How to Get Rid of Dog Worms?

Is your dog vomiting frequently? Or is the dog having diarrhea and a dull coat? If the answer is yes for all of the questions, then your dog might have worms inside or outside of the body. Don’t be panic or nervous. It’s quite normal with dogs because they run everywhere and lick everything. Now you have to be strong as I am here to help you and your lovely dog. I have three dogs: Xinjoo, Beily, and Judy, so I am familiar with dog worm. I will share my experience about how to get rid of dog worms naturally. So, what’s the delay, let’s see.

Firstly you should know what the symptoms are if a dog gets worms. I have listed some symptoms.

Common Symptoms of Dog Worms

Observe your dog, if you found any similar symptoms with the dog, you must be concern about it. Hope your best-friend (dog) hasn’t any of them.

Losing Weight

If the dog loses weight rapidly and gets skinny day by day, then you must pay attention to this point. Your dog may have tapeworm or whipworm.

Low Immune System

Usually, every dog remains energetic and playful all the time if they are healthy. But if your dog is bit lazy and not active like the previous time, then it’s a symptom of having a worm.

Dull or dry coat

Shiny and thick coat represents the healthy life of a dog. However, if your dog’s coat is getting dull, thin and can notice rashes in the skin, then there may be worms with the dog.

Having Cough

If the dog is coughing without affecting by cold, then it must be a hookworm or roundworm.

Diarrhea

Doctors say that a healthy puppy food or dog’s stool should be standard and sometimes it can get sticky or soft for different food habit. In this case, if the dog is having diarrhea without no reason for food and eating then, unfortunately, your dog has worms. Sometimes you can mark blood stools and please don’t be afraid. You should be strong enough to stand by his/her side.

Bloated belly

If your puppy’s belly is bloated without having food, then you must be concerned about intestine worms of dog.

Vomiting

Most of the time affected dogs throw up worms by vomiting. So, you can see Roundworms in your dog’s vomit.

Losing appetite

Dogs lose their appetite while they are infected with worms. Some worms steal blood, and at the same time, some take nutrients. Thus your dog may refuse to eat properly like before. In some cases, a dog may show an abrupt increase in hunger.

Skin soreness or rapid itching

Some dangerous insects can affect the skin of a dog. This type of worm always stick to the dog’s skin and suck blood like a louse. Thus the dog may have irritation and itching all the time. If this symptom matched with your pet, then please do a look in the skin.

How Dogs get Worms?

• Most of the time puppy gets wormed by swallowing mother’s milk.
• Hunting dogs kill animals outside or eat dead animal thus can cause wormed.
• Check your dog’s paw after an outside walk. Some insects attached with the claw to suck blood and spread more insects by their eggs.
• If the dog eats soil or grass, it may be affected by roundworms.
• Liking slugs or snails can also cause worm.

Several types of worms can affect your dog. But I am sharing the most common types of the worm of dogs.

Types of Worms in Dogs

Most of the time dog gets infected by some intestinal worms. Some also infected my dogs. I have done lots of research on it. Let me show you.

Roundworms

Usually, it lives and reproduces in the small intestine of a dog. Adult roundworms can be long from one to seven inches which somehow look like noodles. It spreads in the dog with the tiny eggs that can infect dog if they eat bird or rat.

There are two types of roundworms: Toxocara Canis and Toxascaris Leonina. Mature Toxocara Canis larvae can move on the lungs to produce cough. While the dog swallowed its cough, the larvae re-enter into the intestine and complete its life cycle. On the other hand, Toxascaris Leonina doesn’t need to move much, and it has a much simpler lifecycle than Toxocara Canisaround.

An infected pregnant dog passes roundworms to her puppies during pregnancy. This worm is not severe for an adult dog but it might e dangerous for puppies which can cause them diarrhea, vomiting, and malnutrition.

Hookworms

It is also a parasite that lives in the small intestine but is smaller than roundworms. It’s long from ½ and ¾ inch and the color is grey. The life cycle of hookworms is similar to Toxocara Canis. It has a hook in the front end which attaches to the intestinal lining, and then it sucks the dog’s blood. If your dog or puppy loves to play in the mud or soil, then you should be careful about it because hookworms come from there. 

The main symptoms of this worm are diarrhea and vomiting. Moreover, it can also be spread through mom dog’s milk to his puppies.

Whipworms

It lives in the large intestine and doesn’t need many nutrients like other worms. These parasites are long from two to three inches and rarely cause symptoms so if your dog swallows whipworm eggs from soil or water. The common symptoms of whipworms are weight loss, diarrhea, and vomiting.

Tapeworms

It lives in the small intestine and grabs on the wall with its six tiny rows of teeth to suck nutrients. Tapeworms are long from half a foot to more in length. It can’t harm your dog that much if the dog is super active. When it ejects from sucking blood, the insect usually breaks into small pieces like small rice.

There 14 different types of Tapeworms so you must be concerned about what is your dog is eating or liking. If you give raw meats to your dog, then you should freeze the meat for 10 days and later you can give it to the dog. Common symptoms of Tapeworms are losing weight and appetite.

Giardia

It lives in the intestine and looks like hair. Your dog can be affected by this parasite if the dog drinks water which is polluted with the feces of infected animals or human. The main symptom of this worm is diarrhea that often shows in puppies life.

Coccidia

Coccidia also live in the intestinal wall, which is common in puppies. It doesn’t show any symptoms in an adult dog but can cause dehydration and malnourishment in puppies by diarrhea.

Heartworm

It can enter a puppy by a bite of a mosquito. Heartworm causes heart or lung damage. Puppy suffers from coughing, lethargy, and fatigue.  It can only be detected within a blood test. Curing Heartworm is difficult, but the good news is, they are simple to prevent. If you see such symptoms, immediately consult with your doctor.

Ringworm

If any dog has fungus on the skin, it can cause ringworm which is extremely infectious. Avoid contact with other dogs to reduce the risk. And you should also be careful because it can transmit to humans. The insect looks like an oval bare patch. If you have suspected any ringworm, then please run to your vet today or tomorrow because it can only be detected under ultraviolet light.

How to deworm a puppy and an adult dog?

You can follow two paths to get rid of the worms. One is feeding some foods that can prevent the development of parasites in your dog’s body, and another one is the treatment of dog worms to stop reproduction of worms. I will elaborate on both of them. Let’s know together.

Foods that can help reduce dog worms

Fermented foods

You can feed best supplements or fermented foods to your puppy to prevent worms. It builds a healthy digestive system and also boosts the immune system of a dog. You may don’t know around 80% of the immune system of a dog depends on his stomach.

First of all, you can use fermented vegetable which is the safest way to prevent worms. It’s better to made kimchi or fermented veggie at home than buying it from the grocery shop. You will find the recipe from online. Feed up to 3 to 5 ml per 20 lbs of body mass per day. 

Another best-fermented food for dog is kefir and obviously, non-dairy is best for your puppy. You can use coconut or goat milk kefir (good for puppy health but after 30-35 days). Feed 3 to 5 ml for the puppy, 5 to 10 ml for a medium dog and 10-15 ml for a large dog.

Pumpkin seeds

It is one of the most effective procedure to treat worms. Collect the seeds from a pumpkin and grind it — feed 1-2 ml for per 10 lbs of weight.

Carrots, Watercress, Squash and Fennel

Keep any of these vegetables in your dog’s food chart. It will naturally help you to get rid of worms.

Pineapple, Papaya, and Pomegranate

Pineapple is full of bromelain that digests proteins very well and keeps the intestine wall neat and clean. Papaya contains papain. This enzyme can help fight worms. My dogs love to eat papaya so; I feel good when they eat this healthy fruit. Another worm fighter fruit is Pomegranate that is good at preventing tapeworms. In this case, I feel disappointed when my Judy doesn’t want to eat it. For her, I make pomegranate juice and feed 5-10 ml by syringe. By the way, she is a Shih-Tzu female dog who weighs 6-7 kg.

Cucumber

This vegetable is very helpful for the dog. Don’t use it as a medicine for your dog. It can be a healthy snack for your dogs. As I give my dogs in the evening and they enjoy the crunchy, green vegetable. I also give raw carrot which is beneficial for the dog’s teeth.

Garlic

Yes, I know you may have a question about garlic. Everybody knows garlic is harmful to the dog, but you can use it in moderate amounts. Give 1 tsp of raw garlic pest for per 30 lbs. It can prevent worms from both inside and outside of the body. Please note it down that garlic is not safe for puppies.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

 Mix up to 1/4 to 1 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar in your dog’s food or water. It creates a robust digestive system which can prevent worm so easily.

Parsley

You can add parsley in your dog food while cooking. Try to give this for twice or thrice a week. Parsley helps to prevent worms.

Coconut oil

Coconut oil is helpful to kill roundworms. Use organic oil, and the amount should be around 1 tsp per day for 10 lbs weight. Mix it with your dog’s cooked food.

Dog worms treatment

You need to consult with the Vet if you want to give deworming drugs to your puppy or adult dog. There are several reliable and powerful deworming drugs to fight against worms. The drugs are Fenbendazole, Moxidectin, Milbemycin, Pyrantel, and Piperazine.

Your dog will need to take 2 to 3 doses according to its weight and health condition. The first dose will kill the adult parasites, and the rest of the doses will kill the eggs and baby worms.

You should deworm your puppy between 4-5 weeks as I do. It will secure them from infected by worms. Even, you must keep in touch with your vet to know the right time of the next deworming and always do a regular checkup.

FAQs

Final Verdict

In the end, I would like to say that please take care of your dog as it’s very precious to you; thus you are searching how to get rid of dogs’ worms. I hope this article can help your baby dog. If you have any question, please leave a comment in the comment section below. I will reply to you in the meantime.