Thread: Deworming my dog

Hello all,

I have been a dog owner for about 5 months, and have never owned a dog before Chloe. About 5 days ago I found white, spaghetti worms slithering around in her poo. She has been having runny poo for about a week, and they just now started to show in it. She matched all the symptoms of a typical round worm problem including lack of apatite, runny poo, lack of energy, weight loss, and finally, the white, spaghetti-like nasties crawling around in her runny poo.

I purchased Petco-brand round worm killer and started her on it about 3 days ago. She has recovered her energy, and most of her appatite. She also has much more firm poo, but that may be because I have put her on a solid food-only diet to try and firm things up.

Here is the thing I am worried about - there are still live worms crawling around in her poo. She has recovered from most all of her symptoms, but it still concerns me that I am still seeing live worms. Should these things be dead three days after the 1st dose of medicine? In 6 days she will get another dose of the stuff as per the directions, and maybe that will kill the little trouble makers.

I feel so bad for her. She has been exiled from the house and into the back yard all day on the tether, and at night she is put into the garage. We have children and I don't want them to get the worms, so that is why I am segregating her from the family. She isn't getting the attention she needs because, again, I don't want my children getting the eggs on them when they play with her or go near her area.

Thank you for your input.

Ask your vet. The over-the-counter dewormers don't work as well as the vet meds. Plus, most OTC product only take care of roundworms, and it might not be roundworms bothering your dog (pinworms, hookworms, etc.). Depending on where you live (anywhere with mosquitoes), your dog should be on monthly heartworm prevention anyway, and most heartworm products contain a general dewormer, too, and that will keep her free of any nasties.

I have been away at a marriage retreat this weekend and was not able to examine her poo until our walk this evening. I saw no worms in it and I was very happy. It was still not super firm, but it is worm free. I will be monitoring her for the next day or so.

I spoke to the vet on the phone. She was prescribed Panacur, but I am hesitant to give it to her since I don't see any further evidence of worms. She is full of energy now. I went on a 2-mile skateboard run/walk with her and she wasn't even close to tired.

Before I allow her back to her former life, I want to wait another day or so to see if anymore worms will show up. I just don't want the worm eggs on my carpet for my children to pick up.

Any further advice? I intend to have her on a preventative medicine from here on out, too.

I would still do the Panacur. It is a broad spectrum dewormer and will take care of any other types of worms that you can't see.

Just for clarity, she is an approximately 8-year old mixed breed dog. I rescued her from the pound because she had been taken back twice and was on death row. She certainly has her issues (lots of them). Quite a first dog. 85 pounds of pain in the a**. But I love her so much.