HELP!!!!!!!!!!! attack of the worms!!!!!!!!!

Trips_mommy · New member Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 4

My dog Trip is an outside dog during the day and inside at night. There is anouther dog and two cats that the almost never come incontact with. We have had him for almost a year and every three months he has worms; round, tape and whatever that other one is. He is getting his flea med when he is supposed to. What is the problem? what could be the cause of this?

boditosabear · Member Joined: 10 Sep 2005 Posts: 25

the worms are in the poop . Your dogs poop and all other infected dog's poop along the way. It is very important to round up all the poop bury it and stay on the vets treatment. we kept bodi from the dog parks but it seems if you look around there is poop everywere.. good luck

Trips_mommy · New member Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 4

Don't they have to eat the poop to get worms? He only has to take one pill that kills everything

Mary_NH · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:23 am Post subject:

what meds are you giving him? Over the counter or vet prescribed?
There are different meds for different parasites.
If it's something over the counter you've been wasting your money. You would need to take a fecal to the vet to find out exactly what parasite he has and get the correct medication for them to leave. And clean up the poop - he could be eating it when you aren't looking.

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4241 Location: Texas

My dogs are on Interceptor. Its heartworm, roundworm, whipworm, tapeworm...ect..

Covers everything.

they get worms from infested feces. They do not have to eat the poo. Just walking around where it is, they get the eggs and larve on their feet. Then when they lick their feet the injest the eggs and larve, and start the cycle all over again.

Trips_mommy · New member Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 4

the meds we keep getting are prescribed but it seems about every three months he gets it again.

Trips_mommy · New member Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 4

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

You have to get Interceptor from the vet. You do have to test for heartworm before they will give it to you, but you should be doing that anyway. It is a monthly pill. If you have more than one animal, you should treat all of them or they will just keep passing it back and forth.

Mary_NH · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:12 pm Post subject:

interceptor works for flea control but does it kill intestinal parasites?
I was looking online and all I see that it works for is fleas. If the dog had the parasites prior to giving monthly interceptor will it kill the intestinal parasites the dog may already have had?
I'd still take a fecal sample to the vet to find out what the parasites are and treat accordingly

coppersmom · Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject:

Tapeworms require an intermediate host which is the flea. The dog must ingest a flea to get tapeworms. I just went through that with my dogs. Brie has/had tapeworms and I wanted to treat Zoey too because she is a known poop-eater. The vet said it's only passed in the flea so no need to treat her. And so far, no sign of them in her.

My dogs get Heartguard Plus which prevents the other worms but doesn't treat an infestation.

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4241 Location: Texas

No the Interceptor I have is a heartworm and intestinal parasites pill. It dosn't say anything about fleas or ticks...

hermann muenster · Member Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 304

I use interceptor all year round - we don't have mosquitoes in the winter but it is worth it to not have to worry about worms - YUK! Besides - if I give them the interceptor all year - I don't have to have a blood test for heartworm or do stool tests every year.

Frontline Plus is what I use for fleas. It has a tick killer in it too.
I use it every other month during the flea season. My dogs hate the heat and are inside most of the summer so I don't have major flea worries.

Worms are the grossest things to deal with. Good luck.

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

Shineillusion · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:23 am Post subject:

There's more than one type of tapeworm. The most common one dogs get is indeed from ingesting an infected flea, but there are also tapeworms they can get from eating infected rodents, like mice, rats, and especially rabbits.

Roundworms also present a special problem. Once your dog has them, they larvae are always present in the dog. They form cysts and under the right circumstances can become active again. This is how pregnant dogs can pass roundworm to their puppies in utero even if they don't have an active infestation during the pregnancy.

Hookworms and whipworms can be contracted from infected bird droppings, not just other dogs or cats. And it's next to impossible to keep birds from dropping in your yard.