How often should I deworm my dog?
How often should I give my dog de-worming medicine? How do I know when it is necessary?
2 Answers
It is recommend to deworm your dogs once monthly. Most dewormers for dogs are very safe and do not have much impact on the system other than to do their job and make sure the dog doesn't have worms. Your pooch can pick up worms anywhere, anytime even in winter and the can then spread said worms to your yard and track in the eggs in fecal matter to your home. Especially if you have young kids it is important to regularly dewrom your dog. A lot of Dewormers also act as a heartworm preventative (which depending on where you live is more important that other places) they also often times provide minimal protection from fleas and ticks. All of this, of course, is if you are getting said dewormer from your veterinarian and not an OTC dewormer.
Comments
I am curious as to where you saw that it is recommended to deworm dogs every month since have been in the dog business for over 20 years and I have never heard of this. Dewormers are hard on the system, often causing diarrhea and sometimes even vomiting. Why treat for worms if there is no worms?
And heart worm medication is often combined with flea and tick meds, not normal broad spectrum dewormers. Heart worm meds are given once a month, maybe you are mixing the two.
I am a veterinary technician. Veterinarians recommend deworming your dog once monthly. Most heartworm medications on the market are, in fact, a broad spectrum dewormer as well. They are perfectly safe for most dogs to take on a monthly basis and do not cause any stress on the system.
You may be thinking of things like Ivermectin, droncit or panacure which ARE hard on the system and would be used if the dog had a sever case of worms or for other parasites, but your average dewormer is a heartworm med, broad spectrum dewormer and flea and tick preventative all wrapped into one
Also, it can be very difficult to tell if your dog has worms as MANY of the species are either microscopic or if a dog sheds their eggs in it's feces it is enough to be tracked into your home and ingested if you have a little crawling around etc. It's rare that a dog will actually shed full worms
I just don't see the point or medical benefit in treating an animal for a condition that is not present. And perhaps recommendations are different in the US but here in Canada, the recommendation is to only deworm if worms are indeed present and confirmed by a vet.
That very well could be the case I'm not familiar with Canadian practice. It's viewed as a preventative measure here so the dosage is safe for monthly administration. But I can understand the unnecessary medication side of things too. Different strokes for different folks I suppose!
I believe its ONLY for you to come back for product sales. Just like your OIL CHANGE NOT needing to be changed until 5000 or when needed not every 3000.. it's to get you coming in for product sales. (This is not intended to offend anyone) thank you
Most dogs will be de-wormed once as puppies and unless they are diagnosed with worms, there is no use to giving them de-worming medicine again which are very harsh on the system.
If the vet does diagnose your dog with worms, he will explain to you exactly how to administer the medicine.