Questions about roundworms

[jflowe22]

Hello Everybody,
Well we just picked up our new Basenji (Nahla)on Saturday and she is great! But…her bowel movement had roundworms in it YUCK! Did all the research and went to our trusted vet. I am awaiting a call back because we forgot to ask when we were there but, how long after we gave her the dewormer should the worms clear up?
The breeder was surprised because he told me that they gave her dewormer at 3 weeks, 5 weeks, and again last Tuesday which would have been around 7 weeks, (Not wanting to be skeptical, I hope they did what they said.) Anyway the vet put Nahla on a different dewormer (Drontal) and she is pooping out worms. Her first dose was this morning.

I know we have to bring her back in a week but my question is, how long will the worms be present? Are worms visable through all the treatment periods? Will we still be seeing them for another two weeks?
She is alert, and active, She looks great, is playful, no diarrhea good appetite, and is so much fun.
We feel bad for her and want these nasty things gone!
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Some people might be wondering why the first dose was this morning. The earliest we could get her in was Sunday morning and the vet gave her the first dose in his office. When we got home she threw it up. (No worms in her vomit) So we picked up another pill on Sunday night and we were instructed to give it to her with food this morning. She kept this dose down with no troubles.

[tanza]

Very Surprising, if you ask me …. if she was wormed that many times? But then I never had to worm any of my puppies.

That said, they clear up pretty quickly and Drontal is used for tape worms, along with all other common canine intestinal worms. I am trying to remember when I did have an adult with tape (from catching and eating squirrels or birds) how long, but I think it was only a day or two.

Care to share her breeding? Many of us are related by our Basenjis here on the forum... and welcome!

[jflowe22]

Hi Pat
Thanks for your reply,
We got Nahla from Fortora farms in PA. her parents were Ojii and Tanzi, The only comments I saw about them on this forum was to be cautious because they breed a few breeds of dogs (potentially a cause for concern) I visited them, but could not find anything good or bad about them. The pups looked well cared for and we brought one home.
Its definetly round worms and I researched Drontal enough to know it efficacy.
because the eggs keep hatching I know thats why several doses are needed, I just dont know how long the whole thing lasts.
thanks for your warm welcome to this forum. You all sound like wonderful basenji owners!

[Kipawa]

Welcome to you and Nahla! Sorry to hear she has worms - I tend to think if the breeders wormed her to that extent, you wouldn't be having this problem.

Lots of great folks on here - we are into "all things basenji"!

[Patty]

Welcome to the forum - Drontal should clear up the worms and especially if she has not been previously wormed (which looks most likely). Over worming can cause resistance but this can't be the case here, I'm sure.

[sharronhurlbut]

Once you get the worms cleared up, please make sure you do the fanconi cheek swab.

[tanza]

@sharronhurlbut:

Once you get the worms cleared up, please make sure you do the fanconi cheek swab.

While I really don't consider this kennel as a good breeder, at least the sire and dam have been DNA tested.

[sharronhurlbut]

Thank you Pat. I didn't know this..

[Marie Heidebrecht]

Make sure that you clean up as meticulously as possible any feces in your yard, as roundworm eggs are extremely resistant to environmental changes and will survive for a long long time. You don't want her to re-infect herself. She needs to be treated at least 3 times 2 weeks apart now, to make sure that all the developing larval phases in her body are killed. Drontal is ok in terms of efficacy but here we prefer Interceptor as our puppy dewormer. And since it's a flavour tablet it is generally easy to give.
Roundworms are not an indication of a "poor" breeder or anything like that. The life cycle of the parasite is pretty "clever" and has allowed it to survive through the millenia. Once a dog has had roundworms, even if it is dewormed, a certain number of larva encyst in the muscles and will remain dormant for the life of the dog unless it is a female who is bred. Then, the hormones of pregnancy "awaken" the larva, which travel across the placenta to infect the puppies. Thus, the cycle continues - regardless of how good the hygiene practices of the breeder are. Deworming at regular intervals like your breeder had done should have prevented you seeing that many worms, but with a litter of pups, who's to say that yours didn't vomit up a tablet that the breeder didn't notice? Or the pup could have re-infected itself and those worms had just reached the adult stage.. Bottom line is to deworm properly and completely now that she's at your home.

[tlish]

^ i don't know a thing about roundworms, but since you mentioned Interceptor, i'm wondering if the regular monthly dose that dogs can take to keep themselves heartworm-free would also kill and prevent future roundworms for the OP.

[Marie Heidebrecht]

Interceptor is labeled for the "control" of roundworms when given monthly. At our clinic, we start all our dogs off in June (when our hw prevention starts) with an extra mid-month dose of Interceptor. That way they have 3 doses 2 weeks apart at least annually. (These recommendations come from the CDC and reflect the human health concern of roundworms, which are zoonotic.)

[jflowe22]

WOW
thanks for all the quick and caring responses. I am happy to hear about the fanconi testing because I did think I had that covered before we went to this breeder.
I am aware of the need for fastidious cleansing and we have been very careful.

Our vet called me back earlier this evening and told us after a day or two we shouldn't see any more worms but of course she will need to be back in for the follow up dose. She also asked me to drop off another stool sample just to keep on top of progress and make sure there are no other parasites. And while she never heard of the breeder she said that even if the breeder did deworm, with litters of pups sometime due to pups vomiting up the medicine or reinfection from littermates it is not uncommon for this to happen.

I will let you all know how we are doing.I feel like I am fast becoming an "expert" on roundworms!

[jflowe22]

Just an update

So we gave Nahla the Drontal yesterday morning. This morning she had two worm free bowel movements! So yeah!!! for Drontal, our vet, and Nahla!
I know about the eggs and another course of med in about two weeks, and we will provide a few stool samples over the next few weeks to be sure all is resolved.

BTW, we have owned many dogs over our years, both muts and purebreeds, and this is our first basenji. We have our fist remarkable "B" story (maybe not so remarkable to b owners)

Nahla will spend some time in a pen in our kitchen. A 36" pen seemed tall enough for her not to jump over for now. We know that would change in a few weeks!
After watching her turn the pen into her own personal monkey bars we had to put a top on it! She would use the horizontal supports as ladder rungs and almost climbed all the way up to the top.

[tanza]

Yup, very typical for a Basenji and an xpen with no top! Basenjis have been know to climb to the top and then hang off the xpen top…..

[Kipawa]

@jflowe22:

Just an update

So we gave Nahla the Drontal yesterday morning. This morning she had two worm free bowel movements!

Typical dog/cat/bird owner comment. We LOVE looking at their poop and seeing how healthy it is, knowing that means our animals are healthy. I clean our back yard every two days - did it yesterday. As I grabbed the poop I was inspecting it and smiling. Hope the neighbours weren't peeking over the fence to see me doing this!

[Patty]

Who would have thought that worms were so interesting. My farm vet insists that dogs be wormed monthly but mine are on a weekly homeopathic wormer.

I'm so pleased that Nahla has got rid of hers.

And i accept what others have said about the possibility of a pup womitting up a worming tablet.