Worming of adult dogs

by Danny Seymore
(Heber Springs,Arkansas,United States)

First of all thank you very much for your time Dr. Per. I give my dog a heartworm medication (Heartgard) 8 months a year here in Arkansas. I need to know if he should have some other worm medication for other worms, and how often? Thank you very much.

My Comment:

Hi Danny

I had a look on the medical sheet for Hartgard Plus. I can see that apart from protection from the hartworm (D. Immitis) it is efficient against Canine roundworms (T. Canis, T. Leoninal) and Hookworms (A. Caninum, U. Stenocephala and A. Brazilienze)

Hartgard is not efficient against all the tapeworms (Taenia spp, Ecihinococcus spp, Mesocestoides spp) and whipworms (Tricuris vulpis)

So, I don’t know how often dogs gets tapeworms in Arkansas, but this is one group of parasites you should be aware of.

In Sweden tapeworms in dogs are not frequent seen, but this can differs a lot from one spot to another and from one country to another.

Try to see if you can ask someone about this where you live.

In general I prefer to give medication against worms based on feces sample to see if treatment is necessary or not.

This too, can vary a lot from country to country but recently we are much more careful in Sweden only to recommend use of deworming tablets only if the patient is diagnosed worm positive.

Many of the medications are also efficient against the worms in the soil. And the nature don't like too many worming medicine passing true the dog, coming out via the faces or urine, killing all the “natural worms”.

So I would use the medication as seldom as possible and only if needed.

All the best and nicer to hear from you again

Per Schonbeck