Worming Advice from New Lodge Vets
Worming Advice
We recommend that you worm your pet regularly not only to protect your pet but also to prevent potential spread to humans, especially children. Here at New Lodge Veterinary Centre, we have specific guidelines to ensure your pet remains worm free.
Please speak to a member of staff about a tailored worming regime for your pet, and ask us about worming reminders to help keep that on track. Most of our worming products require that your pet is under our care for us to provide them for you.
We use our expert knowledge of worms and our wide range of effective products together with your pet’s lifestyle to provide you and your pet with the best most efficacious treatment regime.
Dog Worming
Even healthy dogs can be infected with worms. It is usually impossible to tell if they have a small number of worms unless a faecal worm egg count is performed. However, if left to multiply, a heavy worm infestation can cause sickness, diarrhoea, weight loss and possibly peritonitis. Infections with one gut parasite can lead them open to infections with others which may require extensive treatments to eradicate. Some worms can even cause lung damage and internal bleeding.
It is therefore important to treat your dog to get rid of any worms it may have picked up on a regular basis. Adult dogs should be wormed at least every 3 months depending on their lifestyle, which will influence which products are used and when.
The dosage for the worming treatments prescribed by our vet is based on the current weight of your dog. Our qualified nurses run free weight and worm clinics to check your dog’s weight and make sure they are receiving the correct dose, and to allow the scales to become a place of cuddles and treats for good behaviour.
The worms we treat against are:
- Roundworm
- Tapeworm
- Lungworm
- Whipworm
- Heartworm
Roundworms are zoonotic which means they can be transmitted to humans. Worm eggs can survive in the environment for up to 2 years and that is why it is so important to pick up your dog’s faeces from the ground. If your dog has fleas, then as well as treating for fleas you should also treat your dog for tapeworms. This is because the flea carries the tapeworm which your dog can eat causing an infestation. There are several different sorts of worms that can infect your dog.
The most common species of roundworm can also infect people (Zoonotic). Children are the most likely to be infected and once the worms spread throughout the body, they can affect the eyes and cause blindness. Round worms are small, thin and spaghetti like.
Tapeworms are pale in colour and have flat segments that can look like a grain of rice. Dogs get tapeworms by swallowing fleas whilst they groom themselves or eating Carron.
Lungworm is a parasite carried by slugs and snails and dogs can become infected if they eat a slug or snail either by accident or on purpose. Lungworm requires specific tailored worming, please ask us for advice.
As Bitches can carry a worm burden which they infect Puppies with via the placenta and also their milk for the first few days after birth. We recommend that all puppies should be wormed at 2, 5 and 8 weeks including after weaning. We then recommend they are wormed every month until 6 months old.
Cat Worming
Current guidelines from the British Small Animal Veterinary Association recommend worming your adult cat every 3 months for both tapeworms (most commonly Dipylidium) and round worms. However, if your cat is a big hunter (mice, birds, slugs etc…), it is recommended to worm monthly to eliminate tapeworm infestation. Fleas are also carriers of tapeworm eggs so flea treatment and worming should always be done in tandem. Cats can also be infected with lungworm.
Kittens can have roundworms (Toxocara cati) from as young as 6 weeks of age passed to them via their mums milk. Roundworm infection in kittens causes lethargy, bloating, diarrhoea and weight loss. This type of roundworm can also infect people and children are particularly at risk. A regular worming regime tailored to your kitten’s needs and lifestyle will help protect the health of your kitten and family and reduce contamination of the environment. We recommend worming your kitten at 6, 9 and 12 weeks of age.
There are several different ways of worming cats other than tablets, newer products can treat both tape and round worms in a “spot on” formulation. You can also treat for worms and fleas with the same spot on product. Please ask us for detail. As with a dog, it’s important to know a cat’s weight when worming them so the correct dose of product can be administered. Our qualified nurses run free weight and worm clinics to check your cat’s weight. To make sure they are receiving the correct dose, and to allow us to treatment for you, if you would find that easier than pilling them at home.
Worming Indoor Pets
Indoor pets also need to be wormed regularly. All puppies and kittens have a supply of immature worms within their tissues which they contract from their mother. In times of stress or illness, these immature stages become active creating a worm burden.
Pregnancy & Worming
We would recommend that bitches are wormed before they are pregnant and then ideally from day 40 of pregnancy with a specialised wormer, and until 2 days after whelping.
All new born kittens and puppies also need to be wormed as they may have contracted worms via the placenta and their mum’s milk.
Worming Rabbits
Rabbits need to be wormed once yearly for round worms, as do all new arrivals.