Deworming At Home Is Cheaper And Easy
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Getting your dog dewormed properly is one of the most important things a dog parent can do. Whether you get them as a puppy, a rescue with a questionable history, or pick your dog up off the street (!), deworming them provides some major benefits.
Your dog is healthier. Intestinal parasites damage the cells and lining of the intestinal walls causing intermittent or regular diarrhea. Not only is this gross, but it also causes your dog to not absorb the nutrients in their food as well as they should.
The Humans Are Safer. This is especially true for children and older adults with immune system issues. Dog parasites that are dropped into the soil of your yard can live on for a very long time. If your kids run barefoot through the yard, they can actually pick up parasites like hookworms through their feet. Check out this article from a few years back about how someone picked up hookworms just from walking on the beach!
But I can’t see any worms in my dog’s poop!
Exactly!! The majority of the time you can’t see the worms. The adults worms either live inside of your dog or you can’t see the eggs that they lay in the stool. Deworming takes the guessing out of the picture.
What Do I Use To Deworm?
If you’re doing a general dewormer, the best one to do is Fenbendazole. This gets all the major intestinal worms (hookworms, roundworms, whipworms) as well as Giardia.
The best deworming product on the market (the one that I always recommend) is Panacur. A 3-day course is good for most dogs, but if you see any worms in the stool after a deworming (they usually look like spaghetti), repeat the course of Panacur 3 weeks after you finish the first course.
Panacur Yellow Label Box (affiliate link) - 1 gm per packet ; Each packet treats one 10 lb dog
Panacur Green Label Box (affiliate link) - 2 gm = Each packet treats one 20 lb dog
Panacur Orange Label Box (affiliate link) - 4 gm = Each packet treats one 40 lb dog
Note that you may need to get two or more different boxes to equal the amount of powder needed to treat your dog. For instance, if you have a 50-lb dog, you need one yellow 1 gm box and one orange 4 gm box. You’ll give one packet from each box once daily (mix it with some water first to make a paste and pour it onto your dog’s food) for 3 days.
If there’s ever any question about whether your dog has parasites, or you are having diarrhea issues with your dog, please contact your regular veterinarian.
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