It is inevitable that once in the life of a dog, no matter how healthy it may look, will have parasites in its body particularly the intestinal parasites. Intestinal parasites feed on the host by absorbing the nutrients in the intestine. Among these parasites, the most common are hookworm, tape worms, round worms and whip worms. These parasites are transmitted in various ways and through different carriers whether it is the mother of the dog, eggs in the stool, infected animals and insects like rodents and fleas and so forth. It is important that dogs are dewormed in a scheduled chart so as to flush out these parasites. However, there are instances where administering pet wormer could be hard. Yet, as veterinary medicine progresses, there are new ways to administer the drug without making the dog distress.
Intestinal parasites can be deadly especially when they are not immediately attended to. Since these parasites feed on the host’s nutrition, the health of the dog suffers greatly. Some of the recognizable symptoms are loss of weight and appetite, vomiting and bleeding. In case of tapeworm infections, the eggs of the tapeworms may dry up at the anus which looks like dried scales or dried rice. There are also parasites that could not be wipe out with a single wormer and therefore it is necessary that deworming is done on a series.
There are several ways to administer wormer. Pet wormers have evolved into several varieties making deworming easier. Some wormer comes in the form of tablets where there are also flavored varieties, dog suspensions, and syrup. Most of these kinds are dosed from 2 to 12 weeks or every 3 months. One famous brand is Drontal that comes in suspensions and tablets. And another is Panacur with drug fenbendazole as its main ingredient, which is effective against all roundworm and most tapeworm infections.
To administer the drug, you should follow the instructions by the vet or through the product instructions. There are wormers that should not be given to pregnant dogs and lactating ones. There is also a new technology called “spot on” drug which is better to be administered by the vet itself.
If you are unsure in administering the wormer, you should let someone who knows it or better have a vet do it for you.
Worm infections are definitely inevitable but it could be avoided by having a good hygiene and clean environment at home. Make sure that you give the dog regular worming schedule and use of the right pet wormer to fight the infection. Worming the dog is not only for the sake of the animal but the entire family as well since the mentioned parasites can be transmissible to humans too.
No comments:
Post a Comment