My dog scoots, but vet says no worms. Is hair in poop the cause?
Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I think its perfectly feasible to assume that if you are seeing hair in Figlio's poop that this could be causing irritation of his rectum. Often-times the hair gets stuck between sections of the feces, causing them to string together. This causes the poop to kind of hang out a bit, and subsequent scooting. Check his back end to ensure there is no poop there that didn't quite make its way out. I would also recommend keeping hair ties out of his reach here moving forward to prevent this from continuing to be a problem.
Another causes of scooting is an anal gland issue. If you are not seeing any hanging poop then its best to get his anal glands checked and squeezed if they are full. Some dogs have a problem expressing these themselves when they go #2, so they need to have them manually expressed once every 4-6 weeks.
Worm prevention is the same for him as any other pet, so you can go with anything really such as Pyrantel Palmoate, Fenbendazole, etc. However, if he is on a monthly heartworm prevention, it already has an intestinal dewormer in it. And if his stools are otherwise solid, then there is a low chance he has worms.
Best of luck with your fur baby Figlio and I hope that you get to the bottom of his mysterious butt scooting soon! Best wishes and take care. : )
Updated on September 23rd, 2025