Having, in 2024, discussed the prerequisite considerations associated with the adoption /acquisition of a new puppy as an addition to your family, let us turn our attention to ensuring that the puppy remains healthy during this period of its young life. Over the following weeks, we will be discussing ailments which can befall our young acquisitions. We will address, inter alia, the following:
* The names of the diseases.
* The symptoms of the ailments.
* What can be done to prevent the puppies from acquiring the ailments.
HELMINTHOSES (= WORM BURDENS)
N.B:
1) Puppies are often born with worms, which they may have acquired when they were in their mothers’ wombs. It is for this reason that, if possible, pet caregivers should ensure from the source of the puppies (shelters, breeders, friends, etc.) that the mother dogs have been (routinely, if possible) dewormed prior to, and even during, pregnancy.
2) Also, you may have received the puppy when it is about six weeks of age. The newborn pup should receive its first deworming at 3 weeks of age. Please ask the person (giver/seller) or shelter management whether the pup was dewormed at three weeks of age. If not, your (the new owner’s) first treatment of the pup would be to have the pup dewormed – preferably by your veterinarian. You may recall I had mentioned, in a previous column dealing with the acquisition of a pet, that it would be wise to have identified the veterinarian who would be looking after your new companion animal now and as it evolves into adulthood. I dare say that this consideration is similar to that which obtains in human medicine.
3) There is perhaps the fixation of the new puppy caregiver to deworm the puppy by himself or herself. Bad idea. This propensity might have come down to us from our ancestors. So many myths and legends.
Worms are not all the same, and do not have the same origin. And the dosage rates surely differ relative to size and breed, and age and frequency of dosage.
A tapeworm, for example, is a totally different worm from a Roundworm. The medication will consequently differ.
Some dewormers have been on the market for decades; no self-respecting worm will die from their application.
Tapeworms are obstinate beasts. It is not easy to get rid of them. It may take several attempts to remove these parasites permanently. Since tapeworms are associated with fleas, it becomes quite an effort (a science) to ensure these worms are killed and unable to re-infect the pup/young adult/mature dog.
Some dewormers (especially the old ones) do not kill the worms; rather, they stun the worms, and then, during defecation (passing stool), the intestinal movement deposits the stunned but live worms into the environment. Left exposed to the heat of the sun, the worms will die. The last activity of these dying worms is to lay their eggs, and therefore contaminate the environment in the process. These eggs can be picked up by the puppy/young adult/mature dog – and the cycle begins all over again. That’s why your vet would insist that the environment to which the puppy is exposed must be kept persistently clean by using tested and proven and safe environmental sanitizers.
4) I have mentioned (see 3 above) that one has to be knowledgeable and quite sure about the dosage rate of the worm medication (anthelminthic) used. Actually, many of the dewormers used are human medical products designed for children. Now, if, for the sake of argument, the dosage for a 50-pound child is five (5) mls of deworming liquid, then the caregiver might be tempted to administer one-half of a ml (0.5ml) to a 5-pound puppy. Well, that dosage of vermicide will not produce the desired effect of impacting on the worm infestation in the gut. It is for that reason that only the veterinarian will, from experience, advise how much dewormer (and which deworming) should be used relative to ensuring that the puppy would have a healthy life. A worm-infested pup will not grow well, and will be especially susceptible to the most common ailments.
5) I find it important that I point out that many pup/dog owners/breeders relate and implement the practice of removing a worm (or worms) from the pup’s/dog’s mouth. They feel (and boast) that they have dewormed the animal. Nothing can be further from the truth. The organism that they have removed from the animal’s mouth – with a needle, no less – is in effect just removing a migrating immature stage of the adult worm. These stages in a worm’s (usually Roundworms) development actually actively bore through the intestinal wall, get into the bloodstream, and arrive in the lungs, from whence they are coughed up into the mouth. If you, as a caregiver, see (and remove) one “worm” from the mouth of your pet, you can be assured that several (even hundreds) worms are still in the animal’s body.
In a nutshell, what the caregiver can garner from the above is that the deworming of a pet is an important (science based) intervention to promote the continuous well-being of the caregiver’s ward. Let the vet carry out the relevant treatment.
P.S. It has occurred to me that even before dealing with the specific puppy ailments, I should make some comments on the newborn animal and its relationship with its mother even before it is adopted/ purchased by the caregiver. Next week, therefore, we will address these subject matters before we return to the discussion on puppy ailments.
