My dog has worms in his stool. What are the next steps to treat them?

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Yes, certainly sounds like Roxy is passing tapeworms based on your description. The most common tapeworm is flea transmitted like you discuss. There are over the counter medicines and the drug you would want to use is called Praziquantal. It is available under many brand names but that is the drug that we use in the States to treat most tapeworm infections. Good luck with Roxy

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!

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!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. These are tapeworms and they come from your pet ingesting a flea or eating another pets poop that has live tapeworms in it. It is contagious to other pets and people via ingestion of a live worm. You will need tapeworm specific dewormer such as Drontal or Praziquantel to rid this worm and a good flea preventative (Bravecto, Nexgard, Firstshield) is recommended. Usually tapeworms are gone after the first treatment as long as puppy doesn't get reinfected. I hope this is helpful! Take care now.

Oh no. This is a nuisance to deal with for sure. Tapeworms are contagious to people, but it would require ingesting (eating) a live worm to become infective. As long as you clean up the feces and use good hygiene (washing your hands and avoid putting hands in the mouth after touching your pet or any live worms), then you are less likely to infest yourself. Clean up the poop quickly and don’t let your pet around other dogs or cats to avoid transmission until you can get Coco treated. Best wishes and don’t forget to also get Coco on a good flea preventative (ie Bravecto, Nexgard, Simparica, Vectra etc) at your vet to avoid further infection with tapeworms. Take care.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This worm looks like a tapeworm. Cassie should be treated with a deworming medication such as Panacar (fenbendazole) which treats roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms. This treatment is generally once daily for 3 days. Then, this same treatment should be repeated again in 3 weeks, and again in 3 months. This is done to ensure that all lifestages of the worms are treated by the medication. If there are any other pets in the household too, they need to be treated/dewormed too! I hope this is helpful!

If you are seeing worms in Reeko's stool, yes, he should receive a dewormer. If you feel confident in your identification of the parasite, just make sure you are using a product that is capable of killing tape worms. Packaging should indicate what it does and does not cover. Sometimes multiple treatments are required depending upon the level of infestation and clinical signs, if any. If Reeko is clinically ill on top of your findings I would recommend getting him examined due to his advanced age. Hope this helps!