How to Treat Your Yard for Hookworms
Hookworms are a parasite that infects mostly dogs, but sometimes cats and very infrequently humans. The hookworms move into the animal's intestine and cause blood loss, infection and possibly death. Hookworms are carried in animal feces and are transferred through ingestion, the skin or nursing. A hookworm infestation is serious; some types of hookworm can lay up to 28,000 eggs a day. Treating your yard for hookworms involves treating your pet (probably the source of the hookworm), sanitizing the area and keeping up with feces in the yard. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Take your dog or cat to the veterinarian if you think your yard has hookworms. If your yard is infested, your animal is most likely infected.
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Start your animal on a hookworm medicine prescribed by your vet. Once it is treated for the hookworm, start it on a heartworm prevention medicine. Most heartworm prevention medicines prevent hookworm as well. If your animal is hookworm free, your yard will remain hookworm free.
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Clean the infected area in your yard. Pick up any feces and sanitize any toys in the area. Heat will kill hookworms, so to sanitize the toys, wet them down and then put them in the microwave for one minute.
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Rake borax (sodium borate) into any soil or gravel in your yard. Do not put borax on the grass because it will kill your lawn.
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Pick up any animal feces daily. Hookworm medicine will not work on your animal immediately, so its feces may still carry the parasite.
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Train your animal to use one area of the yard to defecate. This will help prevent the spread of hookworm throughout your yard if your animal is infected in the future.
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Tips & Warnings
Treat any puppies for hookworms every two weeks until they are three months old to prevent hookworms and a yard infestation.
Treat pregnant and nursing female animals also.
