My dog's worm medicine failed. Can I give a different dewormer now?

Hi there. Short, flat worms that you can see in the stool are tapeworms. Over-the-counter dewormers will not get rid of these, so you'll need to get a prescription dewormer from your vet to treat them effectively :)

It depends on the type of worm, if any, your pet has. Some dewormers tear for a lot of parasites, such as Fenbendazole, while other only treat for a few, such as Pyrantle Palmloate. I wish we could help but in order to point you in the right direction your pet needs to have a fecal examination first to determine what intestinal parasite is present and then the appropriate dewormer can be recommended. Perhaps a local low cost clinic or even a local humane society may be able to help do a fecal exam for Shiloh and get you on he right track towards proper treatment. Also here are some financial resources that may be able to help you afford treatment for him: Redrover.org Carecredit.com

Hello. There have been some reports of drug resistance with tapeworms. I would talk to your vet about either upping the dose of the praziquantel or trying an alternate drug called epsiprantal. And make sure your vet sees a stool sample containing the tapeworm segments just to make sure there is not something else going on. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It could be that Roscoe has tapeworms, which requires praziquantel to treat. I'd see if the deworming medication you gave him contains praziquantel; if it does not, that's why he's still pooping out the worms. Drontal is an excellent deworming medication that contains praziquantel, and you can get it from your vet. Give him a dose as soon as you get it, then another in two weeks to kill all the worms. If the medication does contain praziquantel, give him another dose of the deworming treatment two weeks after the first. Because of the life cycle of intestinal worms, two treatments given two weeks apart are needed to kill all the worms. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

If the dewormer you are using does not indicate that it treats tapeworms then it probably does not. Tapeworms segments look like pieces of rice so if that is what you are seeing then she probably has tapeworms. If you are seeing long worms that look like spaghetti then she probably has roundworms. Dogs get tapeworms from eating fleas so if she has tapeworms that means she has or had a flea problem. Since I don't know the exact medications that you are using, it is difficult to know if they can be given together. You could re-post with both medications and then we may be better able to answer the question. You could also take a stool sample to your vet and have it tested for parasites so you know the exact parasite that she has.

If they look like grains of rice it could be tapeworms which can be contracted from fleas. It could also be he is gotten reinfected if the eggs of the previous worms are in his environment such as in the backyard. There are over-the-counter flea medications that will take care of various intestinal parasites including tapeworms. However he should also be on a routine flea preventative to prevent re-infections.

No, it would be highly unlikely to see worms in every stool. Worms only pass through the stool intermittently, just as they only shed their eggs intermittently. Be sure that the deworming medication that you purchased is appropriate for the type of worms that are present. If Diamond's worms resemble spaghetti, they are likely roundworms, whereas if they resemble grains of rice, they are likely tapeworms. Tapeworms can be a bit trickier to treat and will likely require prescription based dewormers from your vet. As fair warning, if Diamond has a large burden of worms, she may vomit or have diarrhea with worms present, but this is usually short-lived. I hope that all goes well!