How can I tell if my dog has worms?

How can I tell if my dog has worms?

Worms are rarely passed in faeces. Occasionally tapeworm segments which look like grains of rice may be seen or roundworm which is a long white worm can be found in faeces. Eggs are commonly found in stools but are really too small to see.

Dogs with worms can show outward symptoms such as a pot belly, diarrhoea and poor condition and coat but quite often show no signs at all.  

Using a wormer for dogs is important because although we cannot necessarily see worms, or the results of a worm burden in a dog, we do now that dogs are most often born with worms. Puppies can be infected from mothers milk and all dogs can be infected from worm eggs in the environment. Humans especially children can be affected by dog worms too causing problems which can lead to blindness. We will cover this in a future article but this is one of the reasons why using a good dog wormer such as Drontal for dogs or our own Easimax dog wormer is so important.

How can I tell if my cat has worms?

How can I tell if my cat has worms?

It is quite rare for worms to be passed through faeces, but occasionally a roundworm can be passed, and these will be seen as quite long worms which some people can mistake for tapeworm however this is incorrect as tapeworm will look like grains of rice. As cats are hunters they may acquire other species of tapeworm which may be in long chains- individual flat segments of which may sometimes be passed

The fact is that worms are passed to kittens from their mothers milk so it is generally understood that:

• Cats have worms.
• Cat Wormers only kill the worms present at that time.
• It is important to treat cats for worms regularly.

We would recommend treating with a round worm and tapeworm treatment such as Drontal for Cats every 3 months. But if they are hunters you can treat up to monthly.

How can I tell if my dog or cat has fleas?

How can I tell if my dog or cat has fleas?

Fleas can cause irritation where they bite and can make your cat or dog itchy. So look for signs of excessive grooming, such as licking or scratching. This can lead to sore, red skin which in turn can in turn lead to bald patches; and if the skin has been broken could result in a skin infection. These bald patches are commonly on the back but can appear around their head and belly too.

You can also look for flea droppings, sometimes called flea dirt, by back combing the animals fur. Look for black specks on the coat. You can also moisten some tissue or paper roll and rub this against the pets coat, if this turns red it is likely that they are flea droppings.

You might never see any fleas on your pets coat as they are very quick moving and hard to see, if you are sure that your dog or cat does not have fleas but they have skin irritation or itching they you should see your vet.

With central heating fleas can live in the house all year.

Flea Treatment for dogs:

We have flea treatment for dogs. It is important to remember that tapeworm is carried by fleas so worming is important too. We offer some worm and flea treatment combo packs for dogs .

FleaTreatment for cats:

 We have a great range of flea treatment for cats including combined packs such as Drontal and Advantage worm and flea treatments for cats.

Remember to treat the house:

Household flea sprays include Indorex, Acclaim and Nuvan Staykill. 

My dog does not have fleas!

“My dog does not have fleas”

This was the indignant reaction from my sister in law when I mildly suggested that the collection of bites in the classic ‘flea bite cluster’ on my 3 year old sons leg could have some connection with her own baby, a Bichon Frise, by the name of Harry.

Working daily in the pet industry perhaps I am immune to any stigma attached to parasites on cats and dogs, I really could not understand her reaction, but I did not press the point. She looked mad.

The reality is that when dogs and cats pick fleas up from the environment and other animals they can be tough to shift. Even if the animal has been treated with a suitable flea treatment such as Frontline for Dogs, which apparently Harry had been, the house had not. Bayer the makers of Advantage flea treatment for dogs and cats estimate that 95% of fleas live in the environment with only 5% on the animal at any time. This means that even if the animal has been treated the house could still be full of fleas. While Advantage has some activity in the environment it will not kill fleas throughout the house.

We would recommend using a suitable flea treatment for the house. Examples include Indorex, Acclaim and Nuvan Staykill. 

Cat fleas are particularly hardy so if you have a cat please make sure that you use a suitable flea treatment for cats such as Frontline for Cats or a similar product such as Fipnil.

Because of the link between fleas and tapeworm in cats and dogs we would also suggest using a suitable wormer. I wrote a blog post about that here

For information on insect bites on people including flea bites the NHS have a good information page.

Are egg counts for horses worth it?

We are asked often at Hyperdrug: Are egg counts for horses worth it?

As with all simple questions the answer is often more complicated! While egg counts for horses can be a useful tool to monitor how effective some aspects of worm control are, and can help to safeguard equine health they do not detect all worms. Examples of these worms are tapeworm in horses, pin worms and the small encysted redworm because eggs from these do not appear in the horses dung. These worms are important to treat as when encysted redworms emerge they can cause massive internal bleeding which may lead to death. Pinworms can cause intense irritation and tapeworms are a common cause of colic.

So is there any point in worm egg testing?

An effective way to use testing is for checking how well the horse worming programme is working; this is called a faecal egg reduction test. The dung is tested before worming and then again afterwards. Effective worming should reduce the number of worms found by 95% but what happens if the worms are not reduced by 95%? A common reaction may be that the worms are resistant to the horse wormer, but not necessarily.

Why worming can be ineffective.

Is the horse wormer effective against the worm being treated? For example double dosing with Pyrantel wormers are often used for tapeworm but this only treats one of the three varieties of tapeworm and only kills the adult stages of roundworm so that the eggs and larvae will develop into fresh adult worms in a very short time.

Was the correct dose given and was all of it swallowed? Many horses are under-dosed often because different syringes treat weight ranges from 575 kg to 700kg or the weight of the horse may have been estimated incorrectly. Using a weigh tape is invaluable or the weight can be calculated from the following formula.

Weight in Kg is

CIRCUMFERENCE AT HEART (cm) X CIRCUMFERENCE AT HEART (cm) x LENGTH (cm)

11000 

Under-dosing leads to resistance as those worms left untreated are the “toughies”

which survive to breed more.

Are pinworms resistant to horse wormers?

Again not necessarily !

The problem is often that not enough wormer reaches the rectum where they live. If symptoms of Pinworm are seen (often the irritation causes the horse to rub its posterior against a fence or tree) then the area under the tail should be washed every few days to soothe the area and remove any eggs. Fences, stables etc can be disinfected to reduce chance of re-infection.

To treat a infestation you are advised to use a pyrantel wormer every two 
weeks repeated 4-5 times.

How can Hyperdrug- Home of the Equine Pharmacy Help?

1). Impartial expert advice on worming available by phone 01833 641112, email or our website 

2). Our laboratory provides a testing service and a quick hygienic sampling device.

3). There is a 50% discount on the recommended “follow up” test.

4). We can supply weigh-tapes, disinfectants and horse wormers

The relationship between fleas and worms in dogs and cats

The link between worms and fleas

A lot of pet owners do not realise the link between fleas and worms but it is actually the flea that is the cause of most common tapeworm in both cats and dogs.

While farm and country dogs may have a potential increased risk of exposure to animal carcasses making the need for them to be treated more frequently for tapeworm with either Drontal for dogs or our own Easimax dog wormer no pet can be truly isolated. This means that even cats that are kept indoors can be infected with tapeworm from fleas. 

How it happens

Fleas are not just a nuisance from biting but they are also a carrier of disease. When your dog or cat grooms themselves they can swallow fleas which are intermediate hosts of tapeworm. This means that for part of the tapeworm life cycle they live in the flea and when your cat or dog is grooming they can be swallowing fleas and infecting themselves with tapeworm. 

Dogs are sociable animals and fleas can be passed from animal to animal or even via the environment and we would recommend that Frontline for dogs or another suitable flea treatment for dogs be used. 

We know that cats like to keep themselves clean but this works against them when it comes to tapeworm. Bayer the makers of Drontal for cats, an effective tapeworm control, have estimated that cats can swallow up to half of all fleas on their coat while they are grooming. This number can be reduced by using products such as Frontline for cats or another suitable flea treatment for cats.

What will tapeworm do to my cat or dog?

While some cats and dogs can ‘shuffle’ along the ground as they can have irritation around their bottom caused by tapeworm segments you cannot easily tell if your pet has tapeworm as a lot of cats and dogs show no signs. But this nasty parasite can cause sickness and diarrhoea so tapeworm treatment with a suitable dog wormer or cat wormer is essential.

After the cold snap farmers could be devastated by the warm Spring.

The recent cold weather has crippled some sheep farmers with ewes suffering from abortions while new-born lambs have been unable to get enough milk from their distressed mothers. The length of our winter with heavy snow and blizzards has caused an estimated 10% of stock to be lost on hill farms according to some reports. Farmers have been looking forward to the warmer weather but this could be deadly as it is precisely these changes in temperature from cold to warmer temperature that could trigger nematodirus a parasite which can be devastating for lambs.

Darren Walton farmer and manager of Hyperdrug warns of the dangers.

“Nematodirus is a nasty parasite -- it can stunt growth and can kill a lot of lambs. The key factor can be the weather, for the eggs to hatch they have to be exposed to cold weather and then warmer temperatures of over 10 degrees centigrade. Right now could be perfect conditions.”

Scops which stands for sustainable control of parasites is an organisation that advises on strategy and technique for parasite control has issued some risk factors: 

•     Lambs grazing pasture that carried lambs the previous spring
•     A sudden, late cold snap which is followed by a period of warm weather
•     Lambs that are old enough to be eating significant amounts of grass (6–12 weeks old)
•     Groups where there is also likely to be a challenge from coccidiosis
•     Lambs that are under other stresses e.g. triplets, fostered, on young or older ewes.

The timing of a potential problem will vary from region to region. In the south of England for example, it is likely to occur earlier in April/May; in northern England and Scotland it may be early June.

Any farmers that think their lambs are at risk can treat with white drenches such as Endospec, Albenil or Ovispec all of which also contains selenium and cobalt so are ideal for use in areas where sheep are likely to suffer deficiency in these trace elements. If using Parafend it is suggested that for effective treatment and prevention of nematodirus you dose twice at three weekly intervals. Traditional benzimidazole treatments are also available. Zerofen comes in a 2.5% concentration or for extra value and a lower volume drench containing fenbendazole there is Panacur 10%.