how to tell if your dog has worms

It's Dr Rod from the Village Vet, and I've got my little dog here again, this is little Missy. A lot of people wonder how to tell if a dog's got worms. Now two things I need to say about Missy, she's a mature dog, and I worm her every month.

Now if she starts scratching around the back side, would I think she had worms? I would know she wouldn't have worms because I've been de-worming her, so the first question if you think your dog's got worms look at what you're doing, is she being wormed? Now a lot of those products now that you can put on the back of the neck like Revolution and Advocate and in particular one or two others do tummy worms also, every month. So if you're treating your dogs for fleas, look on the package and see if intestinal worms are on it. Treatments like Simparica Trio offer a triple punch to knock out fleas, ticks and worms. 

There's another worm which we'll come to another time called heartworm, we're not talking about that today, we're talking about the little worms that can cause itchiness around here (backside). Mature dogs, and this is Missy, she's about six or seven.

If she was to start itching around there (backside), it would be more likely she has itchy anal glands, rather than worms. Older dogs, if you're worming them fairly regularly, don't tend to suffer worms.

Puppies are a different matter, they're always having worm problems and they need to be wormed every two weeks until about 12 to 16 weeks of age, and then you can put them on a monthly medication like Advocate or some of the other ones like Sentinel Spectrum, they will routinely do worms.

So if you're thinking your dogs got worms, ask yourself why. Is it because you've seen worms, if you have then yes they need worming, but if you're not seeing worms, all you've got is a dog that's got an itchy bottom, and that might need a call to the vet.

In 1993, Dr. Rod Graham opened the Village Vet and since then he’s been the heart and soul of the veterinary practice. Originally a horse vet in the Yarra Ranges, he moved on after 20 years of dedication to focus on giving all pet owners the support they need. He’s a great educator, a great listener and also has a fantastic sense of humour! You can find Dr. Rod on Facebook and on the Village Vet website.