Talking about worms is not a pleasant subject but it is nevertheless a very important topic to explore in order to keep your dog healthy and those that are in close contact with them safe.
There are several internal parasites which can affect our dogs, sometimes with serious health implications and may carry the risk of being passed onto ourselves.
Initially, there are few symptoms that indicate our dog has worms, until there is a growing population when diarrhoea, weight loss, poor condition, irritation of the rectum are noticed. Once these are evident the dog will have reached a high level of infestation, which is something we want to avoid ever happening.
Just the mere thought of our dogs carrying parasites can cause concern for many people and it has become common practise to frequently use drugs, often combined with flea and tick treatments, in order to try and eliminate any parasites.
Anthelmintics is the name given to a group of drugs which are administered specifically to kill or expel parasitic worms. Indiscriminate worming with these drugs every one to three months, when there are no intestinal worms present is costly to your pocket, damaging to the environment and not least counterproductive to the health of your dog and ultimately increases the risk of resistance to wormers.
So what options are available to us if we want to limit the amount of chemicals used but still keep our dogs in good health?
Here we explore the most common worms that dogs can come into contact with and what solutions are available when forming an effective worming programme.
Roundworms:
The most common type of intestinal parasite is the roundworm (Toxocara Canis and Toxascaris leonine). They are white or very light brown in colour and grow up to several inches long.
A large percentage of puppies will be born with round worm larvae in their system which is transferred through the uterus during gestation or via the mother’s milk. Pups with a heavy worm infestation look in poor condition with a distended “pot” belly appearance and will often vomit up large amounts of roundworms which resemble spaghetti. Very heavy worm burdens have the added risk of complications such as an intestinal blockage. Roundworms can easily be passed onto humans and extra hygiene precautions are needed especially when children are handling puppies. It is important to pick up all dog faeces immediately to reduce soil contamination.
Tapeworm:
Tapeworm is the largest of the intestinal worms with multiple segments that attach to the intestinal wall via a sucker on their head piece from which additional segments grow. These segments are regularly shed and appear in the faeces or stuck to the hair under the tail. The tapeworm requires an intermediate host such as a flea or louse, so it is vital to establish a holistic regime where the control of these parasites is also considered.
Hookworms:
Hook worms are particularly unpleasant as they attached themselves to the wall of the small intestine and suck the hosts blood. This can result in severe anaemia which may be fatal in small puppies. Hook worms are transmitted through ingesting contaminated soil and water or via the mother’s milk.
Whip worms:
These are small, thin worms with one enlarged end and if seen in the faeces resemble pieces of string. They live in the large intestine and do not shed eggs continuously, as is the case of roundworm and hookworm. Symptoms include bloody, mucous covered diarrhoea.
Lungworm:
Incidence of Lungworm, such as French heartworm, is on the rise and cases can be found countrywide.
Lungworm needs an intermediate host such as slugs, snails, frogs and foxes but the most common form of lungworm is Crenosoma vulpis (Fox Lungworm) transmitted by the urban fox. If a dog becomes infected with French Heartworm symptoms include exercise intolerance, laboured noisy breathing, coughing and as the condition progresses excessive bleeding even from a tiny wound, weight loss, collapse and seizures. Worryingly some dogs never show any symptoms until they suddenly become extremely ill.
A blog specifically about Lungworn can be found here https://www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk/news/be-lungworm-aware
Giardia:
Puppies as well as adult dogs are often infected with this parasite which can cause severe diarrhoea. It can be present in ponds, streams and puddles which have been contaminated with faeces.
Resistance to chemical worming preparations:
Resistance to chemical wormers has long been recognised as a growing concern in horses, cattle and sheep. According to the British Veterinary Association this is predominately caused by the overuse of wormers as an automatic, preventative method of parasite control. With the overuse of wormers in dogs becoming an issue combined with inaccurate weight measurement therefore affecting the dosage administered, resistance to these drugs is a real possibility in the near future.
Natural preventatives:
Many guardians are keen to take the holistic approach to a worming regime and will incorporate a number of foods or supplements within the dog’s diet. These can be extremely helpful in making the dog more unpalatable to worms and other parasites but should not be relied upon to kill internal parasites should your dog already have a worm burden. Once a clear faecal worm count is achieved then they are a good means of natural prevention. Regular worm counts should still be used to confirm that your chosen natural preventative is working effectively for your particular dog.
Pumpkin seeds:
Ground pumpkin seeds contain an amino acid called Cucurbitacin which is said to immobilise intestinal worms therefore making them easier to pass. As a preventative the dose is one teaspoon of ground seeds per 10lbs of bodyweight once a day. The seeds used can be fresh or dried.
Garlic:
Feeding garlic to dogs always causes concern but it can be useful as a preventative for worms and fleas if given correctly. Freshly crushed garlic that has been allowed to sit for around 10 minutes to active the allicin is more potent, therefore smaller amounts can be fed. It is not advisable to give large amounts of garlic or feed it over long periods of time as this increases the risk of anaemia. It should also be avoided if your dog is on blood thinners and removed from the diet for 2 weeks before and after surgery due to its blood thinning properties. As a general guide a quarter of a clove per 20kg of bodyweight is fed. Due to its very pungent smell and bitter taste it is very unlikely that your dog would eat any more than this small amount in his meals.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE):
Silicon Dioxide, commonly referred to as DE is a dietary supplement fed in powdered form which originates from fossilised water plants called Diatoms. It is believed to act as a natural ‘wormer’ but recent studies suggest that its use is limited. If you use this method, then regular worm counts will confirm if it is effective in your dog. Only use food grade DE and mix with moist food as it can easily be inhaled accidently while your dog is eating.
Herbal “Intestinal Hygiene Control”:
There are a number of companies that offer medicinal herbal products that aim to create an adverse environment in the gut to aid in naturally repelling and assist to expel parasites. They come in the form of a small biscuit type treat or a liquid as provided by Verm-X or in a tincture such as Four Seasons. They are a cost-effective way of natural prevention and are administered as a daily dose for 3 days a week or as with the tincture, one day a month. Higher doses are needed where prevention of Lungworm is concerned.
Faecal Worm Counts:
Using faecal worm counts is an intelligent way of testing which parasites, if any, our dogs are carrying and to what level of infestation. It is also an accurate way to reassure us that our chosen method of worm prevention, be that natural or chemical, is working effectively. We can then make informed choices if in fact our dogs need worming at all, and if so, what product is suited to target that parasite.
A faecal egg count (FEC) is used to count the number of worm eggs in your dogs faeces and the results are shown as “eggs per gram” (epg). This is an indication of how many live adult worms are in the gut.
I have used a faecal worm count service for the last seven years and in that time of sending off regular tests on several dogs, there has only ever been one positive test which was for fox lungworm.
Collecting and sending off a stool sample is easy and does not need a referral from your vet, although some vets do offer an in-house worm count service.
A testing kit can be purchased online and sent to you in the post, you will need a separate kit for each individual dog. You then collect a small sample of your dogs stool into the pot and return in the envelope provided. Results come back very quickly by email or text and you have a printout of the results to keep for your records. All being well there will be “none seen” written in the right-hand column against each parasite tested for. There is also a colour key which ranges from no larvae seen through to high levels noted in the sample.
The Lungworm test is carried out by collecting a small sample of your dogs stools over a period of three days, due to the fact that lungworm intermittently shed larvae. It is essential that in a multi dog household, individual stool samples are kept separate and clearly identified. You need to know which dog produced the sample. This became evident when I tested three of my dogs, who are exercised together in the exact same fields every day and only one tested positive for fox lungworm. Read our blog all about lungworm: https://www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk/news/be-lungworm-aware
Should you get a positive result back and it is decided that a chemical wormer is necessary then it is important to administer a product that targets those specific parasites and that the dog is accurately weighed so the correct dosage is given. Many people guess the weight of their dog and usually under rather than over estimate it. If this happens regularly, then the administered wormer will kill the weak worms leaving the more robust ones to flourish. All vet surgeries and most pet shops have digital scales you can use to establish the accurate weight of your dog.
A company that I have used for many years as they give such a superb service is Wormcount.com.
I asked Michaela Murray from Wormcount.com
How often do you recommend using a faecal worm count test?
It all depends on the risk factors surrounding your dog. If he is an ‘urban’ dog who goes for walks around the streets on a lead and is therefore never more than 3 feet away from you, then you will always know where his nose is! You will know if he has eaten anything such as dog or fox poo or any carrion such as dead birds. These are all carriers of worms. He is a low-risk dog. His worm count interval will largely depend upon previous counts. If he has a clear count, then he may even be able to go as long as 6 months between tests.
If, on the other hand, he is a ‘country, beach or park’ dog who goes ranging off the lead and is therefore into everything, then he is a high-risk dog and you should consider testing him every 2 to 3 months.
It used to depend largely upon where you lived as to how heavy the worm burden was – especially for lungworm species – however, now that more of us take our dogs on holiday with us all over the country, then there is a much greater spread. We have had positive cases of all 5 species of lungworm from all over the UK, even on the islands. There is fox lungworm on the Isle of Wight, The Isle of Man and even Shetland!
Most horse owners are now aware of the problems regarding the resistance to chemical wormers and how important it is to have an appropriate testing and worming programme in place. Have you found a steady increase in dog owners now using the worm count service rather than just automatically worming every 2-3 months or has it been a slow progression?
“When we first started worm counting 20 years ago we worked solely with horse owners. We were asked by them if we tested dogs as many horse owners also own dogs. We had the technology and expertise to test all animals but had been rarely asked to use it. Once we made it known that we would test any animals we were very quickly inundated with all manner of animal poo!”
We do test thousands of dogs every year however, we also have many tortoises, lizards, bunnies, horses, zoo and farm animals as clients.
Many of our owners still conventionally worm and use the screen we offer to check that their programme is working but the vast majority are turning away from automatically worming and are instead worming only when a positive worm screen indicates that it is necessary. They also find the added fat and food screen that we offer within our worm count invaluable for checking that their dogs are digesting their food properly. This is especially important when changing from conventional to raw feeding.
I see that you have added a new kit to test for Giardia, why is this and are faecal samples collected and tested in a different way for this parasite?
We added the gold standard giardia screen to our portfolio of tests as a direct result of requests from clients. There are many ‘home tests’ available on the market but most of these are simply not sensitive enough and some can only guarantee a 70% accuracy. We will only ever use the best possible testing methods for our clients.
The sample we require is taken over one day. If the dog passes faeces more than once in a day then you should take a small piece each time he goes. The sensitivity of our test is so high that it only needs one day’s poo. It works very well in conjunction with our worm egg screen.
Testing for giardia can be either in response to an episode of unexplained diarrhoea or used as an annual check to ensure that all is well as giardiasis (the disease which occurs when giardia species are present) does not always show symptoms and dogs can have recurring bouts.
