Worming puppies is important. Any but the most amateur dog breeders know that puppies (and their moms) should be wormed every 2 weeks until they are 8 weeks old. But do you know why this is so very crucial?
There are two big reasons, and both relate to the way intestinal parasites (worms) behave in dogs.
In adult dogs of good health, adult worms exist in pretty small numbers in the intestine. Normally they don’t cause any problems. The adult healthy dog and its intestinal parasites exist harmoniously together. Some even believe that the presence of a few intestinal parasites is beneficial to well-being, as they’ve been shown to protect somewhat against the development of some auto-immune diseases. For example it’s been proven that particular tapeworms in humans can help alleviate diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus and Crohn’s Disease.
In the healthy adult (non-breeding) dog the overall parasite burden is naturally low. Larvae arising from fresh infections never develop far enough to become mature breeding worms in the gut. Instead they switch off and go dormant in the tissues of the dog where they do no harm.
The balance all changes when a bitch gets pregnant.
Pregnancy switches on all those larvae sleeping in her tissues and puts them into overdrive. They enter her circulation and some (hookworm and roundworm) infect her unborn puppies while they are still in the womb! And once born, puppies continue to be infected by larvae present in mom’s milk. In the meantime, many reach maturity in the mom’s and the puppies’ intestine and they start shedding massive amounts of infective eggs and larvae into the environment.
From the parasite’s point of view this is a great strategy. Puppies have immature immune systems and are highly susceptible to infection. They are sitting ducks for parasites and any that infect them are free to develop unhindered to maturity in the gut where they mate and lay eggs that emerge in the faeces to contaminate the environment waiting to infect the next host. The eggs are hardy and can survive for years! Worming puppies before they start contaminating the environment makes a lot of sense.
Puppies that aren’t wormed can end up with massive worm burdens with the typical thin bodied but pot-bellied appearance. So it makes sense to nip this in the bud by worming bitches at conception, whelping and every 2 weeks of lactation.
The health of our dogs and puppies is important to breeders, but there’s an even more crucial reason for keeping on top of a thorough worming regime, and that’s human health.
Like puppies, the immune system of small children makes them highly susceptible to infection by parasites. Their habits of putting everything in their mouths, kissing puppies and sharing food with them adds to the risk of infection. Children up to 4 years of age are particularly at risk.
Of course, humans are not the right host for dog parasites. But that means any parasites they pick up from puppies are likely to wander as larvae through the child’s body before they die. They can end up in anywhere in the body, including the eyes, joints, liver or brain, where they can cause serious complications.
Every year for example hundreds of US children go blind in one eye due to infection by the common dog roundworm Toxocara canis.
Worming puppies (and their moms) completely and thoroughly protects them and their new families. The take-away message here is to keep on top of your worming regime with breeding bitches and their puppies, and pass on clear management instructions to your owners.
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