To get rid of roundworms that are passed from the mother dog, puppies should be treated at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age and then receive a preventive treatment monthly.
Fecal stool examinations should be conducted 2 to 4 times during the first year of life and 1 or 2 times each year in adults. Nursing mothers should be kept on monthly preventive and treated along with their puppies to decrease the risk of transmission. Many heartworm preventives also control roundworms. Ask your veterinarian about prevention and treatment choices that are appropriate for your dog.
Roundworms do pose a significant risk to humans. Contact with contaminated soil or dog feces can result in human ingestion and infection. Roundworm eggs may accumulate in significant numbers in the soil where pets deposit feces. Once infected, the worms can cause eye, lung, heart and neurologic signs in people.
Children should not be allowed to play where animals have passed feces. Individuals who have direct contact with soil that may have been contaminated by cat or dog feces should wear gloves or wash their hands immediately.
It may not be obvious even if your puppy or dog has roundworms, and yet people can be infected by them. Coughing, diarrhea, vomiting and lethargy are the general signs the dog has worms. Other symptoms depend on the type of worm. For example, if your dog has a tapeworm, clear identifiers can be rapid weight loss or what appears to be grains of rice in their stool.
Even if you pay close attention to the moods and actions of your pet, sometimes it can be difficult to tell if your dog has worms. But if you want to give your vet an idea of what is happening with your pet, these are some of the primary symptoms to watch for. If you suspect heartworm, your knowledgeable, local veterinarian will perform a blood test to determine if your pet is ill. You may need to collect a stool sample, which will be examined microscopically for evidence of worms.
In the case of heartworms, blood work is usually necessary. While there are no foolproof methods for worm prevention, if you maintain regular hygiene, vet appointments, flea and tick controls and other protective measures, they will go a long way in keeping your dog safe from worms. Take annual tests for heartworms and ask your vet for their recommendations for preventative medications. Hookworms are passed in the feces, and can infect other animals and people too. Whipworms can cause severe damage to these organs, and are considered one of the most harmful dog worms in existence, but are also more geographically distinct than other dog worms.
Heartworms: Heartworms in dogs live in the heart and pulmonary arteries. They are transmitted by infected mosquitoes, which migrate throughout the body over about 6 months before finally coming to rest in the circulatory system.
They are preventable and treatable, but can be fatal if not diagnosed and arrested before the advanced stages of infestation. Ringworm: Ringworm, or dermatophytosis, is a skin disease caused by a fungus that results in lesions and sores on the epidermal or outer skin layer.
Interestingly enough, ringworm is not caused by a worm at all, but rather by an infection of dead layers of skin, hair and nails. Ringworm is curable, but treatment can take time and the condition can be very painful. Tapeworms In Dogs Tapeworms in dogs most commonly come from ingesting a host animal or object that contains tapeworm eggs.
Dogs that spend time outdoors are at an increased risk of contracting tapeworms, as the contraction and infestation process demonstrates: Tapeworm eggs are attached to flea larvae through locational contact A dog comes into contact with the host flea larvae through skin or oral contact If skin contact, the dog bites and licks to combat the biting flea, which can cause an ingestion of the tapeworm eggs, which will become tapeworms If oral contact, the dog swallows the flea in its entirety, and the digestion process turns the flea into a tapeworm in the intestines Tapeworms in dogs feed off of partially digested food in the intestines, which robs a dog of much needed nutrients and vitamins at the least.
They should be hard to the touch, and golden in color. How Are Dog Worms Treated? For tapeworms in dogs , the medication breaks up tapeworms inside of the intestinal tract.
Flea treatment and preventative is recommended. For roundworms in dogs , the medication detaches the worms from the intestinal tract, and excrete them into and with the stool. At minimum, second treatment is required weeks later. For hookworms in dogs , the medication kills the adult hookworms only. We will recommend another treatment in weeks to treat the hookworms that were babies during the first treatment For ringworm in dogs , we can prescribe antifungal medications, shampoos, lime-sulfur dips, and the shaving or severely affected areas For whipworms in dogs , we can prescribe medication in week intervals, and then every months to help prevent a re-infestation For heartworms in dogs , and depending upon the severity of the infestation, we can prescribe oral and injectible medication, antibiotics, special diets, diuretics to reduce fluid accumulation, and even extended prescription of heart medication in extreme cases We highly recommend consulting your veterinarian before purchasing or administering any over-the-counter or prescription medication for dog worms.
There are simple steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from zoonotic diseases caused by parasites. Make sure your pet is under a veterinarian's care to help protect your pet and your family from possible parasite infections. Be sure to wash your hands after handling pet waste. Wash your hands frequently, especially after touching animals, and avoid contact with animal feces. Follow proper food-handling procedures to reduce the risk of transmission from contaminated food.
For people with weakened immune systems, be especially careful of contact with animals that could transmit these infections. Steps To Prevent Dog Worms Fortunately, various preventive measures can be taken to help ensure your human, canine, and other assorted family members remain at a lower risk for contracting and spreading dog worms.
However, both newly homed puppies and rehomed adult dogs should be dewormed as follows: Puppies: Initial treatment at 3 weeks of age and then as directed by your veterinarian. After the initial treatment s are completed, we recommend a monthly heartworm preventive that also helps prevent intestinal parasites. This should be the beginning of an annual dewormer for dogs protocol that your veterinarian can monitor and adjust if necessary.
Adult Dogs: Once the initial dewormer for dogs has been given as a puppy, dogs should receive monthly preventives year round. Newly Acquired Dogs: No matter the age or documented history, we recommend a dewormer for dogs immediately upon acquisition, then again as recommended by your veterinarian, with a monthly dewormer for dogs preventive to follow as directed.
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