04/23/2025
April 23-29 is National Scoop the 💩 p**p week. 💩
It cuts down on parasites that you or your pets could pick up in the yard. While not common you could pick up hookworm larvae through your bare feet.👣👣
Good reason to pick up after your pets especially with children around.
Animal hookworms, like the ones in pet cats and dogs, are a different type than the hookworms transmitted by humans.
It is possible to be infected by animal hookworm and develop a skin condition called cutaneous larva migrans. This causes a raised, red track on the skin that can be itchy. However, animal hookworm larvae usually don't survive more than six weeks in humans. Signs and symptoms usually resolve without treatment.
Round worm infection is more of a zoonotic (human catching the disease from animals, infection etc) in puppies and kittens. Adults are usually on a monthly but doesn’t mean they can’t infect you as well.
Puppies lick their nether regions than like to kiss you in the face. Just take precautions and get your puppies and kittens tested for parasites as soon as possible. Not just deworm which we do with all puppies and kittens but f***l exams as well.
We deworm as a precaution even if the f***l is negative because the sample we have is very small. That is why we say the f***l was negative not that they are negative. We have had f***l tests that have tested negative but then the puppy excreted worms later.
There have been cases of round worms found in children’s eyes. Children are more susceptible. Teach them not to eat dirt and to wash their hands after playing outside.
Many people infected with Toxocara (round worms) parasites never develop symptoms or get sick.
In people who have visceral (inside) toxocariasis, the most common symptoms include:
Fever
Cough
Wheezing
Abdominal (belly) pain
Enlarged liver
People who have ocular toxocariasis might have:
Irritation or redness of the eye
Seeing spots or flashes of light
Loss of vision
An abnormally colored pupil
Typically, ocular toxocariasis affects only one eye.
This being said…..The normal puppy and kitten dewormer does not take care of Protozoans (one cell creatures) like coccidia or giardia which is communicable to humans. The only way we know they have it is to test the f***l sample. Just because the breeder or you treat for intestional worms does not mean they are free of parasites.
Protect your family and children by cleaning up the yard and getting them tested. 🐾❤️. Most adult dogs are on heart dewormer also has intestinal dewormers as well. We still like to test f***ls each year to be sure there are no protozoans. In cats we just deworm every year since they are not on a monthly. Even though they may not go outside they catch crickets etc and possibly a stray mouse so we protect against any exposure there.
Tapeworms in dogs and cats could only affect you if you accidentally ate a flea. The same way they get tapeworms. The segments found in their stool is not transmittable to anything or anyone else. If you see “rice” in their stool or what looks like dried rice where they sleep let us know as this means they have tapeworms.
Dogs on Interceptor Plus (heartworm protection) are protected but if they are on Heartgard (heart worm protection) this product does not protect them from tapeworms. Neither does Sentinel, but Sentinel spectrum does kill tapeworms. They have an added ingredient against flea eggs.
Sentinel and Sentinel spectrum do not kill fleas, just stops the development of flea eggs. Many of our clients love Sentinel or Sentinel Spectrum just remember it does not kill fleas you still need to use something if they have live adult fleas. It just stops the eggs from developing. It also cost more money in comparison to Interceptor plus.
We recommend the less expensive option of flea control with Interceptor plus with the 8 month lasting Seresto flea and mite collar. Only buy the Seresto collars from reputable dealers, your Veterinarian, Chewy, Petsmart. Never ever buy from Amazon as it may be a third party seller like China and be fake or worse poisonous. ☠️Usually the fake ones just don’t work but there has been reported cases of fatalities. Never from the real Seresto just the fake ones.
You can go online and check to be sure you have a real Elanco Seresto flea collar. We also like if they do have issues you can just take off the collar.
Frontline is effective, but you must follow the bathing timeline before use if they are getting a bath and bathing later may lessen its effectiveness. Meaning only last for 3 weeks and not 4 weeks. The recommendation is not to give a bath before especially if using dawn dishing washing soap as it strips the oils which is needed to move the medication around. If you have to bathe your animal use baby shampoo, a soap less shampoo, so the oils are not stripped then wait 48 hrs before applying frontline. It’s recommended if you need to bathe and can wait, bathe with a soap less shampoo after 48 hrs of applying it.
So in short wait 48 hrs after, but if needed give a bath 48 hrs prior with a soap less shampoo. They also say “let’s say you applied it and they really need a bath”, put a waterproof bandage over the area and use a soap less shampoo.
That being said frontline is very safe so if needed just reapply. Just remember any baths later should be give with soap less shampoo like baby tearless Johnson shampoo. Or use dawn dish washing soap to strip the oils and smells and wait a few days and reapply.
Preferably…..we like the Seresto collar as it’s one collar, (not monthly) less expensive and you can take it off to give a bath.
Hint : with the Seresto collar wear the collar tighter than usual for two weeks or if they have thick fur shave a small area under the neck so it can get close to the skin. After the two weeks you can loosen it. Don’t use the reflectors with it as they can make the collar dangerous if it is hung up on something (especially by the reflectors catching something).
It’s not needed for the collars to work and it will still stay on without using them. They are just added features that are not needed, they can make getting the collar off very difficult.
You can take them off if swimming or bathing, but some quick dips in the water if you forgot to take them off won’t hinder its effectiveness. They also protect against mange or scabies. A tech here took the collar off early, ie…October after a few freezes and thought it was ok, they went to a cabin in West Virginia and her dog must have laid where a fox was and he contracted scabies on his ears. If he was still wearing the collar he would have been protected. So now we say wear it till late November or December if necessary …like going to the wilderness! 😉. Side note….Scabies starts out usually on the ear tips, extremely itchy and scaly looking.
💩💩So get out there and scoop the p**p this week! 😀❤️💩💩
Most pet owners only think of their pet's welfare when they treat worms. It's important to know, however, that worms can also pose a serious health risk for you and your family.
