PUPPIES

When should puppies be dewormed?

Puppies should receive their first dose of dewormer at two weeks of age to kill the worms prior to their ability to
shed eggs. For heavily infested kennels, deworming should be done again at 4 weeks and 6 weeks and at every
vaccination (every three weeks) thereafter until they are a year old. For lightly or non-infested kennels, deworm at
6 weeks of age and then at every other vaccination until they go to their new homes. Once in their new homes,
deworming needs to be done at every vaccination until a year of age. Adult dogs should be dewormed every three to
four months if their monthly heartworm preventative does not include a dewormer.

When should a puppy be tested for heartworms?

There are two ways to test for heartworms. One is the laboratory tests, the other is a microscopic test. The
laboratory test checks the presence of adult heartworms. It takes four months from the time of infection until the
infecting heartworm larvae develops into an adult. Even if the puppy was infected the day of birth. IT IS
IMPOSSIBLE I repeat IMPOSSIBLE for this test to detect anything prior to four months of age. In fact pratically
speaking it takes 5-7 months from the time of infection until the test can detect the infection. The microscopic test
looks for the microfilaria in the bloodstream. It takes at least 7 months from the time of infection for the
microfilaria to be born from the adults and appear in the bloodstream. Again, assuming the pup was infected at a
day of age it would be seven months old before this test could detect an infection. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for the
microscopic test to detect microfilaria prior to seven months of age.

It is also impossible for pups to be infected in utero from a heartworm positive bitch. Adult heartworms give birth to
microfilaria which float around in the blood. A mosquito bites the dog, gets some blood and picks up a microfilaria
or two. The microfilaria develop in the mosquito into larvae. It is this larval stage and this larval stage ONLY that
can infect a dog. Microfilaria cannot infect a dog and so microfilaria in a bitch can NOT cause an heartworm
infection in the puppies. The mosquito is an absolutely required part of the life cycle.

So, the earliest a puppy can be infected is day one of life. The earliest the laboratory test can detect the presence of
adult heartworms is at minimum four months of ages (when the infecting larva become adults) and practically 5 to
7 months of age. The earliest the microscopic test can detect microfilaria is 7 months of age.

Therefore, any vet that tests puppies younger than 4 months via the laboratory test and prior to 7 months via the
microscopic test is WASTING TIME AND MONEY!!! Even if the pup is infected the available test will not detect it!
Thus, all that is required legally and in the profession to prescribe heartworm prevention to a pup less than 6
months old is that that pup be a patient of the prescribing veterinary clinic. A pup / dog older 6 months needs a
negative heartworm test within the past year as well as being a patient of the prescribing veterinary clinic to get a
prescription for heartworm prevention. Who fills this prescription (just as in human medicine) can be the
prescribing veterinary clinic (as most do) or any other seller of the product (ie pharmacy, veterinary supply
company, etc).

ADULT DOGS

I have heard that some people take their dog off of Heartworm Preventative in the winter. Is this a good idea?

It solely depends on where you live. Heartworms require mosquitoes to be spread. If you live in an area where
winters are substantial enough to eliminate all mosquitoes than there is no need to give Heatrtworm preventative
during these winter months. It is best to give preventative one month past the last mosquito and one month prior to
the emergence of the first mosquito. If, however, you live in an area like me where winters are not cold enough
consistently enough to kill off all the mosquitoes than it is best not to stop during the winter for the dogs are still
at risk from an infected mosquito bite periodically throughout the winter. If you have any questions it is best to
consult your veterinarian but make sure he or she has recent information about the spread of heartworms -- it is
ever-growing in size.

What are tapeworms?

Anytime you discuss worms things get a little gross, so I apologize ahead of time. Tapeworms are long, flat worms
that are segmented. They remind me of ticket rolls you see at the fair where there is a continuous roll made up of
many, many tickets that can be broken off to become individual tickets. Likewise, the segments of the tapeworm
can break off to become individual egg sacs. Tapeworms live in the intestines and, in the domestic species, cause
little or no damage to the animal. Most owners become aware of a tapeworm infestation by seeing the broken off
egg sacs coming out of the anus of their pet moving like an inch worm -- elongating and contracting. These eggs
are consumed by fleas. The larvae develop in the fleas and when the pet eats a flea it becomes infected with
tapeworms. The flea is ABSOLUTELY essential for the tapeworm life cycle. So, kill the fleas and you stop
tapeworms. Tapeworms can also be treated with praziquantel which is extremely efficaceous and safe. Tapeworms
CANNOT be treated with routine dewormers.

Do you have any information on the new heartworm preventative -- Moxidectin?

Moxidectin is the newest member of the avermectin drug family of which ivermectin is the best known.
Moxidectin's claim to fame is its ability to kill Stronglye larvae whose migration prediposes horses to colic. In
dogs it will act very similarly to ivermectin as a monthly heartworm preventative. The dog formulation is called
Pro-Heart.

I have heard a lot about the new flea preventative products, would you please discuss them.

Fleas have been a nuisance since time began. They can also cause severe disease in very young or feeble animals
and also to the allergic animal. Until just recently, we only had chemicals to kill the fleas once they were there, but
that was too late because the fleas had already bitten the animal. Fleas were also hard to control because the adults
on the animals comprise less than 10% of the total flea population. The first revolutionary product was leufenuron
known as Program. This product acted to prevent flea reproduction -- wiping out the "other" 90% of the flea
population. The primary drawback to this product was the need for the flea to bite the animal in order to be affected.
For the flea allergic dog, this was not an acceptable treatment on its own. But in combination with a dip or long-
acting spray, Program can be completely effective. Then came Advanatge and Frontline/TopSpot. These drugs are
applied to the skin, are absorbed into the hair follicles, spread all over the skin, and are put into the hair itself. The
hair itself becomes toxic to the flea. Now all the flea has to do is touch the hair on the pet or on the floor to be killed.
No need for the pet to be bitten before the chemical will act. The drug is specific for the insect, so very, very low
toxicity to pets and their families. And these products last a month for Advantage and up to three months for
Frontline/TopSpot. Now you can keep fleas off your pet and keep your pet from being bitten for a least a month.
These drugs have revolutionized the war on fleas.

I help a dog that was a hit and run. She had to have surgery. No, she has flatworms this is expensive surgery, and
I'm poor as dirt. So I got the pill enmex pyrantell-pam oate. and gave her this according to weight on sun the 9th.
She pooped again to day as everyday and I still see them was that the wrong kind of pill. Should I try a different
one? Also will my min pin cachet them. He has never had worms. I also gave it to him just in case the pill. What
should I do as I've spent a lot of moneys on the stray dog?

The worms that you decribe are probably tape worms. They are not affected by the pyrantel pill. In order to kill
them you need to get medicine from your veterinarian. Dogs can only get tapeworms by eating a flea. If you have
good flea control then it is highly unlikely that your dog will get the tapeworms. It is possible however so I would
keep an eye on his poop to see if he has any worms. Usually one treatment will take care of the problem provided
you are controlling the fleas. I hope this information helps and please feel free to email me if I can be of further
assistance.

If you think your puppy has tape worms, how can you tell for sure? If so, can humans contract tape worm from their
puppy?

The best way to check for tape worms is to see them. They look like little rice kernels and periodically come out of
the dog's anus. People cannot get tapeworms from dogs. In fact, dogs cannot get tapeworms from dogs. The ONLY
way to get the common tapeworm is to eat a flea. Tapeworms require an intermediate host (the common tapeworm it
is the flea, in more uncommon tapeworms it is small rodents, rabbits, etc) Thus, tapeworms HAVE to have a flea to
be in before they can be infective to dogs and cats. It has been reported but is very rare for people to get tapeworms
from fleas. To do so one would have to eat a flea. Treatment for tapeworms is very effective and involves a
medication for the tapeworms and flea control.

Dogs and HookWorms. How do you treat them and prevent them? I took my dog to the vet and he said he has a bad
case of hook worms. He told me to give him worm medicine once a week for 3 weeks, as well as give my other dogs
worm medicine as well. He also told me to treat the areas where the dogs have been relieving themselves by
keeping the dogs out of the area and sprinkling salt over the over and let it set for about a week and hose it into the
ground. What has me concerned is he said that we can get these worms as well. My dogs do occasionally go in the
house...like at night while we are sleeping. My concern is for my kids. How big of and ordeal is this? Am I over
reacting? I want to do everything possible to get rid of them in my dog and prevent my other dogs from getting them
as well as protect my family.

Hookworms are a serious matter especially in young puppies. These nasty worms cut the lining of the intestine
making it bleed. Unfortunately, they cut much more than they need to in order to survive making the infested dog
essentially bleed out in the intestine. I would definitely treat all the dogs with the dewormer. The salt on the ground
I hadn't heard before but it makes sense. Dog hookworms do not infect the intestines of people but they do cause a
disease called cutaneous larval migrans and visceral larval migrans. Essentially the hookworm larvae burrow into
the skin and (a) stay in the skin causing an itchy, bothersome reaction or (b) migrate thru the skin to internal
organs and cause disease there. It is my understanding that these two disease processes are not typical but are not
uncommon either. The larvae come from the eggs which are shed in the feces of affected dogs. Unless the dogs
defecated in the house and it wasn't cleaned up (which is not likely) them there is very little chance that the larvae
would be present in the house. I would recommend no barefeet outside in the area where the dogs defecate. I would
follow your vet's advice about treatment and for prevention you can give hookworm dewormer monthly (such as is
in heartworm preventatives).

I have researched and answered these questions to the best of my ability. But I am human and make mistakes. If
there is any part of my answer that you feel is incorrect, please let me know. The last thing I want is to disseminate
false or incorrect information.

This article has been reproduced here with the

permission and courtesy Rachel Peeples, DVM

rpeeples@planters.net <mailto:rpeeples@planters.net>

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