Dr. Stephanie Wolf says the process of ridding your animal of any sort of worms is called deworming. Why do we do this? She says unfortunately worms are all in our environment. Puppies and kittens get them from their mom; it can be on contaminated food or on that dirty disgusting toy your dog buried in the yard last year to save for this year at this time.
What can worms do? Dr. Wolf says they can cause disease in our companion animals and in some cases the worms can actually affect us humans and also cause disease in us.
What do we do? Dr. Wolf says the CDC and a dedicated companion animal parasite counsel has given us some guidelines. First and foremost, talk to your veterinarian especially at the annual appointment. Don’t forget to pack up that stool sample a couple of times a year. She says we have to test for those internal parasites.
Heartworm testing is a once-a-year blood test. That needs to be done as well because parasites are not just located in the intestinal tract.
The guidelines include multiple deworming for our puppies and kittens. You can speak to your veterinarian as to why some have more or fewer worms, and how they are transmitted.
Dr. Wolf says for reference sake, keep them on year-round good quality, multiple type of parasite control that will help keep your family safe and your animals safe.
For more information visit nfveterinarysociety.org
