Worms are a constant threat to you and to your pet.  Tapeworms, Hookworms, Roundworms and Whipworms are commonly seen in dogs and cats.  Approximately 10,000 children are infected with round worms per year in the United States (more than 700 of these cases affect the child's eyes).

Worm infection usually occurs when your pet ingests eggs or infective first stage larvae.   These eggs hatch and larval stages of the worms migrate through tissue leaving small tracts (scars).  In some tissues, the migration of one larvae may be detrimental to the health of your pet.  The adult worm usually takes up residence in the intestines and begins to produce eggs which are shed in the feces. These eggs are now available for re-infection of your pet or in some cases infection of you or your children.

Clinical signs of worm infection are weight loss, poor hair coat, and diarrhea, although, many infected pets show no clinical signs.  This is due to low numbers of adult worms, prepatent period of the worm life cycle and the exceptional nutrition most of our pets receive.

Worm infection is diagnosed via observation of eggs within feces (fecal exam).  Especially in puppies and kittens, fecal exams may be falsely negative.  Fecal accuracy is affected by prepatent periods, intermittent egg shedding, low egg counts and poor or decomposed fecal samples.  For this reason and due to the risk that these worms pose to humans (especially children) the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that all puppies and kittens be dewormed at least once.

We recommend all puppies, kittens and animals new to your household be dewormed.  In addition, we recommend that indoor-outdoor pets and pets that live in households with children be dewormed once per year.  Fecal exams are also important because the monitor the efficacy of our dewormimg treatment and also screen for parasites not covered by the deworming medication, such as giardia and coccidia.  (Giardia is also infectious to humans)

Several deworming programs are available for your pet.  The choice of program depends upon what type of pet is being dewormed and what types of parasites are (or could be) present.  In most cases, once per year deworming is adequate.  When animals with heavy parasite burdens are dewormed, it is normal to see worms in the feces.  This is not the case in animals with light (subclinical) infestations.  There are usually no side effects to deworming programs.

If you have any questions about your pet's risk or your current deworming treatment, feel free to ask your veterinarian.