What are the treatments for dog parasites?

If it's intestinal parasites, there's going to be a medication that we give orally that will kill that roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, or tapeworm. Most of those have to be repeated in two to three weeks to break the life cycle so that we don't just get it again from the same source. There is a heartworm preventative. Heartworm preventive is a medication you take once a month to prevent them from getting heartworms when they get bitten by a mosquito. There is a treatment for heartworm disease. It's a serious medication that we have to use. The dogs feel terrible. It's a whole long protocol that takes several months to do. So you just want to prevent it. You don't want to go down the road of having to treat for heartworm disease, but it is available if you need to.

We have a combination of oral medication and topical medications. It depends on the situation, but for the most part, we want every dog on Sentinel, which is a once-monthly pill you give your dog to prevent roundworms, hookworm, or whipworms, flea infestations, and heartworms. And then we have some topical medications; at the Drake Center, we also use Bravecto, a pill that kills fleas for three months and ticks for three months. Ticks have encroached on just about every community in the United States now, and we do not want dogs being exposed to ticks because they transmit diseases. Not to mention, they can infest your house too. We don't want that happening, so we recommend Sentinel and Bravecto, pills to prevent and then treat any possible infestation with fleas or ticks.

It depends on what parasite you're treating. We have a lot of good oral treatments, which can be pills or liquids; injectable therapies, depending on what we're going for; and topicals as well. It depends on whether it's fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites, or heartworms. We have prevention for certain diseases and treatment for others. It also varies in the frequency of use. It could be single or repeated use. For example, heartworm prevention is a monthly treatment.

Treatments for parasites depend on the actual type of parasites. It's most important that we identify those to know what we need to treat. Sometimes we use topical treatments, and other times oral treatments.

There are multiple treatments available for dog parasites, depending on the type of parasite your dog has. For external parasites like fleas, oral or topical treatments may be recommended. For intestinal parasites, oral deworming is often recommended, followed by discussions on prevention. It's essential to consult with your veterinarian to determine the most effective and safest treatment for your dog's specific parasite issue.

The most common treatment for parasites is a liquid dewormer. The type of dewormer used depends on the specific parasite. Pyrantel, a yellow liquid, is commonly used for the majority of parasites. However, some parasites may require a pill or a different looking liquid. These treatments are usually easy to give and short-lived.