[CawMama]

I'm not sure if there is a wormer I can use every month or something? He was treated a month ago for hookworm and Coccidia, but noticed yesterday that he has tiny white worms all over in his poop. Also, rubbing his butt again on the carpet....that's great with a baby who is about to start crawling! LOL

Any suggestions?

:

 

[NiteNicole]

This probably means he also has worms.

You need to go to the vet and have him treated, and then get on a montly preventative.

Good luck!

 

[EdlynsMom]

Little white worms in her poop (kinda look like maggots) are probably tapeworms which come from the dog ingesting a flea that is carrying the worms. There are meds you can get to get rid of the worms in your dog (ask your vet, or maybe someone else here can tell you how to get them cheaper), after that you need to consider putting your dog on Advantage or Frontline so that fleas are no longer an issue. Vaccum often to get all the flea eggs off the carpet. Tape worms are usually a minor problem, as long as they dont get out of hand. The fact that you say your dog "has worms constantly" worries me though. Where does he spend most of his time? Are fleas a big problem where you are?
Hookworms can be transmitted to humans, btw.

 

[thekimballs]

Dogs have several types of worms, and they're not all treatable with the same medication. Roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms often require totally different meds. It sounds like he has tapeworm now, which would not have been killed by the same medication as he took for the hookworm or for the coccidia. Tapeworm often indicates a flea infestation. Treat the fleas and get special tapeworm medication from your vet.

Monthly wormers (like Heartgard plus) only treat roundworms.

 

[CawMama]

Ugh! He is on monthly Heartguard, and he STILL got roundworms. We live in a swampy area w/lots of mosquitos and lots of bunnies. I think he's picking some up from animal feces. I called the vet, she wants me to bring a stool sample in....said it could be tapeworm like one of the pp's mentioned. But I thought tapeworms looked sort of like a flat rubber band. I don't know. I'll have to have his poo checked.

He's a nasty boy dog, always into eating carcasses and gross swampy things!

 

[thekimballs]

Tapeworms reproduce by splitting egg-filled segments off of their bodies. The segments look like moving grains of rice, or like little flatworms. The whole (long) worm is still inside the dog.

Tapeworms come from eating fleas, usually--can you keep him from going into the swamp?

 

[shannon0218]

Tapes also come from eating mice or bunnies or other wildlife.
Heartguard alone does nothing for roundworms, you need Heartguard plus for rounds. Personally I'm not fond of the monthly wormers that are included with heartworm meds--they tend to be at a much lower dose than is actually needed if there is an infestation. Also, hookworm often needs to be treated for a fairly long time--like 6 mos until you're actually clear (I've seen hooks in stool, also whips and they may be what you're descibing)
I would definitely take the sample in and then I would request they send it off as well as running it in house. Then deworm with the appropriate doses for the appropriate length of time, don't stop early just because symptoms disappear.

 

[CawMama]

I think I freaked myself out. Took the poo in today to the vet, they found nothing in it. They wanted to give him some wormer anyway, I said "ah, no thanks, if you didn't find anything I won't be worming him". One vet tech said that it's possible that what I saw were fly/maggot larvae on the poo.

Yuck!

 

[shannon0218]

Actually, tape worm does not generally show up on fecal exam. From the sounds of things, I'd worm him for tapes again. Also, one clear fecal does not necessarily mean no worms, it just means no eggs mature enough to see at that moment, I'd do another one in 10-14 days.

 

[thekimballs]

I agree, and this time follow him around and look at fresh poop. Flies generally don't like poop--at least not quickly. If you can see any moving worm-like things on the poop right after it comes out, it's probably tapes. I'm surprised your vet didn't tell you that. Fecal samples are done by blending some poop with very hypertonic water (often water with lots of Epsom salts in it)--the water is heavier than the worm eggs, so any eggs in the poop float to the top and can be seen under a microscope. Works great--for worms that release millions of eggs in poop. Tapes don't do that; they release entire segments and don't mix them in the poop at all. So if you don't pick up an entire segment, tapes can be missed (and often are even when you do grab a whole one, because the tech is going to take only a small amount of poop from the sample you bring and may not see the tapeworm segment).

Whew--now I must go wash my hands.