Preventing Worms In Your Doggie

I know — this is not a pleasant subject, but unless you are on top of your dog’s health constantly there is a very good chance he or she will contract a case of worms at least once during their life. Preventing worms will keep your dog healthy and unaffected by the dire consequences to Max’s health that can occur if left untreated.

There are several easy to recognize indications your dog has worms. For puppies preventing worms begins as soon as the pup is weaned and brought home. Visit your vet for a good check-up if your puppy has a very bloated appearing stomach, diarrhea, or in some case the pup is abnormally thin and not growing even though you are feeding the pup plenty of food.

Preventing worms in a mature dog can sometimes be difficult because they often show almost no indication they have worms. If you have more than one adult dog it is likely if one has worms the others do also because they spread the worm larva through saliva and their feces. It is time to visit the vet if you suspect at least one of the dogs is infected so proper treatment for the infected dog and your other dogs can be pursued. Normally this is a simple case of taking giving your dog’s the medications prescribed by your vet. The vet will need to take blood and stool samples from each dog for analysis to determine what types of worms the dogs may have.

There are several different worms a dog can have. Most typical are the roundworms, tapeworm, heartworm, and roundworm. All of these types can eventually prove deadly but the heartworm is the worse of the four and it can only be detected by a blood sample analysis. This is why at least yearly check-ups by your vet are critical so they can detect any worm issues before they reach the point of no return concerning your dog’s health.

Precautions you can take for preventing worms in your puppies and dogs include worming the pups and adult dogs every six months and never allowing the dogs to drag home old bones or dead animals. This is a very common cause of worms getting into your dog internally. Always have your pups and adult dogs do their business in one specific area of the yard and then remove the feces so they do not track it inside your home or eat it as some dogs are prone to do. Never allow children to play in these designated areas of your yard.

How do you deal with worming your dogs? Comments and advice are welcome below.