My dog has worms. What's the safest and most effective treatment?

If all of the pets have parasites, respiratory infections, or ate cigarettes, it is best to seek veterinary care for them right away. They could be transferring the infections and parasites back and forth, and tobacco products can be toxic if ingested. They may also need additional care from your vet including antibiotics to treat the infection.

Intestinal worms need to be killed. There is no alternative or natural remedy that kills worms. The easiest and safest way to do that is to use a worming medication that does exactly that. If dosed properly according to the weight of the animal, worming medications will only affect the worms and will not affect the animal. There are some exceptions: Ivermectin should not be used in collies and other dogs with MDR1 defect. However, there are many safe alternatives to ivermectin and in general all other wormers are safe and effective.

If your dog is sick three hours after giving the worming treatment, this should be sufficient time for the worming treatment to be absorbed. To err on the side of caution, if your dog is known to be infested with worms, it might be a good idea to re-treat him in a week's time with a different product. I'm not sure which product you are currently using, but I recommend using Drontal. You can get a Drontal tablet from your vet. If that doesn't make him sick, you can use it as your regular worming treatment.

No, please do not give Champ garlic. Garlic is toxic to dogs, and even small amounts can cause toxicity in the form of anemia. The reason why OTC dewormers didn't work to treat the tapeworms is because they don't contain the medication needed to treat them. Praziquantel is required to treat tapeworms, and that is available by prescription only. I would have Champ seen by your vet to get Drontal, which is an excellent deworming treatment and kills tapeworms.

Round worms are usually treated with pyrantel pamoate which can be used in dogs of all ages. Using a monthly heartworm prevention, like Heartgard, would protect your dogs from heartworms and intestinal parasites so you should talk to your vet about starting Heartgard every month.

Hello. There are wormers available over the counter that will take care of tapeworms. Make sure the product contains the ingredient praziquantel, or you can pick up SafeGuard canine wormer at Petco. If you want to be sure of what you might be seeing befors giving Poppy any wormer, you can always take a fecal sample to your vet for analysis. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Those look like they are probably roundworms. She would have gotten them from coming into contact with infective eggs in the soil most likely. (From where another dog pooped and that poop contained roundworm eggs, then your dog was nosing around near where that was (even if there was no obvious poop on the ground, the eggs will stay in the soil). It is not a result of the food. You can get effective roundworm treatment over the counter. Look for a pyrantel product and follow the label instructions. Feed stores will generally carry it. Something like this: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/pfizer-nemex-2-pyrantel-pamoate-oral-liquid-2-oz?cm_vc=-10005 Be sure to follow the label instructions. Also, ideally take a stool sample in to your vet so they can do a fecal exam and determine if any other parasites are present. Thanks for asking PetCoach!