Preventing Worms
Why is Worming Your Pet Important?
- Worms may affect your pet’s health.
- Worms may infect people and pose a health risk to you and your family.
Types of Worms
Dogs and cats in the UK are predominately affected by roundworms and tapeworms, and far less commonly by hookworms and whipworms.
Signs of Worm Infection
Worms can cause a sub-clinical infection where there are no visible signs that your pet is unwell, or may cause noticeable changes. These may include vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, weight loss, a ‘pot-bellied’ appearance, poor coat quality or stunted growth. Dogs may also have an itchy anal region and you may notice ‘rice grains’, which are tapeworm segments, around this region.
Mechanism of transmission
Animals can become infected from their mother (either through the placenta or via the milk), by faecal transmission (by picking up worm eggs from the environment on paws or nose which are then ingested whilst grooming), or by ingesting an intermediate host (fleas, birds, earthworms or mice). Repeat infection is common, especially if an animal has outside access because worm eggs can last for several years in soil.
Treatment
We recommend a broad-spectrum (to cover all worm types), easy to give, effective, safe all wormer. We use Drontal products (available in Plus for dogs, Puppy suspension and Cat tablets).
Frequency
This varies with the lifestyle of the animal. We recommend:
- Puppies: every 2 weeks until 3 months old then every 1 month until 6 months
- Adult dogs: every 3 months for life.
- Kittens: at both kitten vaccinations and neutering (9, 12 and 18 weeks)
- Adult cats: every 3 months for life. For cats that do not go outside, do not hunt and are not fed raw pet foods, they may not need regular repeat worming. We recommend worming, at the very least, once each year at their comprehensive annual examination.
Prevention
- Use effective flea control (as flea tapeworm can be transmitted by ingesting fleas).
- Clean away faeces (in litter trays and in the park).
- Avoid feeding offal or unsterilised pet food (meat which is fit for human consumption is free from parasites and is fine to feed raw).
- Worm your pets regularly with an effective medication at the right dose (based on weight).