Worms in puppies
A puppy brings a lot of life into your home! You are busy raising your puppy, choosing the right puppy food, and need various puppy supplies such as toys, food and water bowls, and a comfortable basket. Additionally, it is very important to deworm your puppy. Pharmacy4pets offers a wide range of worm paste, worm tablets, and neck pipettes, so you can find the right product for deworming your puppy. We also explain how often you should deworm your puppy.
How often should I deworm a puppy?
Puppies can already be infected with worms in the womb and through the mother's milk and therefore need to be dewormed more often than adult dogs.
The recommended deworming schedule for puppies is:
- At two, four, six, and eight weeks of age, and then once a month until the puppy is six months old.
When the puppy is six months old, the deworming schedule for adult dogs can be followed. How often an adult dog should be dewormed and which product is suitable depends, among other things, on where you live or go on vacation, whether your dog hunts, and what kind of food he eats. At Pharmacy4pets, we can of course also advise you on the deworming of dogs of all ages.
If you are not sure whether your puppy was dewormed according to the recommended schedule by the breeder, it is certainly advisable to deworm your puppy upon arrival at your home and again two weeks later, after which the usual schedule can be followed.
Deworming for puppies
Important in choosing a worm treatment for puppies is the weight of your puppy. For very young puppies or puppies of small breeds, a worm paste is often most suitable. For older puppies or puppies of large breeds, a tablet is more practical. For older puppies that go outside, the choice of product also depends on which worms are present in the environment. In areas where heartworm or certain tapeworms occur, it is important to choose a product that works against these worms.
Worm paste and suspension for puppies
Especially for very young puppies, worm paste is most suitable. The paste can be given directly into the mouth or mixed with food. As with all worm treatments, it is important to give your puppy the correct dosage. Worm pastes have a handy adjustable ring or dosage scheme in centimeters on the packaging. Examples of suitable worm pastes for puppies are Banminth and Flubenol. Drontal Suspension is also very easy to administer due to its liquid form. Panacur PetPaste kills not only worms but also the giardia parasite.
Worm tablets for puppies
Worm tablets such as Milbenin and Milbemax are very suitable for use in slightly larger puppies (from the time they eat solid food and weigh more than 1 kg) and also work against heart and tapeworm. Because they are tasty, most puppies eat them like a treat!
Worm pipettes for puppies
From six weeks of age, you can also choose a pipette (drop on the neck) such as Stronghold to deworm your puppy. In addition to worms, these spot-on products also tackle fleas, lice, and (ear) mites. Stronghold is only available with a prescription from your veterinarian.
Symptoms of a worm infection in puppies
It is often thought that worms must be seen in the stool or vomit during a worm infection. And that can indeed happen, but often a puppy only excretes worm eggs which are not visible to the naked eye. So very often you do not notice anything about your puppy when he has worms! A more severe worm infection does lead to symptoms in your puppy. Possible signs of worms in puppies are:
- Distended abdomen (the well-known 'worm belly').
- Diarrhea, possibly with blood in the stool.
- Stunted growth or weight loss.
- Dull, protruding coat.
- 'Spaghetti strands' (roundworms) or 'rice grains' (tapeworm) in the stool or vomit.
- Vomiting.
- Coughing, shortness of breath, heart rhythm disturbances (heart and lungworm).
- Itching at the anus (tapeworm).
- Anemia (pale, lethargic, rapid heartbeat, and breathing).
Even if you do not notice anything about your puppy, it is still important to deworm him according to the schedule. He can still have worms without you noticing. Some worms are also contagious to humans, especially to small children or pregnant women. Regular deworming of your puppy is therefore very important because prevention is better than cure! If you have any questions about worms in your puppy or other products from Pharmacy4Pets, please contact us.
