My puppy has worms :-S

[marmilla]

Tonight I was cleaning up an accident from my puppy (3 months old mini dachshund) and I noticed worms in his stool. I am a biology nerd, but worms give me the creepies! I've never had to deal with them personally because my parents always took care of it (I want my mommy!). I looked through some of the old threads here, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for, so sorry if any of this is a repeat

-Aside from the obvious (avoiding skin contact with puppy's stools) are there any other precautions I should take for my health and the puppy's?

-Can I get the deworming meds from the vet without a visit? He was just in for shots, but no worms then . I read that the over the counter ones aren't as good as the vet ones.

-What should I expect once I do get the deworming meds? I heard that he will poo a lot, so should I keep him in the kitchen to avoid poo everywhere or is it not that bad?

If you have any other words of advice please post them

[HappyDancer]

my vet charges very very little for deworming...she charges 15 for it and they do it there...I have never used the over the counter ones though...I know some one with alot more knowledge then me will be by to help though

good luck with the puppy

[DorkyChantelle]

With Gidget, we took her for a visit with the vet. He did a deworm there and then gave us the rest of the bottle to do at home on a regular schedule (dosage and schedule changed as she got older/heavier). I don't know what the typical experience is but Gidget never pooped excessively and we didn't have to keep her in one area. She's always been good about going in one spot though, if your puppy has less control and isn't quite trained yet, it might be different. Good luck!

Edit: Oh, and Gidget LOVED the deworming medicine. I dunno what flavor it was (it was yellow like 'banana medicine') but she just went crazy for it, lol. They should make all pet medicine taste like that.

[Dragonrain]

When my parent's dog had worms, we were just able to bring in a stool sample for the vet to test to see what type of worms she had - we didn't actually have to bring her in.

[Vanilla_Rat]

My current foster had worms.He didn't have to go into the vet either.I had to collect a stool sample and have that brought in.Then I was given 7 pills (I think it was Sentinal - sp?) and fortunatly it was no problem giing them to him,as he had to have them all at once.

He did poop anymore then usual,but I did notice after a couple days or so,there were no more nasty worms (that I could see) in his stool and the frequent coughing he had,has went away.He does still cough alot,but nothing like it was.

He actually has a vet appiontment today.But anyway call your vet and ask them.They may just ask you to bring in a stool sample and then give you meds.Worms are quite common in puppies.

[Padfoot]

Yup, with a stool sample, as fresh as possible, they can determine what type of parasite he has, and give you the correct medicine.

The problem with the OTC stuff is that it is for a specific type of worms (tapeworms, if I'm not mistaken), so if your puppy doesn't has tapeworms, but other type of parasite (like hookworms or whipworms) then the OTC stuff won't work.

In a month or 2, when you start giving them the heartworm preventive, those pills also protect them from some of the intestinal parasites.

[marmilla]

I'm pretty sure he has tapeworm. I looked up some pictures online and a couple of text books and it matched. I'm going to get ahold of the vet today and see what he wants to do. I can't wait to start preventative stuff on him. I guess where I live heartworms are an issue, so I don't let him outside right now. It makes potty training interesting. Right now I'm having him use wee pads. I will try to get some pictures of the little fella for everyone. He likes to run around a lot so it's hard to catch him! He's a really nice guy aside from the wormies :O