How to Treat Dogs for Worms

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dr. Bob Pane with South Kendall Animal Clinic. Let's talk a little bit about treating dogs for worms. There are many different worms out there obviously and some are treated with certain medications and some aren't but if it's like Giardia which they pick up from dirty water, Tricamonus, they we treat them with Flagyl usually, sometimes Panacur. If it's Coccidia they get from their mother or from eating cat feces we use different products. There is a new product called Marquis that veterinarians are using now that works really really well. Roundworms and hookworms are part of the most common worms we see as veterinarians and it is very important to get rid of those because those can migrate to your children's and your eyes and your skin if not treated properly so after you handle your dog, after you handle them or do anything to your dog you should wash your hands because you can indiscriminately touch your mouth and get those worms in small microscopic egg form and it can go through your body and it can be very very bad for you or your children so there is many ways of treating worms. I recommend doing a fecal analysis at your veterinarian and finding out what worm you have. There is also a worm called tapeworms carried by fleas. They are also carried by rodents. There is different types of tapeworms and again your veterinarian will give you something for that if you see them, they look like little rice seeds. They are probably the least pathologic so they look scary, they look like little segments coming out of your dog's fanny but they are not bad. Sometimes they lay on top of the feces and they move around but they look like little tiny segments and so if you see those bring a stool to your veterinarian, have them diagnose them properly and get the medications that is proper for your dog. You need to weight your dog to make sure the proper dosage is given to your dog for such amount of time as it needs to be on it. Often when we do this we recommend a fecal a month later or three weeks later to make sure we got rid of those worms as well so it is important to be really proactive about finding what one you have."