Internal parasites are the least visible part of dog health and the one most often left to memory. Unlike fleas, you rarely see the problem, and by the time you do, it has usually been present for a while.
The practical answer is a schedule agreed with your vet and written in a calendar, rather than a packet bought when something looks wrong.
What we are dealing with
Roundworms. Extremely common in puppies, which can acquire them from the mother. Heavy burdens cause a pot-bellied appearance, poor growth, vomiting and diarrhoea. Roundworm eggs can also infect people, and children are the most at risk, which is the main reason the routine matters in a household with small children.
Tapeworms. Typically acquired from fleas or from eating raw prey or uncooked meat. The classic sign is what looks like grains of rice around the tail or in the bedding. Flea control and tapeworm control go together: treating one without the other means the problem returns.
Hookworms and whipworms. Picked up from contaminated ground; they cause digestive signs and, in heavy infections, anaemia.
Giardia, a protozoan rather than a worm, common in young dogs and in dogs that drink from puddles and streams. It produces soft, greasy, persistent diarrhoea that does not respond well to a bland diet, and it is diagnosed on a faecal sample and treated specifically.
Lungworm, which dogs acquire by eating slugs and snails or grass and toys they have crossed. It is regionally variable, and it matters because it can cause bleeding problems rather than digestive ones. Ask your vet whether it is relevant where you walk, and whether your current product covers it.
The commonest mistake: assuming the monthly flea product also treats worms. Many do not, and several worming products do not cover every parasite. Check what yours actually treats.
How often
There is no universal number, and your vet will set one based on your dog's life. The factors that push the frequency up:
- A dog that scavenges on walks, hunts, or eats raw food
- Puppies, which need frequent treatment in the first months
- Households with young children, immunocompromised adults or pregnant women
- Dogs in contact with many other dogs, or that use shared outdoor spaces heavily
- Travel to regions with parasites not usually seen here
For a typical adult dog with a normal city lifestyle, a treatment every three months is a common recommendation, more often for the categories above. Some practices prefer faecal testing several times a year instead of blanket treatment; either approach is defensible and the point is that it is decided rather than forgotten.
Puppies
Puppies are treated on a specific schedule starting very early and repeated at short intervals, then settling into the adult pattern. Follow the plan your vet gives you rather than a packet instruction, and ask specifically what to do if the puppy came from abroad, where the history and the local parasite profile may be different.
Practical hygiene that reduces the load
- Pick up immediately, every time, including in your own garden and on the grass strip nobody owns
- Wash hands after handling faeces, and teach children to wash after playing with the dog
- Keep the flea control current, since fleas carry tapeworm
- Discourage drinking from puddles, troughs and stagnant water; carry water instead
- Wash bedding regularly at a high temperature
- Train a solid "leave it" for scavenging, which is the route by which most of this arrives
What to watch for
Diarrhoea that persists beyond a day or two, weight loss despite a normal appetite, a dull coat, a pot-bellied puppy, visible segments around the tail, scooting, or blood in the stools. Bring a fresh sample to the appointment: it is far more useful than a description, and your practice can tell you how to collect and store it.
One note on scooting, which owners usually attribute to worms: it is more often an anal gland problem, and it needs examining rather than worming.
Keeping the schedule
Put the dates in a calendar with a reminder, note the product and the date given each time, and keep the record with the vaccination card. That one page answers the question every boarding kennel, groomer and insurer eventually asks, and it prevents the commonest failure in the whole subject, which is not the wrong product but the dose that was never given.
If somebody else looks after your dog for a period, the worming and parasite schedule belongs in the written instructions alongside the food and the medication. At PAWLY the notes record what is due and when, and anything noticed during a visit, a change in stools, scooting, segments in the bedding, is reported the same day.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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