A FEW FACTS ABOUT WORMERS

[skycat 6,173]

I thought I would put up some information about worming puppies. Please don't think I'm trying to be a know all or preaching: but it is obvious from some of the photos of pups for sale on here that the puppies are carrying a pretty big round worm burden.

 

Puppies of 6 - 9 weeks, if not wormed properly (with the correct dosage or type of wormer) will be well stuffed with worms at this age. ALL puppies have worms, no matter how careful you are and how well you wormed the bitch. The roundworm cysts which are found in EVERY dog alive, become active when the bitch is pregnant and the larvae migrate from her body into the puppies even before they are born.

 

You won't see any sign of a puppy having worms until about 3-4 weeks of age, but once they start on solids its all systems go for the worms and they start to grow and thrive.

 

Typical appearance of a puppy carrying more than a couple of roundworms is the distended belly: which makes the little legs look skinny. A slighly bulgy eyed look is also one of the main signs that a pup has worms. Couple this with a scrawny looking neck, over large appearance to the head (no matter what breed of dog we are talking about) and in severe cases a failure to grow at a decent rate.........and you can be pretty sure that this pup has a lot of roundworms.

 

If left untreated, or not treated correctly, these will stunt a pup's growth and in really severe cases cause damage to the gut lining resulting in really bad chronic diarrhoea, sometimes bloody stools, and leave the pup wide open to infection such as bad stomach bugs which may even appear to have parvo like symptoms which in turn can lead to dehydration and death.

 

There is no excuse in this day and age not to worm pups properly. Most people use Panacur, but how many people know that one dose of Panacur does sweet f*ck all to a worm? The reccomended treatment for tiny pups is a daily dose for 3 days. And this needs to be done every 3 weeks from 3 weeks of age for the first 3 months of life.

 

Here's a fact sheet about Panacur: read the data sheet.

http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Panacur-10-100m...ductinfo/PANL1/

 

Personally I prefer to use something like Drontal Plus. I weigh each pup in a litter then cut up the tablet, dividing it as many times as is necessary depending on the weight of the pup. For example: if the whole tablet does 10kilos of adult dog, then I might have to divide that one tablet into 6ths for a puppy.

 

Quick tale: I once took on a pup was in a very poor state: half the size of its litter mates and with all the classic signs of a heavy roundworm burden. At the time I had been given some Panacur: so duly gave the pup the 3 day treatment as reccomended by the manufacturers. Pup still looked awful, so a week later I gave her a quarter of a Drontal Plus: within 4 hours she had shat a writhing spaghetti like tangle of mature round worms!! And for the first time ate normally and started to grow properly!

 

This tale doesn't have a happy ending as the round worm had so severley damaged her gut that she died at the age of 9 weeks at the vet, having contracted a nasty stomach bug which appeared very similar to the symptoms of Parvo. She was on a drip etc etc, but they couldn't save her as her innards were in too bad a state to recover from the effects of both bug and worms.

 

This happened quite a few years ago, but I'll always remember this pup as she had the most fantastic temperament and character: I'm still angry and sad that no one could save her.

 

Had she been properly wormed (and fed) from the start she could have made a good dog.

 

Now, most wormy pups I see are nowhere near as bad as this pup was, but chronic diarrhoea can and does affect the health of a dog, let alone a more fragile pup, so we owe it to them to worm them correctly and by using the right wormers.

 

You can use Drontal Plus on very small pups (3 weeks of age) with no side effects at all: so why go to all the bother of forcing a paste down their throats if it doesn't work as well?

 

The pics I've included in this saga are how a puppy SHOULD look: rounded all over, sturdy legs (even Whippet pups should have sturdy legs at this age), slightly too much skin for its body and a general air of well being. No sign of a bloated belly and you definitely cannot see the ribs at all and the belly isn't sticking out as though the pup has swallowed a football!

 

Once again, I don't mean to preach or offend anyone and this isn't aimed at anyone in particular: I'm still learning all sorts of things about dog care and I've kept, bred and worked them most of my life and if I can point out one or two tips and hints then that's all I'm trying to do.

 

Edited on September23rd '09

Just to add: the round worm life cycle is a 3 week cycle so it is important to worm pups every 3 weeks for at least the first 3 months of their lives. Thereafter I worm my dogs every 6 months unless I see signs of tape worm segments in the dogs' faeces or round their anus. Eating raw fresh rabbit, especially the guts, is the quickest way for a dog to pick up tapeworm. Freeze rabbits for 3 weeks before feeding to kill any worms and egg cysts.

Edited September 23, 2009 by skycat

[Kay 3,709]

very usefull information , maybe it should be pinned for reference

[shamo28 1]

i use drontal plus too on my pups but this wormer doesnt kill a worm called gardia heart worms i think

so i always do a 3 day course of panacur granules too just to be sure

 

got to give them the best start

atb

[SMART DOG 340]

good information mate i've seen pups ruined which have been left untreated worming is vital for dogs of all ages whats a few quid every other month

[Little Butch 16]

Great thread! There's no excuse to not Worming a Dog..

Anybody got a good supplier of Tablets? We're paying about a Fiver for a couple..

 

Butch

[skycat 6,173]

I know Drontal has its limitations: Milbemax does just about every kind of worm, but you can only get it from the vet unless you have the right contacts. You can buy Drontal over the net with no problem and I've never known it upset even a tiny pup's stomach, unlike Lopatol, for example, which makes some dogs throw up.

 

As Milbemax is Australian it caters for the worms we don't see too often in the UK:( heart and lung worm for example. ) as well as ordinary tape worm etc. I'll be getting that the next time I do a general worming of all the adult dogs just to be on the safe side.

 

Edited to add: the pups in the pics were between 5 and 6 weeks old at the time.

Edited March 29, 2009 by skycat

[Little Butch 16]

I'll try and get some Milbemax then

Butch

[cúagusgiorraí 57]

Very good skycat.

 

Preach it sister!

[wexford Pa 84]

I know Drontal has its limitations: Milbemax does just about every kind of worm, but you can only get it from the vet unless you have the right contacts. You can buy Drontal over the net with no problem and I've never known it upset even a tiny pup's stomach, unlike Lopatol, for example, which makes some dogs throw up.

 

As Milbemax is Australian it caters for the worms we don't see too often in the UK:( heart and lung worm for example. ) as well as ordinary tape worm etc. I'll be getting that the next time I do a general worming of all the adult dogs just to be on the safe side.

 

Edited to add: the pups in the pics were between 5 and 6 weeks old at the time.

Milbemax is a class wormer, i was 1st told about it a few weeks ago and i'll never use any other wormer for my adult dogs again.. BRILLIANT!

Dont ask where you can get them as i get them off a man that sell meat and vitamins around the tracks!!!

[poacher3161 1,766]

brilliant peice of advice always use panacur but never been 100pc got a litter of spaniels on way like they say you never stop learning ALTB

[joe_lynas 2]

-

Edited September 28, 2019 by joe_lynas

[lawrence 657]

i find the drontal oral suspension liquid prefect for litter of pups, a lot easier than breaking up tablets and more precise, every pup gets the same, i think 100ml is around a tenner and lasts a fair while.

[inan 841]

I thought I would put up some information about worming puppies. Please don't think I'm trying to be a know all or preaching: but it is obvious from some of the photos of pups for sale on here that the puppies are carrying a pretty big round worm burden.

 

Puppies of 6 - 9 weeks, if not wormed properly (with the correct dosage or type of wormer) will be well stuffed with worms at this age. ALL puppies have worms, no matter how careful you are and how well you wormed the bitch. The roundworm cysts which are found in EVERY dog alive, become active when the bitch is pregnant and the larvae migrate from her body into the puppies even before they are born.

 

You won't see any sign of a puppy having worms until about 3-4 weeks of age, but once they start on solids its all systems go for the worms and they start to grow and thrive.

 

Typical appearance of a puppy carrying more than a couple of roundworms is the distended belly: which makes the little legs look skinny. A slighly bulgy eyed look is also one of the main signs that a pup has worms. Couple this with a scrawny looking neck, over large appearance to the head (no matter what breed of dog we are talking about) and in severe cases a failure to grow at a decent rate.........and you can be pretty sure that this pup has a lot of roundworms.

 

If left untreated, or not treated correctly, these will stunt a pup's growth and in really severe cases cause damage to the gut lining resulting in really bad chronic diarrhoea, sometimes bloody stools, and leave the pup wide open to infection such as bad stomach bugs which may even appear to have parvo like symptoms which in turn can lead to dehydration and death.

 

There is no excuse in this day and age not to worm pups properly. Most people use Panacur, but how many people know that one dose of Panacur does sweet f*ck all to a worm? The reccomended treatment for tiny pups is a daily dose for 3 days. And this needs to be done every 3 weeks from 3 weeks of age for the first 3 months of life.

 

Here's a fact sheet about Panacur: read the data sheet.

http://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Panacur-10-100m...ductinfo/PANL1/

 

Personally I prefer to use something like Drontal Plus. I weigh each pup in a litter then cut up the tablet, dividing it as many times as is necessary depending on the weight of the pup. For example: if the whole tablet does 10kilos of adult dog, then I might have to divide that one tablet into 6ths for a puppy.

 

Quick tale: I once took on a pup was in a very poor state: half the size of its litter mates and with all the classic signs of a heavy roundworm burden. At the time I had been given some Panacur: so duly gave the pup the 3 day treatment as reccomended by the manufacturers. Pup still looked awful, so a week later I gave her a quarter of a Drontal Plus: within 4 hours she had shat a writhing spaghetti like tangle of mature round worms!! And for the first time ate normally and started to grow properly!

 

This tale doesn't have a happy ending as the round worm had so severley damaged her gut that she died at the age of 9 weeks at the vet, having contracted a nasty stomach bug which appeared very similar to the symptoms of Parvo. She was on a drip etc etc, but they couldn't save her as her innards were in too bad a state to recover from the effects of both bug and worms.

 

This happened quite a few years ago, but I'll always remember this pup as she had the most fantastic temperament and character: I'm still angry and sad that no one could save her.

 

Had she been properly wormed (and fed) from the start she could have made a good dog.

 

Now, most wormy pups I see are nowhere near as bad as this pup was, but chronic diarrhoea can and does affect the health of a dog, let alone a more fragile pup, so we owe it to them to worm them correctly and by using the right wormers.

 

You can use Drontal Plus on very small pups (3 weeks of age) with no side effects at all: so why go to all the bother of forcing a paste down their throats if it doesn't work as well?

 

The pics I've included in this saga are how a puppy SHOULD look: rounded all over, sturdy legs (even Whippet pups should have sturdy legs at this age), slightly too much skin for its body and a general air of well being. No sign of a bloated belly and you definitely cannot see the ribs at all and the belly isn't sticking out as though the pup has swallowed a football!

 

Once again, I don't mean to preach or offend anyone and this isn't aimed at anyone in particular: I'm still learning all sorts of things about dog care and I've kept, bred and worked them most of my life and if I can point out one or two tips and hints then that's all I'm trying to do.

I use Drontal ,in fact Ive just ordered some more from Best Pet Pharmacy ,on line, they are about £1.80p each, and delivery is very prompt. £20 does my three lads.

An excellent informed post from Skycat as per usual.Skycat does the research, and gets genned up before posting ,unlike many others!Top Marks!

[halloween man 12]

i have a 12 week old lab pup and have wormed him with johnsons puppy worming syryp but still no sign of any worms he does not have pot belly but his back end looks a little thin i cant up his food anymore as it gives him the shits any advice would be greatly appreciated forgot to add i have been worming him every fortnight

Edited April 24, 2009 by halloween man

[skycat 6,173]

What are you feeding the pup? The best food for pups is meat and bone with a bit of veg: if you are feeding a cereal based (more cereals than meat) food then too much food will give a lot of pups the shits as a dog's digestive system isn't designed to cope with a lot of cereal: wheat etc.

 

Some dogs are almost allergic to cereals, plus the fact that you have to feed twice as much of a cereal based food to give the dog the nutrients it needs, means that a pup won't put on weight or grow properly.

 

As for any wormer bought over the counter: they simply aren't man enough to do the job properly. Even if you don't see sign of worms it doesn't mean to say the dog doesn't have them. Once a pup is past the 8-10 week mark even a wormy pup won't have a pot belly.

 

Worm it with Milbemax or Drontal Plus and change the diet to a meat based diet.

Edited April 24, 2009 by skycat