How often to worm
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busters mum
Super Boxer
oooohhhhh, yes I see it now. I told you all I was a technophobe and hopeless with this kind of thing! doh!
JulieM
Boxer Insane
I agree. Worming, however, is not preventive medicine. Worming is *treatment* - it does not prevent the dog from getting worms, it treats the worms the dog may have gotten. (Heartworm medicine is the same.)
If one were giving, say, garlic or ground pumpkin seeds on a regular basis to stave off a worm infestation, *that* would be considered preventive, much like calcium for strong bones.
Seriously?
Heartworm medicine does not prevent heartworms???
Also confused that my vet gave Ava interceptor. His claim was it would kill worms, prevent reinfestatiom and prevent heartworm.
Of course that is what I THOUGHT I heard him say.
I will definately be checking into that as I agree to not treat something unless you have it.
Heartworm medicine does not prevent heartworms???
Also confused that my vet gave Ava interceptor. His claim was it would kill worms, prevent reinfestatiom and prevent heartworm.
Of course that is what I THOUGHT I heard him say.
I will definately be checking into that as I agree to not treat something unless you have it.
Thomas Liggin
Boxer Insane
This is the first I've heard of giving worm medicine just in case.
We always bring in a stool sample when we go to the vets. But for one instance with Ava, they have always been negative.
During Ava's third round of shots, they found coccicidia in her stool. Coccidia is found in puddles or small pools that have had bird droppings deposited in them, or puddles formed when rainwater carries bird droppings into a puddle. When a dog drinks from this water, the coccidia enter their body. They can also get it from their routine cleaning of paws that have been contaminated from walking on droppings.
As I understand it, Coccidia only poses a threat to very small puppies, or other animals. It leads to diarrhea which will quickly dehydrate a small puppy. The aforementioned only applies to animals with normally functioning immune systems.
While our vet felt that Ava was of sufficient size to deal with them on her own, she prescribed "birth control" pills for the worms so they wouldn't multiply.
Once a dog has had coccidia it will not contract them again even if it drinks contaminated water. It's immune system will fight them off before they get a foothold. Like measles and mumps in children, once they have had the disease, they will be immune to it unless their immune system is compromised.
But in the case of tapeworms, pinworms and whipworms as well as others, a pill today will not provide protection after the meds have been eliminated from the body. To my knowledge, most if not all treatments are some form of poison which kills the worms.
I'd be reluctant to put poison in my dog's system to protect against a rare problem. We've had several dogs in our lifetime and Ava is the only one that has had worms. Technically, I don't think coccidia is a worm, but I might be wrong.
One more thought, worms don't pose the same threat as parvo, distemper or rabies. It would take a long time for worms to do serious damage to a dog. You would notice changes in him long before then. If your dog seemed to be losing weight despite eating normally, or there were changes in his stools, in most cases worms are quickly treated, and the dog recovers quickly.
Tom
We always bring in a stool sample when we go to the vets. But for one instance with Ava, they have always been negative.
During Ava's third round of shots, they found coccicidia in her stool. Coccidia is found in puddles or small pools that have had bird droppings deposited in them, or puddles formed when rainwater carries bird droppings into a puddle. When a dog drinks from this water, the coccidia enter their body. They can also get it from their routine cleaning of paws that have been contaminated from walking on droppings.
As I understand it, Coccidia only poses a threat to very small puppies, or other animals. It leads to diarrhea which will quickly dehydrate a small puppy. The aforementioned only applies to animals with normally functioning immune systems.
While our vet felt that Ava was of sufficient size to deal with them on her own, she prescribed "birth control" pills for the worms so they wouldn't multiply.
Once a dog has had coccidia it will not contract them again even if it drinks contaminated water. It's immune system will fight them off before they get a foothold. Like measles and mumps in children, once they have had the disease, they will be immune to it unless their immune system is compromised.
But in the case of tapeworms, pinworms and whipworms as well as others, a pill today will not provide protection after the meds have been eliminated from the body. To my knowledge, most if not all treatments are some form of poison which kills the worms.
I'd be reluctant to put poison in my dog's system to protect against a rare problem. We've had several dogs in our lifetime and Ava is the only one that has had worms. Technically, I don't think coccidia is a worm, but I might be wrong.
One more thought, worms don't pose the same threat as parvo, distemper or rabies. It would take a long time for worms to do serious damage to a dog. You would notice changes in him long before then. If your dog seemed to be losing weight despite eating normally, or there were changes in his stools, in most cases worms are quickly treated, and the dog recovers quickly.
Tom
Tulsa-Dan
Your Friendly Moderator
I think you misunderstood the post. Heartworm MEDICINE is different than heartworm preventative. If the dog is infected with heartworm the MEDICINE is what gets rid of them. She was saying that giving the medicine as a preventative is useless as a PREVENTATIVE.
Products such as Interceptor and Heartguard are PREVENTATIVES and will protect your dog from infection during heartworm season or in regions where heartworm is a big problem. For these reasons I give the preventative to my dogs in mosquitoe season only as a PREVENTATIVE (Interceptor). I don't give them heartworm MEDICATION which would rid them of an already contracted case of heartworm as a PREVENTATIVE.
Hope that is more clear now.
Thomas Liggin
Boxer Insane
As a result of this discussion, I had to check out the box containing the Heartgard pills we give Indy and Ava on a monthly basis.
It states that it will treat and control ascarid and hookworm infections in dogs. Do tapeworms, pinworms and whipworms fall into the category of acarids? Ok, consult the dictionary. Ascarid are any of the roundworm family. More research to see if the tapes, pins, and whip are part of the roundworm group. See nematode.
Included under nematode are hookworm, roundworm and pinworm. That's interesting, learn something new every day.
To further complicate matters however, the heartworm preventives such as Interceptor and Heartgard do not treat heartworms. In fact, you should not give a dog that has been determined to have heartworms any of the preventives.
In another thread discussing heartworms I learned much about them. The interesting thing is that a dog carrying the microfilaria, (the offspring of a heartworm) is not threatened by them. In fact, the microfilaria will die if they remain in the dogs body. They can live in the dog's body for up to a year and a half, then will die.
They do not develop to heartworms in the dog. A mosquito will draw some in with comtaminated blood. They will go through two or three stages of development inside the mosquito, then they are ready to be returned to a dog's body where they go through another two or three stages inside the tissue, at which point they will enter the bloodstream and attach themselves inside not only the heart but some other organs as well. There, they reproduce, putting the microfilaria into the bloodstream.
The next interesting thing is that the mosquito does not inject them into the body through its snout. At this stage of their development they are found in the saliva of the mosquito. When the mosquito withdraws its tube, they must find the tiny hole left behind in order to gain access to the body. Once the saliva dries they are dead.
The odds are definitely stacked against them. But so are the odds of a sperm finding the ova to fertilize it. And we know how frequently that happens.
The presence of the microfilaria indicates the presence of adult heartworms, since they are not deposited into the body by a mosquito. Their life cycle takes them through three hosts.
Tom
It states that it will treat and control ascarid and hookworm infections in dogs. Do tapeworms, pinworms and whipworms fall into the category of acarids? Ok, consult the dictionary. Ascarid are any of the roundworm family. More research to see if the tapes, pins, and whip are part of the roundworm group. See nematode.
Included under nematode are hookworm, roundworm and pinworm. That's interesting, learn something new every day.
To further complicate matters however, the heartworm preventives such as Interceptor and Heartgard do not treat heartworms. In fact, you should not give a dog that has been determined to have heartworms any of the preventives.
In another thread discussing heartworms I learned much about them. The interesting thing is that a dog carrying the microfilaria, (the offspring of a heartworm) is not threatened by them. In fact, the microfilaria will die if they remain in the dogs body. They can live in the dog's body for up to a year and a half, then will die.
They do not develop to heartworms in the dog. A mosquito will draw some in with comtaminated blood. They will go through two or three stages of development inside the mosquito, then they are ready to be returned to a dog's body where they go through another two or three stages inside the tissue, at which point they will enter the bloodstream and attach themselves inside not only the heart but some other organs as well. There, they reproduce, putting the microfilaria into the bloodstream.
The next interesting thing is that the mosquito does not inject them into the body through its snout. At this stage of their development they are found in the saliva of the mosquito. When the mosquito withdraws its tube, they must find the tiny hole left behind in order to gain access to the body. Once the saliva dries they are dead.
The odds are definitely stacked against them. But so are the odds of a sperm finding the ova to fertilize it. And we know how frequently that happens.
The presence of the microfilaria indicates the presence of adult heartworms, since they are not deposited into the body by a mosquito. Their life cycle takes them through three hosts.
Tom
JulieM
Boxer Insane
Actually, I meant the other thing.
Heartworm medicine (often called preventive) does not prevent the heartworms from infecting the dog. It treats them if they do - it kills the microfilarae before they can mature to the adult stage. Now, I suppose you could say that it prevents heartworm maturation - but it does not prevent infection as most people probably think.Tom, I thought the opposite was the case? Heartworm "preventives" do treat heartworms, you don't give them to a dog who has tested positive because it would kill the adult worms too quickly and cause possible damage?
I'll have to see if I can find where I read that....
True - and this development inside the mosquito is temperature-dependent. It can take 14-30 days, depending on 24-hour temperature minimums (80F for 14 days, 64F for 30 days). In areas where it dips below 57F in any consecutive 30-day period, development does not happen.
Lots of information on this at www.heartwormsociety.org (temperature considerations are under AHS Guidelines, maybe now it's called Veterinary Guidelines, in the section called Epidemiology).
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