Everyone is a bit squeamish about worms. The thought of the dog having them is less than appetising. The thought of us humans having them makes most peoples skin crawl. Drug manufacturers play on this sense of ‘yuck’ to sell worming treatments for dogs. Fear sells product, of course. 

Adult dogs and Worms

Most adult dogs don’t have worms, and it’s not because most dogs are wormed (over-wormed, actually). It’s because Mother Nature has got it covered. She made us and our dogs develop immunity when we’re young so that we’re more resistant to worm infection when we grow up. Genius. 

At my practice, we use Mother Nature to our advantage. I ask clients to send a stool sample every 3-6 months to wormcount.com for testing. 19 out of 20 of them come back clear. You need to collect poos for three days running. We have to pick up anyway, so we might as well put it to some good use!

Sometimes we see Fox Lungworm (that we’d otherwise be none the wiser), a critter called Crenosoma. It only causes a mild cough in some dogs. It is not in the slightest bit dangerous. It’s exotic French cousin, Angyostrongylus, is the nasty one. It’s not common, but you need to know if you’ve got it. Wormcount.com test for it. Job done. 

If you find Angyostrongylus vasorum worms, French Lungworm, talk to your vet. I use fenbendazole liquid daily for 3-7d, usually. 

Puppies and Worms 

Worming bitches in the last part of pregnancy to avoid mum passing worms to the pups is a waste of time. It makes no difference to bitch-pup transmission. If you’re concerned, the time to worm her is after whelping. Worm puppies from about 4w of age. You can either use drugs, your vet will help you with this, or you can use the natural methods we’re going to describe below. 

Pups are traditionally wormed with drugs every 2w or so until they are 12w and then monthly until six months of age. 

You can use natural methods with pups, including worm count testing, but it’s a little more tricky and should be done in conjunction with a holistic or herb vet for the safety of the pups. 

Natural Worming Products

There are quite a few about. I’ve only had experience with Verm-X. It is not a licenced product. Therefore it is not described as a wormer. However, I’m very happy using it in conjunction with faecal egg counts. It’s essential to use both product and test in combination. Again, I think using herbs will reduce total lifetime load of pharmaceuticals. 

Summary

Prevention is better than cure where parasites are concerned, but if we can use herbal or strategic testing to reduce our dogs’ exposure to potentially toxic drugs, I think this is an excellent choice for everyone’s health. For alternative worming treatments for dogs.