What You Should Know about Dog Wormer Medicines

Worming products today are practical.  They make the task of worm control easier for dog owners.  These medications offer useful solutions on how to eliminate internal parasites safely and effectively.  They come in tablets, spot-ons, liquid suspensions and pastes.  They are also available either as prescription or over-the-counter medications.

Regardless of their types, though, each dog wormer contains different active ingredients that kill specific parasites - the most common of which are roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms and whipworms.  Based on a particular ingredient of dog wormers, some can treat only a certain kind of worm, while others can treat various kinds.

Choosing Worming Products

Depending on the parasite that is infecting your dog, pet owners like you can choose between dog wormers that kill a specific type of worm and those that are effective against many types.

Worming Products which contain only the active ingredient praziquantel just kill tapeworms.  They do not have any effect on other parasites.  Examples of these are Droncit and the Generic Tapeworm alternative from Pet Shed. 

On the other hand, dog wormers that contain a combination of at least two or three active ingredients can get rid of a wide range of parasites, hence they are described as "broad-spectrum".  For example, the pyrantel, febantel and praziquantel of Drontal Plus can kill roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and tapeworms.  There are also some medicines which are mainly intended to prevent heartworms and fleas that provide extra protection against intestinal worms.  For example, Heartgard Plus, which contains ivermectin and pyrantel, not only controls heartworms, but roundworms and hookworms as well.  Another broad-spectrum product like Sentinel contains a combination of milbemycin oxime and lufenuron, which not only controls roundworms, whipworms, and some hookworms but also prevents heartworms and fleas.  Getting rid of fleas is also important in fighting worms  because they are carriers of tapeworms.

Ensuring Full Protection

If you're thinking of protecting your dog from a wide range of parasites, it would be a good idea to use broad-spectrum worming products.  These provide protection not only against intestinal worms, but may also protect against dangerous heartworms.  Doing this is like hitting two birds, or many birds (this is perhaps the better term) with one stone.  This means there is no need to buy separate products for each type of treatment, which translates to more savings for you.

Finally, if you are planning to deworm your dog soon, always consider the kind of worming products you will use to treat the internal parasites in your pet.   Do not just pick anything at random. Take note of their effectiveness and which products work best for your dog and prove to be easy on your budget as well.

Have you used wormers for your dog?  If you have, which ones have you found effective in your pet?