Approach 1 Give a anti-parasitic drug every month to kill all types of worm whether or not one has worms.
Approach 2. Check to see if the animal has worms. If not end of story. If they have select the wormer that is designed for that type of worm not a broad spectrum, kills anything drug..
Pros and Cons
Pros of first approach
Can be cheaper if wormers are needed.
More profitable if you sell the medication!?
Cons
More drugs released into the environment.
More likely to get drug resistance if overusing pharmaceuticals
Potential side affects avoided
I believe that in general the more we can avoid chemicals, drugs, vaccines and the like the healthier we are and of course the same applies to our furry companions. I obviously would recommend you go with option 2.
Worms are NOT common in modern pets fed ‘normal’ foods whether commercial dried kibble which is hyper heated, home cooked, canned or even raw.
Raw foods are generally frozen which kills any worms they might contain and as it is human grade, inspected meat they should not contain any before freezing.
Most worms are picked up when the pet is out and about from soil, snails and such like and also occasionally from eating a flea.
So how can you reduce this small risk.
- Feed a diet that keeps them fit and healthy. The odd worm is a natural phenomenon which animals are designed to cope with, it may even be beneficial. Studies show raw fed dogs are much LESS likely to have worms than kibble fed ones for example.
- Test for worms every few months perhaps particularly in the warmer months when there are more about. I recommend every 3 months but you may find less often is fine if your dog/cats lifestyle mean you never find any. Remember to include lungworm in dogs it is a slightly different test.
- Give a herbal intestinal hygiene product such as Verm-X which is a herbalist and vet formulated combination of herbs for all species of pets, horses and livestock. You can find many other herbs and natural products as well including. Garlic, Dichotomous earth and ground pumpkin seeds as well as foods that mechanically scrub out worms grass eating and giving hairy rabbit ears! Nature thought of all the answers long before man cam along and disturbed the way of things.
- Good flea control – comb, shampoo and use repellants to reduce this risk as far as you can see the Flea and Tick article
What if you find worms?
If just a low number are found try verm-x etc above may be fine. If you find Lungworm I recommend a weeks course of Fenbenazole (Panacur) Tapeworms need another tablet but not a broad spectrum wormer.
If you buy a worm count kit from us we will advice when we see the results.
Now I suspect more and more of you are taking a rational approach and sales of wormers and other parasite controls decreasing as the veterinary profession are being “educated” about the perceived risk by big pharma
A What is the risk has been setup by Boehringer-Ingelheim and they are telling us and you should read this page.
They pay for research such as Wormwatch which has found Toxocara eggs in soil samples in parks. Check your dogs poop regularly and then worm if he has works but just use a narrow spectrum wormer that treats for toxocara only.
