Deworming your puppy is an essential part of caring for your puppy. 98% of all puppies are born with worms that they contracted before birth from their mother.
There are many different species of worms that can affect your puppy’s growth and development. These worms are intestinal parasites, and contrary to popular belief, you probably won’t see them in puppy feces unless they have a serious infestation.
The most common type of worm found in puppies is roundworms. Roundworms, unsurprisingly, are round and a common description is spaghetti-like. These roundworms are very common in nature and can survive outside a host in a cyst stage for a long time. Grassy areas are common places to find any number of parasitic cysts.
Tapeworms are among the most difficult to remove. They are a flat, segmented worm.
The head of the tapeworm burrows into the wall of the intestine, and the segments break off and are expelled with the feces. You may see segments wriggling like rice in the stool or dry flakes like sawdust stuck to the fur around the pup’s anus. Each segment contains thousands of eggs and ingestion will cause recurring infestation.
Fleas are the vector for tapeworms. They carry the tapeworm from one host to another. When an animal bites a flea, the tapeworm finds its way into the digestive tract where it sets up camp. Tapeworms can be very difficult to get rid of. Dislodging the head may require multiple deworming attempts. If you don’t kill the worm at the source, it can and will regenerate from the head.
There are actually very few medications that work against tapeworms. Many of which can be very hard on the pup. Whichever drug you choose, you should be sure to consult your vet before using it. Drontal is the best general antiparasitic on the market today. It’s a broad spectrum dewormer and it gets tapes, most don’t. If your pup definitely has tapes, it’s a good idea to follow up with a species-specific dewormer. That is, one that only receives tapes.
When deworming your puppy, you should repeat it at least twice, even better three times. The procedure should be performed at intervals of two weeks. Follow the life cycle of the parasite. Most of the eggs will hatch in those two weeks. The first drug kills anything that is in its adult stage, follow-up treatments kill anything that has hatched in the meantime. You can see why it may be advisable to repeat it a third time, in case the residual eggs have not yet hatched, or the remaining adults, ugly new eggs.
It’s a good idea to follow up the final deworming with a microscopic fecal exam done at your veterinarian’s office a couple of weeks after the final deworming. Just to make sure no eggs are present. Your vet will need a very fresh fecal sample. Usually no more than an hour old.
Intestinal parasites can cause many problems for the puppy. They can become malnourished, despite how much they eat. If they are always sharing their nutrition with their unwanted companions, they will not grow well. They will be more susceptible to disease despite vaccinations. They may have chronic diarrhea and vomiting and never reach their standard body weight or muscle mass.
Some species of intestinal parasites are transmissible to humans. Mainly children who have a less developed immune system and are more likely to be around worms or eggs. Roundworms can especially infect young children. Children inadvertently put their hands to their mouths or roll around in the grass with the puppy. It is possible, though less likely, to get other species of worms as well.
