With many prescription medications for canine worms, it's important to know the types of worms each medication treats. Immediate treatment of the parasitic worms is important. Many parasitic worms will attach to human hosts too. With worms like tapeworms, dogs' feces carry the eggs. If you come into contact with these egg casings, the worms can enter your bloodstream.
How Canine Worms Are Killed
Many medications do not kill the worms immediately. Instead, the wormers cause them to become paralyzed. They eventually exit the body through the feces because they are unable to remain attached to the intestinal walls. Keep your yard clean of dog feces to prevent repeated infestations.
Most Common Canine Worms
The problem with parasitic canine worms is that they drain essential nutrients from a dog's system. By feasting on blood, they cause anemia. In addition, they often clog up the intestinal track causing blockages. If the worm travels to other areas of the body, they can causes blockages that lead to aneurysms. Intestinal parasitic worms include:
- Hookworms
- Roundworms
- Tapeworms
- Whipworms
Heartworms are extremely dangerous. Heartworms are a type of roundworm that focus their attention on the abdominal and chest muscles in their early adulthood and then move to the pulmonary artery. Symptoms rarely show up until the worms are larger and are causing respiratory problems.
Over-the-Counter Dog Worm Medicine
Some cases of canine worms are treated with wormers you can buy from any pet supply store without a prescription. Hookworms remain a leading problem in puppies because they can get them from their mother during pregnancy. You'll see the worms in their feces. Hookworms cause anemia in puppies, so it's important to treat them starting at two weeks of age.
Over-the-counter medications used to treat hookworms and roundworms include:
- D-Worm: Treats hookworms and roundworms
- Nemex-2: Kills hookworms and roundworms
- Pro-Wormer 2: Kills hookworms and roundworms
- SafeGuard Dog Dewormer: Kills hookworms, roundworms, tapeworms and whipworms
- WormXPlus: Treatment for hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms
Prescription Wormer Medications
Prescription dog worm medicine is generally most effective at treating and preventing canine worms. Heartworm medications are important. A simply chew tab once a month prevents dogs from contracting this life threatening disease from infected mosquitoes.
Common prescription dog wormer medications are:
- Advantage Multi: Prevents heartworm, kills intestinal worms and controls flea infestations
- Droncit: Kills tapeworms in dogs older than four weeks of age
- Drontal Plus: Treats dogs' roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms and whipworms
- Heartgard Plus: Treats heartworms and intestinal parasites
- Inceptor: Protects against intestinal worms and heartworm
- Iverhart Max: Kills immature heartworms, adult hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms
- Panacur: Controls infestations of hookworms, roundworms and whipworms
- Revolution: Protects against heartworm, hookworm, roundworm, fleas and ticks
- Sentinel: Kills immature heartworms, adult hookworms, roundworms, whipworms and fleas
- Tri-Heart Plus: Kills immature heartworms and adult hookworms and roundworms
The best way to prevent parasitic worm infestations is by keeping your pet on preventative medications. As a second protective step, keep your yard cleared of animal feces. If your dog has worms, clean up and dispose of the egg-laden feces in the trash. Do not simply move it to another area of your yard. Worms will hatch and live in the soil.