Dog flea and worm control

[Salodin]

The gf has a junkyard dog outside in the backyard. He's a stray that came to the house one day and just never left; the gf loves retard inbreed mutts so she adopted it. Since he is strictly an outdoor dog, he has a lot of problems with fleas. He is also very skinny. She feeds him very well, but he just can't seem to gain weight (she even feeds him puppy food since it is higher in fat content). Because of this, we assume he has worms. Can any one recommend a good flea control solution, and one for worms as well?

Appreciate it, thanks.

[Koul]

Probably should just Vet it up and tell them your situation. If it's a stray, it most likely needs all it's vaccinations anyways. Is it cute at least? :3

[OWS_Tonx]

Take it to a vet.
Also, I was going to toss that throw it outside etc then realized it didn't work after I read OP >_>

[Lyrai]

Frontline, or Advantage/Advantix for fleas. Expensive, but if the dog's going to be outside, you'll need it. If not, get it inside after treating.

As for worms, you need to know what type of worms they have before you can treat for it. Take him to a vet, probably will need to be updated on shots as well. If you're feeding him, you're now legally responsible for him if he contracts rabies and bites someone. And with worms, it's possible he can just keep getting them over and over from eating something outside, so be wary.

[Sylvrdragon]

[notorious bum]

Weight gain problem can be from worms or anemia from fleas so you def want to get the dude fixed up at the vet and drop some money on the latest flea/heartworm meds. Isn't one of those flea brands ineffective now due to fleas becoming immune to it? I'm not sure which one, but I remember friends telling me about it before. Luckily I got indoor dogs and only need to give a flea bath every now and then for small outbreaks.

[Swarley]

It's important to go to the vet to diagnose a worm problems because the only worm you can properly identify visually is a tapeworm (by the egg segments). If it's a stray, it could be a handful of parasites, probably multiple ones at that. There is no one dewormer that works on every possibility.

As for fleas, I use Frontline and it hasn't shown us a problem yet.

Also, agreed with Lyrai, get him vaccinated.

[Salodin]

He's cute I guess, but kind of a retard =\ we have him on a runner cord outside that's tied to a rope between two trees since she has plenty of yard space but no fence. He's one of those dogs that'll run real fast then back flip cause he reached the end of the line...

I'll probably have to vet it up I guess. He's pretty unhealthy skinny but he eats like mad so I'm assuming it's a parasite. I was reading up on the flea stuff and frontline seems to be having some problems right now with fleas being immune, but I've read a few reviews so far that advantix was causing severe reactions in some dogs. Think I'll worry more bout the parasites now and fleas later, since that's the most pressing matter imo. Stupid ass mutt, gonna be hundreds in vet bills I'm sure... -_-

[Swarley]

Salodin, people who tend to have problems with Frontline are those that have used it for several years. It's true, it does have a tendency to lose it's effect over time. If you want to leave the flea meds off, maybe just get a flea bath done to kill the excess. Like other s have said, flea infestations cause anemia.

[Dantrag]

If he has heart worms already he's pretty much going to have to live with it. My old lab had heart worms and lived into his late teens. I'd be more worried about something like tapeworms. On the flee subject, give him a flee bath and then get some advantix or frontline. Make sure they're all gone before you start using it though.

[Amelya]

I'd definitely take him to the vet and get him vaccinated at least. If you bring in a stool sample the vet should be able to tell you if/what type of worms he has. My dog had tapeworm recently...very pleasant (gag)...but it was only like $25 for the meds.

[Icari]

make sure you read up on any over the counter meds for "worms" most meds for heart worms say to NOT give it to an animal if they do have heart worms, you dont want to kill the dog if it has heart worms.

[Swarley]

I don't want to sound rude here, but dogs are not free of charges. Generally speaking puppies usually cost $1000 the first year (boosters, spay/neuter, fecal tests and worming medications, etc), and an adult dog with no problems will still cost a few hundred a year (exam, boosters, fecal and heartworm tests, and heartworm and flea/tick meds). You can avoid some of the fees, but in the case of an emaciated, flea-infested, worm-infected dog... it's going to be pricey to fix. If your girlfriend is the only one really wanting the dog, she should be shelling out the big bucks to fix it.

[Salodin]

If your girlfriend is the only one really wanting the dog, she should be shelling out the big bucks to fix it.

Apparently I'm pussy whipped =\

[Ksandra]

Gonna go with everyone else and say take it to the vet. You really should never guess on things like these. If the price tag seems expensive, there is a vet society that created a finance card (free financing) to help pay for vet bills. So you can always ask if the vet is part of it.

[Nikkei]

I'm gonna say without even seeing the dog that it has worms because EVERY puppy has worms and if it's been untreated from being a young puppy they are probably still there. I work at an animal hospital and every puppy and kitten that comes in needs to be dewormed. We do fecals on all of them and they come back positive every time for worms as well as things like giardia and coccidia which are gastro parasites. If the puppy is having bloody diarrhea or really loose stool that would be another indication. You definitely need to take it to a vet to get rid of all that so the puppy can start developing properly. As far as the fleas go, chances are if you haven't been using a preventative like frontline/advantix then it definitely has fleas as well. Again, at the vet's office they'd give you an oral medicine for the puppy that would kill the fleas either over the course of 3 days or 3 months depending on what your vet chooses. After those infestations are gone, you could use the topical preventative's mentioned above and couple it with an oral heart worm + pill like Sentinel which is what I use on my dogs. It's a heart worm preventative (which can be transmitted from a mosquito bite to the puppy) but it also handles whipworms, roundworms and hookworms which are more gastro worms but it's got an extra addition of a flea birth control. So the topical frontline/advantix kills the fleas/ticks that bite your pets and the Sentinel sterilizes all the eggs laid so they can't hatch and infest your house and family. People don't realize that with frontline or advantix the flea MUST bite the animal to die, if you a flea infestation it means there are eggs and larva in the carpets and bedding where the animal has been. Those grow up into fleas which then have to bite the animal to die and it just keeps cycling. By using the oral medicine with it eventually all the fleas lay sterile eggs and die from the topical medicine used.

Regardless, please bring the dog to a vet when you can and have it examined and vaccinated. Some of those parasites mentioned above can be fatal when not treated. I had the unfortunate experience of watching an 8 week old kitten die from fleas yesterday and it was something that was so preventable by the owner. I'm not saying fleas are always fatal, in this case the kitten had untreated anemia because the owner didn't pay attention to the lethargy of the animal and the kitten was so infested that it literally just went to organ failure once too much blood was taken.


/end rant >_>