Knowing how to treat dog worms is very important and is essential to the proper care of your pet. Treatment for worms should begin with heartworms as some medicines and herbal remedies for treating heartworm are also effective for hookworms, roundworms and whipworms. The only untreated worm left would be the tapeworm.

Some of the traditional medicines are Heartgard Plus, Interceptor, and ProHeart. Heartgard Plus has a combination therapy of ivermectin and pyrantel pamoate, two powerful dewormers that are usually used as stand-alone treatments for specific worms.

There is something important to consider for those who want to know how to treat dog worms: not one wormer will kill all worms.

Roundworms can be treated with pyrantel pamoate suspension (or Nemex) or Ivermectin. Drontal Plus, Vercom Paste, and Panacur kill roundworms, and also kill hookworms and whipworms. Drontal and Vercom kill tapeworms, but Drontal cannot be given to dogs or puppies that weigh less than two pounds or are under three weeks of age. Vercom and Panacur need to be given three days in a row for full effectiveness, then repeated in two to four weeks. A stool sample needs to be taken to ensure the worms are gone.

Natural Treatments

There are certain foods that help such as

Grapefruit seeds are a natural for killing, weakening and repelling parasites. Grind up seeds from fresh grapefruits, oranges, lemons, limes, or any other citrus fruit and add to food.

Cayenne pepper is hated by parasites so adding a half capsule per 50 lbs of body weight to food daily. This can be stepped up to a half capsule per 25 lbs of body weight twice a day for one week for faster results.

Another herbal method for treating dog worms is to grind up a bunch of fresh parsley in a quarter cup of water and cook for three minutes. Strain and freeze in ice cube trays and add 1 teaspoon per 10 lbs of body weight once a day. Keep the rest in the freezer and use as needed.

Additional methods that are nutrition-based treatments

Add finely grated, raw sources of Vitamin A, such as carrots, beet greens, collard greens, pumpkins and sweet potatoes, to your dogs diet for two to three days and then repeat every six to seven weeks Vitamins and minerals from these nutritional sources are essential to cleansing the digestive tract of roundworms.

Try grinding up pumpkin seeds and add a quarter teaspoon for each 10 15 lbs. of body weight daily. Do this for two weeks and then add wheat bran to the dogs diet; soak the bran in water and add an eighth teaspoon per 10 lbs. of body weight to larger animals and just a pinch for smaller ones.

The most important thing to keep in mind when treating dog worms is to opt for methods that remove the worms safely and effectively, while maintaining your dogs health. To learn more about natural and herbal remedies that eliminate dog parasites and worms such as Tape Worm, Heartworm and Roundworm, visit: how to treat dog worms