Parasites

Mountain Top Puppies believe it is important that every dog owner educate themselves on the common puppy/dog parasites in order to properly care for their dog. PARASITES are a COMMON issue in any dog's life. They are in all our environments no matter how good the conditions are. 

Fleas and Ticks:

Year-round monthly prevention is necessary for any dog! Not only do they cause itching and irritation, but they can also cause internal parasites and life-threatening infections such as lymes disease, tick fever or erlichia. They can also cause an infestation in your home that can be hard to get rid of! We recommend Advantage II at 12 weeks or talk to your vet for other options.

Mosquitos and HEARTWORMS

They don't look that harmful but it just takes one bite from an infected mosquito to infect your dog with HEARTWORMS. These can be very life threatening. We recommend starting an ivermectin based monthly heartworm prevention like Heartguard or Interceptor. These have been around for many years and have less neurological side effects than the combo pills. You can try those later on when the pup is 6 months old or so. If they do test positive for Heartworms, they will need treatment! There are two options. 

1. Immiticide® Injection therapy at the vet, it's very toxic and some do not survive! They must be crated for a week or so and require doxycycline and pain meds.
2. Long term 2 year SLOW KILL method with Advantage MULTI. Much easier on the dog, perfect for mild cases.

So please do your best to protect you baby!

Roundworms: 

Every puppy is born with roundworms. Yes, even if mother is dewormed prior to birth, they are passed through her milk. This is why we have a strict deworming schedule here. They look just like long pale spaghetti noodles. They can also pickup round worms from wild animal feces. The eggs are visible on a fecal test or visible in the puppies' feces. 

• Pyrantel or Fenbendazole is recommended for proper elimination.

Tape Worms:

Fleas are actually the cause of tape worms. If your dog has a flea on them and chews at their skin to try and kill them, they actually ingest the flea and end up with tape worms. These are not seen on a fecal test and are only visible in the stool and look like flat short white rice segments. 

• Treatment recommended is praziquantel (one dose, then follow up dose 2 weeks later) Sometimes these can be hard to get rid of, so this is why it's so important to follow a strict flea/tick regimen.

Hookworms or Whipworms:

Both of these can come from so many sources, either from the ground and migrate through the skin or they can ingest larvae from the ground. They can't be seen without a microscope, but they can be seen by your vet on a routine fecal test. Hookworms can cause severe anemia. 

• Treatment is usually fenbendazole (panacur) along with an iron supplement and is very effective.

All of the above are EASILY PREVENTABLE with proper deworming and preventatives.

 All of the above are EASILY PREVENTABLE with deworming and preventatives. These last ones are not so easy to see on a fecal test and are a little trickier to treat without the pup reinfecting itself

Coccidia and Giardia are invasive, non-worm parasites that live in a dog's intestinal tract. Transmission of these parasites can come from infected soil, water, feces, food, other animals, and more. These two parasites are harder to prevent as they are always there and just become a problem during stress of transition and travel.  It is not really a worm, but more of a bacterial parasite. 

Coccidia are single-celled and found more frequently in puppies, where they may acquire it through their litter mates or mother. It causes a gel like yellowish loose stool and can multiply quickly.  As with all parasites, diligent sanitation practices are important to stave off these parasites. 

• We often give a preventative medication at 6 and 8 weeks for Coccidia called Toltazuril or ponazuril, so we rarely see this.

 Giardia is quite common--affecting up to half of all puppies. Most healthy adult dogs won't have problems. Many can have no symptoms from giardia, and it is hard to find on a routine fecal test. During the stress of traveling and rehoming of puppies, these protozoan type parasites are opportunistic and can surface. They cause a loose fatty stool, gelish or dark greenish stool and can cause loss of appetite and dehydration. It can be found at dog parks, boarding facilities, kennels or anywhere with numerous juvenile dogs where they can step in poop and then later lick their feet. They can also pick it up by eating feral cat feces or wild animal feces. There is a very sensitive Giardia Antigen Snap Test now that a lot of vets use because they can't see it on a routine fecal test. This test is so sensitive it can show a positive if the dead giardia dna is still present until it leaves the pups intestinal tract. So if the pup did have any giardia here and we gave our 5 days of prevention before they leave, they may still show a positive.  It may take 10 days to show a negative. Some pups will never show a negative as they may be a carrier. 

 Treatment is oral dewormer (fenbendazole) and some vets will add Metronidazole (antibiotic). Usual treatment is for 10 days, then wait 10 days to retest. Even after 20 days, they can still show a positive, especially if they are a carrier. Mature dogs in the home usually do not have problems catching it. If the pup is having normal stools, we would not continue with round after round of the medicines. Metronidazole over a long period of time can cause seizures. Probiotics are a great idea for young puppies especially when on antibiotics. 

Giardia has become so common in young puppies; we often send home medication to hopefully prevent it from surfacing during the stress of transition. If your pup does test positive during their first vet check, please let us know and if needed, we would be happy to send you medication.

Please know, we do all we can to prevent parasites and want only the best for our babies.