is "pyrantel pamoate" given on a weekly basis to break the egg-laying cycle over a month-long period. Both the mature and adolescent roundworms need to be destroyed to prevent migration patterns. With roundworm eggs located in the dirt, feces, mother dogs, and puppies--symptoms of roundworm in humans are fever, headaches, cough, and poor appetites. They live in the intestines and survive on partially digested foods. Puppies get roundworms through the mother's milk, and later on through contaminated soils. It is best to worm the mother two weeks or so before whelping, and both mother/puppies two weeks later, and weekly after this to break the egg-laying cycles of the roundworm.

6. 

   HOOKWORMS: A common worm found in pets,it is also found in approximately 800 million intestinal infections for humans. The number one preventive medicine in people is mebendazole or albendazole, which needs a doctor's prescription, dosing twice a day for three days. The animal medication is anthelmintic, which requires dosing for two to three weeks. The human symptoms depend on where they enter the body at: skin opening, lungs, intestines, etc. they are considered the most dangerous in dogs, as they attach to the intestinal wall and can drain the dog of blood, causing anemia and blood loss. Diseases are easily formed due to the weakened state of the animal. They are the most common worm in dogs, with three types of hookworms: one in cats, one in dogs, and one in both.

7. WHIPWORMS: The name whip worm comes from the parasite's long, very thin, whip-like shape. Fertilized eggs develop outside the body, and an embryonated egg is produced in three weeks, located in the small intestine of the dog. Soil contaminated by whipworms through the dog's feces can lay dormant for many years. Female whipworms only lay eggs periodically, so a stool sample may test negative for whipworm.

Tips & Warnings

• Routinely check your pet for worms and worm them on a schedule.
• Wash hands before and after handling pets.
• Keep the pet's toilet area clean on a daily basis.
• Do not allow the pet to consume feces. Pick it up immediately.
• Keep the pet bathed or brushed routinely.
• Keep fresh food and water down at all times.
• Keep the food and water containers washed on a daily basis.

[oasjchatterbox]

on 9/8/2008 good information.