Hookworms

With the wet weather around at the moment, we have seen an increase in the amount of dogs affected by intestinal worms. In particular, hookworms are taking their toll with quite a few fatalities in young puppies.

Signs of Hookworms
The life cycle of hookworms is relatively short, meaning a puppy can start to experience the effects 1–2 weeks after infection. Signs of hookworm infestation include, weakness, depression, dull hair coats and they can be underweight with pot bellies. They can also have vomiting and pasty or bloody diarrhoea.

If left untreated, puppies can die very quickly from blood loss and anaemia. If it reaches a critical stage, puppies require a blood transfusion in hospital to recover.

Prevention
Wormers are only as good as the active ingredients and only work if given correctly. Supermarket wormers often use old ingredients, to which worms have become resistant, and they do not always have good quality control, meaning the concentration of active ingredients is not always the same. Prevention with a worming tablet or paste is much cheaper than a stay in hospital.

Worming schedule for puppies
First worming at 10 days old, then every 2 weeks until they are 3-months old.

From 3 months they should be wormed every month until 6 months.

From 6 months onwards they should be wormed every 3 months unless the medication you are using is also preventing heartworm.

Any prevention medication for heartworm should strictly be given monthly.

If you wish to discuss which worming regime would be best for your pet, or have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the clinic on (07) 4956 1897.