My dog has rice-like worms & seeds. How to treat all pets & yard?

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Bella has the tapeworm from the fleas. You need to treat her for the fleas with a good preventative, I recommend Comfortis, Bravecto or the Seresto collar. You need to treat ALL the animals in the house hold. Below is a link to a dewormer that gets tape worms. I wish you and Bella the best! https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3464

It is easy to catch tape worm. Even if your dogs are treated against fleas, there sometimes is a live infected flea hopping on and before it dies, your dog may eat it while grooming and so get infected. It is not a big problem for the dog but rather more for us, since it is gross when the proglottids crawl out. I suggest you worm your other dog as well (you need a wormer that has praziquantel as an ingredient). If the diarrhea does not go away within two days, feed boiled white rice and boiled white boneless chicken meat for a few days, then transition back into their regular food. If the diarrhea does not subside after the bland diet, then you should have your dogs seen by a vet.

Great question! You are correct that Sassy could have tapeworms based on your description. Tapeworms require praziquantel to treat, which is available by prescription only from your vet. The OTC deworming treatments won't have that medication in it, so that's why it isn't working. I would have Sassy seen by a vet tomorrow to get Drontal (it contains praziquantel). It is an excellent deworming treatment, and also kills roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms in addition to tapeworms. Sassy will need another Drontal two weeks after the first treatment to kill all the tapeworms, and then she should receive it every three months. I hope this helps!

From that description, it sounds like he may have tape worms. The heartworm test doesn't test for tapeworms (or any intestinal parasites) and the medication is heartgard wouldn't kill tapeworms. A fecal test doesn't always show the worm eggs either for this particular type of parasite. I'd recommend giving your clinic a call to see what they policies are - you may be able to pick up medications from the description alone, or they many need you to schedule an appointment. Finally, make sure Buddy is on a good flea preventative -- he got the tapeworms from eating a flea. He could definitely have just found it outside, but it's worth mentioning!

Please do not feed garlic to your dog, it can cause blood disease in dogs! Here are instructions for flea prevention: Unfortunately fleas only hop on the body of your pet when they want to feed, then they hop off again and stay in your pet's environment. So you need to treat all pets in the household as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Spot-ons and/or chews Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi (Advocate in the UK) Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Simparica, Nexgard Revolution (stronghold in the UK) Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well)

The dewormer i usually recommend is called Drontal plus, bear in mind that unlike the flea/tick products, dewormers do not protect your dog from future infestation, it only kills the worms on spot. for fleas and ticks i usually recommend Bravecto tablet or Advantix spot on. all these medications are considered to be high quality and safe.

Unfortunately fleas do not live on the dog, but only hop on to feed and then they hop off and stay in his environment (your apartment!) until it is time to feed again. So you need to treat all pets in the household as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly (which you have done already) 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Spot-ons: Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Nexgard Revolution Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well) House spray: Indoorex