Doggies, Pussycats, do you regularly worm your pet?

Every dog ​​or cat owner has certainly met the concept of worming ...

Every owner of a dog or cat has certainly encountered the concept of worming. Worming your dog and cat should be a natural part of taking care of your pets. By deworming the animal deprives internal intestinal parasites (roundworms, tapeworms), which endanger not only animals but also humans. Unwormed dog or cat is especially dangerous for children whose immune system can not handle parasites as an adult. The aim of deworming is to destroy the parasites present in the intestine and thus prevent the excretion of their eggs by droppings into the surrounding environment.

Why deworm?

Deworming protects you and your family from parasites, as some of the parasites are also transmissible to humans (roundworm, cat roundworm, some types of tapeworms). This is especially important when there are small children in the home who can easily get infected when playing with an animal. Infection with parasites in animals is initially inconspicuous, often without symptoms. Dogs and cats may show weight loss, poor coat, diarrhea, anorexia, impaired immunity and organ damage. The eggs of parasites are almost everywhere. They are excreted in large quantities and are microscopic in size, invisible to the naked eye, very resistant to the outside (they also survive in undesirable climatic conditions). Adult parasites in faeces or vomit are rarely observed. Eggs of parasites are not secreted regularly and therefore we do not always have to find them in the droppings sample. Small samples of faeces collected for several days are always examined and the sample must be kept refrigerated until examination.

Human infection by parasites is initially asymptomatic, the diagnosis (detection of disease) of parasitic diseases is complex due to different stages of parasite development and diverse (nonspecific) symptoms (anorexia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, anemia, allergic manifestations, cough, migraine, depression) and a negative result may not indicate absence of disease.

What parasites do we worm?

Roundworms (Toxocara, Ancylostoma, Trichuris, Uncinaria)

Roundworms are the most common internal parasite of dogs and cats. The roundworms are infected by the animal already in the mother's body, or immediately after the birth of milk, and throughout its lifetime it is endangered by parasite eggs everywhere, in an environment contaminated by feces. Roundworms are about 10 cm long round worms, which in adulthood are found in the intestine, but until larvae can wander throughout the body.

Tapeworm (Taenia, Echinococcus, Dipilidium)

Tapeworms are a common dog parasite. They are found in the small intestine, in adulthood they have 1-500cm depending on the species. The eggs are released into the environment via droppings. To develop them, an intermediate host such as a flea or hare is needed. The dog is infected by ingestion of an intermediate host.

In dogs and cats, other parasites, such as giardia, coccidia, toxoplasm (a dangerous disease for pregnant women transmitted by fecal faeces) are rarely observed.

How often to worm?

First of all, it should be remembered that worming alone is a one-off operation. The deworming agent acts only on adult parasites in the intestine and only for 24 hours. For this reason, worming should be repeated regularly. Deworming intervals are derived from the parasite development cycle and ensure maximum protection of the animal and its surroundings.

Almost every puppy and kitten is attacked by internal parasites essentially after birth. Parasites infect it during pregnancy or are infected immediately after birth with breast milk. Worming should therefore not be underestimated but started from the very beginning of life. Deworming is one of the first actions you will meet with a veterinarian.

Worming is one of the basic preconditions for animal care. This is why some deworming medicines are also available without a prescription (Pratel, Drontal, Zantel) and can be purchased from a prescription pharmacy or from your veterinarian.

How to worm?

There is a wide range of deworming products on the market. You can choose pastes, syrups, pills and spot on preparations (so-called drops). Especially combination products have proved to be excellent, most of which are prescription-bound, so it is advisable to undergo deworming with a veterinarian. For better efficacy, it is recommended to alternate preparations with different compositions to avoid the possible resistance of parasites to the active substance.

Deworming tablets

There are countless deworming tablets on the market. Many differ only by name, some by the amount of the active substance, or even by the composition. The dosage of deworming medicines depends primarily on the weight of the dewormed animal, but also on age. In general, it is recommended to give a higher dose, the animal's weight being rounded up. However, there are now tablets for 2 kg, 10 kg, 18 kg, 25 kg and 35 kg, and so dosing is more or less tailor-made. Tablets are suitable for older animals and larger puppies, for which it is no problem to swallow the tablet from time to time. Care should be taken when selecting tablets for cats. Not all dog tablets are suitable for cats. For cats there are special cat pills for an average weight of 4 kg (Drontal for cats, Prazimec C).

Worming syrup

Suspensions are designed for the youngest age category, for puppies. Syrup (Drontal junior) can be accurately dosed even for the smallest animals and its application by syringe straight into the papule is easy.

Deworming paste

It is suitable for dogs and cats, which for various reasons is difficult to administer a tablet. Flavored versions are also available for large fabricators. They are eg. Banminth, Vitaminthe, Panacur.

Spot on

They are a suitable alternative for deworming for cats (Profender, Advocate, Stronghold), the advantage is their easy application. In dogs (Advocate, Stronghold) they are used because of their broader spectrum of action, often to replace other preparations. Spot on is applied directly to the skin at the withers, the animal must not bathe two days before and after application. The disadvantage is the higher price of the preparations.

Injectable worming

Worming by injection (Bancid-praziquantel) is also possible directly from the veterinarian. The advantage is easy application and wide spectrum of effect. It is mainly used in cats. The disadvantage is an unpleasant injection for the animal and the stress of visiting the vet.

Natural medicine

Some of the breeders still have worming of garlic. It is generally not recommended to rely on this form of prevention. It is certainly advisable to worm the animal once in a while with tablets.

Composition of deworming preparations

Recommendation PrimaVet.sk

Various suspensions and pastes are suitable for deworming puppies and kittens. Later, tablets or paste can be used. Accurate dosing does not play such a role and it is generally recommended to give a higher dose of the preparation. For animals that cannot be agreed upon on a pill, a worm in the form of spot on is ideally applied to the skin. Alternatively, worming can also be used as an injection when visiting a veterinarian.

The information on this page is not a substitute for the instructions for use or substitutes for a doctor. Read the package leaflet carefully before taking the medicine.