How often to other members worm their adult dogs (excluding heartworms)? I generally do my dogs once a year with drontal tablets which I get from the vet. However, I have just read a book that says no dog should be wormed unless they actually have worms <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
"No worm medication is completely without risk, and using it carelessly is foolish"

Any comments please?

Gwen

I worm my adult dogs once a month. With Nemex II. It is one of the milder wormers. I have found with my dogs living in exercise yards. They almost always have worms. So I try to stay ahead of it.

Worming requirements depend on the amount of dogs you have, yard surface, climate, the kinds of parasites problematic in your area and a few other things like what they are fed and how they are worked.
I worm 4 times a year because of the amount of travelling we do, the amount of other dogs my dogs are exposed to and because they eat some wild
meat(beaver). Pet dogs that spend a lot of their time indoors would not need this much I don't think. I use Strongid-T(same as nemex) for puppies and nursing bitches and use fenbendazole
(Safe-Guard,Panacur) for everyone else as it is a good broad spectrum wormer which gets most kinds of parasites but not all types of tape. If I see evidence of tape I use Drontal(which is a broad spectrum wormer) or Droncit which gets only tapeworm. You can use Scolaban for tape which is cheaper but does not get as many tapeworm varieties. A thing to keep in mind is that dogs that are working hard and under more stress might need a different worming program than the indoor couch spud dog.
Safe-Guard and Panacur are the same thing but Safe-Guard is way cheaper and doesn't need a prescription.

I usually worm everyone anytime I get in a new dog. In my case that works out to be about yearly. Panacur once daily for 5 days. Works on giardia as well as rounds, hooks, etc. Doesn't work on tapes or coccidia.

Giardia is pretty much endemic in most areas, and it's easy for a stressed animal to get it again and again, so I use the panacur. I don't have much of a problem with coccidia in adults, or with tapes so I don't work on those parasites very often.

Anna

I only have 2 dogs - Blue my GSD and Sadie my Gt Dane X. Both dogs are house dogs.

Blue is my constant companion he comes everywhere with me. Sadie is very dog aggressive (to anything except GSD's) so she has virtually no contact with other dogs.(That's a looooong story)

I have never seen any evidence of worms when clearing up the garden ( which I do daily) so I would think that the once yearly treatment sounds about O.K.

Thanks all for your comments

Gwen

My dogs are on yearly heartworm prevention using Interceptor which will also take care of the other little nasty parasites with the exception of tape worms. If I would see the tape worm segments (but haven't in years) I would first use Panacur once a day for three days (this only gets one type of tape) and if I continued to see segments; I would then use Drontal and or Dronsit.
If I notice a change in stool; I always take a sample to the vet for a fecal to determine just what if any the problem is.

My foster dogs are immediately given Panacur for three days upon arrival. If they continue to have runny/milky stool then I place them on Albon for 7-10 days and Imodium A/D. The isolation kennel is desinfected twice daily. Thick layers of newspapers line the "potty" area on the rubber matted floor. New comers are only walked in a specific area for elimination to avoid contamination to other dogs.

I give my dogs Heartgard Plus during the mosquito season (June 1st-November 1st), which also controls roundworm and hookworm.

I don't worm any of my adult dogs.

A nice natural wormer for dogs is raw pumpkin seeds. I sometimes grind them up and put them in the dogs food. My dogs are also on HG plus so that also helps.

i was told by gsd breeder to worm your pups at 2,3,4,6,and 8 weeks. i use pyran50,same thing as nemex but about atenth the cost.for heartworm ivomec, its acattle wormerinjectible tis the exact same thing as one of thepills you get from the vet i think its heartguardplus. for pups under ayear you giveivomec.27%,its apig injectablewormer .it only costs about10.00 a year for alarge dog.the adults you give 1.c.c. for100lbs.you need the needle to get it out of the bottle,then you take theneedle off and squirtit in the back of the mouth once a month. ivermectrin only kills heartworms. you can also use zimectrin a horse wormer same as the above,its cheapbut i don<t know how to dose. i paid 250.00to give proheart6 to 5 gsds when iasked the vet why i couldn,t use questgel a horse wormer same ingredient moxidectin,she said that it was what she use on her dogs,but she refused to tell me to how to dose it.you squirt it the mouth every month.it cost14.00 if anyone knows how to dose these will you please tell me. willsomebody please tell me thebest flea killer there is? i have been fighting them for about 2 months.i just can,t seem to kill them out. i have a 5 acre facility.