# Do you deworm?



## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

Odie's due to be dewormed soon. We've been using one Interceptor tablet every three months, as the vet prescribed. I've heard some people say you should only deworm if you have someone that's "high risk" in your home, and some do it only a couple times a year. Our vet told us that they don't even test puppies anymore, because almost 100% of them have worms so they just deworm them all. 

Odie's over a year old now, lives with two indoor cats, and she does go outside and go camping, etc. Sometimes my grandma visits, and I would describe her as very high risk for infection (diabetes, COPD), and Odie sometimes stays with my parents and my dad just beat cancer. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing by deworming her. 

Do you deworm? Why or why not? What do you use and how often?


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## pigeonsheep (Nov 8, 2008)

the only time i personally dewormed of any kind at home was to get rid of dexters tapeworm but other then that hes only gotten it thru his puppy stage


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## Mel's chi's (Jun 2, 2011)

Why would you only use interceptor every 3 months? It is intended to be used monthly...or did I miss understand.? Unless you are seeing worms or they showed up in the fecal, I would see no need to deworm.


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## Maia's Mom (Oct 13, 2011)

My breeder dewormed both of my chi's before they were ready to come home. Then my vet asked for a fecal sample once I brought them home to make sure the deworming my breeder did worked. I haven't dewormed either of them since then. One of my chi's is now a year and one month, and the other is almost 6 months.


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

The Interceptor box does say it's a once-a-month tab, but our vet prescribed it every three months. He said that heartworms actually take about three months to grow, so every month isn't necessary, especially because our temperatures drop low enough that it's not a concern in the winter. He prescribed it because we live in one of only four heartworm endemic areas in Canada (from June until October). Mosquitos can't get enough of our lakes in the summer. This is what the prescription label says:

1 tab every 2 weeks until 3 months, then monthly to six months. For adult animals: 1 tablet every three months. 

If I do give it to her again, I probably won't do it until June. If I don't give it to her, how often should I have her fecal matter tested?


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## ~LS~ (Oct 29, 2011)

I deworm monthly with Sentinel, with the exception of December & January.
And in summer I use Advantage Multi.


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Are you talking about intestinal worms? Or heartworms?

For intestinal parasites, I take in a stool sample once a year. If it's clean, I don't de-worm. Why would I when there's no worms present?

For heartworms, I use heartguard plus every 45 days ONLY during the summer when the temperature is consistently above 59 both day and night. 

I wouldn't worry about your grandma getting infected with anything from your dogs. The only way they would potentially transmit anything would be through the stool. If your grandma's not messing in the dogs poop then all is good.


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## ~LS~ (Oct 29, 2011)

Brodysmom said:


> ... Why would I when there's no worms present?
> ...



I do it as a preventative measure to help minimize the risk of environmental
contamination. My dogs do a lot of exploring and hunting, they also interact
with a lot of other animals both inside and outside my home.


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## PR Punk Skater (Dec 29, 2011)

Brodysmom said:


> For intestinal parasites, I take in a stool sample once a year. If it's clean, I don't de-worm. Why would I when there's no worms present?
> 
> For heartworms, I use heartguard plus every 45 days ONLY during the summer when the temperature is consistently above 59 both day and night.
> 
> I wouldn't worry about your grandma getting infected with anything from your dogs. The only way they would potentially transmit anything would be through the stool. If your grandma's not messing in the dogs poop then all is good.



i live in the tropic so its around 100 on summer and around 80 on winter, should i keep her on heartworm (i use interceptor) year round (im doing it every 45 days)????


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

~LS~ said:


> I do it as a preventative measure to help minimize the risk of environmental
> contamination. My dogs do a lot of exploring and hunting, they also interact
> with a lot of other animals both inside and outside my home.


Everyone has their own tolerance and comfort level. For me the risks outweigh the benefits as I am quite conservative. I don't use insecticides UNLESS there is a problem. No worms? Then they don't need de-wormed. I NEVER use topicals. They are a neurotoxin. There's been too many dogs damaged/harmed/killed because of their use. A healthy immune system is the best defense against parasites. I'd only use a topical in the case of a severe infestation where I had exhausted every avenue. Just google topical flea warnings - ugh, too many risks for me.


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## lulu'smom (Jan 4, 2012)

PR Punk Skater said:


> i live in the tropic so its around 100 on summer and around 80 on winter, should i keep her on heartworm (i use interceptor) year round (im doing it every 45 days)????


I'm like you. I live in the Deep South where the mosquitos can tote you away. I use Interceptor and I try really hard to give monthly, but if I forget absolutely do NOT go over 40-45 days. According to my vet it just takes one mosquito, and I live next to woods where they get bad sometimes.


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## ~LS~ (Oct 29, 2011)

Brodysmom said:


> Everyone has their own tolerance and comfort level. For me the risks outweigh the benefits as I am quite conservative. I don't use insecticides UNLESS there is a problem. No worms? Then they don't need de-wormed. I NEVER use topicals. They are a neurotoxin. There's been too many dogs damaged/harmed/killed because of their use. A healthy immune system is the best defense against parasites. I'd only use a topical in the case of a severe infestation where I had exhausted every avenue. Just google topical flea warnings - ugh, too many risks for me.


As I mentioned earlier I only use topical in summer, it does an amazing job
at repelling mosquitoes and ticks. Rest of the year it's Sentinel, which is an
oral preventive. With all the dogs we had in and out of our home I never
had any negative effects from either one of those brands, knock on wood.
But I have seen worms literally take lives, or other times severely hurt a dog,
or cat, therefore just the thought of them sickens me. Everyone is different,
there are many factors to take into consideration, I do not think every person
should de-worm every month, especially not the people whose Chis are mostly
indoor dogs. But in my case, running a small rescue and having extremely
active dogs that spend most of their day outdoors, it is a must.


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## Jayar (Feb 6, 2012)

We don't do worm/flea prevention for any of our dogs. We will get fecals and blood draws (for heartworm) and treat if necessary. So far, the dogs picked up round worms ONCE when we visited a farm, and other than that we have never needed. We keep the dogs healthy with strong immune (no fleas, ever) and that's that. I don't like the monthlies.

Heartworm isn't even a factor. The dogs don't see mosquitoes living downtown.


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

PR Punk Skater said:


> i live in the tropic so its around 100 on summer and around 80 on winter, should i keep her on heartworm (i use interceptor) year round (im doing it every 45 days)????


Do you have heartworms in puerto rico? If you do, then yes - I would definitely keep her on it every 45 days.

LS - I completely understand when running a rescue. You'll have dogs come in that are very immunosuppressed, infected with who knows what etc. I would protect my own dogs as well in that situation and not take chances.


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## Christabelle (Dec 21, 2011)

PR Punk Skater said:


> i live in the tropic so its around 100 on summer and around 80 on winter, should i keep her on heartworm (i use interceptor) year round (im doing it every 45 days)????


Living in Florida, I also treat every 30-45 days depending on the time of
year. In the winter I extend to 45 days. I use advantage multi
which is good for heartworms, fleas and intestinal parasites ( worms ).
It also comes in a 3-9# dosage which I prefer over the under 25#s.

Due to our tropical climates and high humidity, mosquitos are active
year round which places us in the "High Risk" areas for heartworms so you
should protect year round.


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies! I think I've decided to only use it during the times of the year my region is considered heartworm endemic. Is there a benefit to using a heartworm only medication as opposed to Interceptor, which covers the whole worm dream team? I've never had a problem with a dog getting fleas in this area, thankfully. I don't think it's as common as further south. We do have to watch out for ticks though.


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## theshanman97 (Feb 19, 2012)

I ALWAYS Deworm , I only do this as my mum did withb her dogs (im only 14 and obviously she has more experiences than me ) So i use Johnson's One Dose Easy Worming Tablets in size 1 , they work well  X


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