worms and baths

two questions:

1. when my dog gets tape worms do I have to go to the vet every time or is there an Over The Counter treatment I can keep on hand?

2. Will it hurt my dog to bathe her every 2-3 weeks? I like her clean and smelling nice. she rolls around in stuff a lot, will it damage her coat or anything to bathe her that often?

By tape worms I assume you just mean intestinal worms of some type like whip worms, hook worms, etc?

First let me say if your dog is getting infected with worms repeatedly, then there must be eggs or some source of the infestation somewhere that she is around, or at least that is what I would assume. Be sure you are cleaning up her pooh immediately after she goes.......ESPECIALLY if you know she has worms. Leaving it lay will give her repeat exposure to the same problem.

I would HIGHLY recommend finding out from the Vet WHAT type of worms they are, and then putting her on proper heart worm meds that will prevent alot of types of intestinal parasites as well.

That being said, there are some dewormers that are over the counter. I have heard good things about Safe-Guard (I believe is the name)

I would think that a bath every 2-3 weeks would be ok as long as you are using a gentle shampoo, but I don't know a whole lot about your breed and it's skin specifics. Perhaps someone else that knows more about them will be along to confirm or reject that opinion

Dogs get tapeworms from ingesting fleas. You need to clear your home/yard of fleas before you can successfully treat tapeworms. Most heartworm medications, while they may treat a variety if intestinal worms, usually don't cover tapeworms.

I have found that most OTC remedies for tapeworms don't work. You need to treat them with pills from your vet. You may need to treat more than once depending on the severity of the infestation. Just put your dog on a topical flea medication and treat your home/yard. Of course, it is possible for dogs to ingest a flea while out walking, at dog shows, etc. Most likely though, your home and yard are going to be the source.

Oh my, I didn't know that! That is why I assumed they meant intestinal parasites in general.

Thanks, I learned something new today

yeah it was definately tapeworms, I went to the vet to get it fixed. He told me about ingesting the fleas said that was the only way they can get them. It's odd though because I rarely see any fleas on her and the yard is pretty well treated. I guess it was a fluke, she might have picked it up from her doggy day care. That's possible. I guess I'll just plan on taking her in then if she gets them again.

I ask about bathing her since she was getting baths and mitaban dips every two weeks to treat her demodex mange and it didn't seem to irritate her skin or anything. I just didn't know if it would be unhealthy to bathe her that often. Since she's been given the OK that her demodex mange is gone, I'd just like to keep bathing her because she's much more pleasent to cuddle with when she's clean, that and she sleeps in our bed with us. She is a Dachshund/Rat Terrier mix. How will bathing her affect a topical flea treatment like Advantage? Now that she's not getting dipped anymore i was going to put her back on that flea preventative.

Link for this and other Advantage questions. http://www.vspn.net/VSPNSearch/VINLibrary/lv960042.htm

I don't know about advantage but I know frontline is waterproof 24 hrs after applying it.

As far as the fleas go you won't usually see them unless there is an infestation on your dog. And since your dog is black it makes them even more difficult to see. The best proof that your dog has fleas is seeing flea dirt, but you have to know what your looking for and your dogs happens to be black which makes it very difficult to spot. Even if your dog doesn't have fleas they can still ingest a flea from an outside environment like doggy day care.

Advantage isn't waterproof to my knowledge. Bathing them is fine (but not 48 hours before or after the flea treatment) but prolonged exposure to water (swimming) I don't think so.

Tapeworms come from fleas as already commented on. But the problem with it is, even if you don't see a flea on her, she can still eat a dying flea (the flea treatments don't kill instantly, can take up to 12 hours) and still get tape worms. Thus you wouldn't necessarily see any fleas on her but she could still get tapes.

Just go to your vet, tell them you saw tape worm segments in her stool and get some Cestex. Or heck call them. We fill Cestex and Strongid over the phone.