The Importance of Worming Your Labrador Puppies
Do you have Labrador puppies? Cute arent they? Have you got plans to worm your puppy as soon as possible, or are worms something that your dog will get naturally and therefore deal with themselves, negating the need for any treatment? Well, here is something that isnt so cute.
According to the CDC.gov website, there are around 10,000 reported cases in the US each year of Toxocariasis, an animal to human parasitic infection of roundworm caught, generally, from cats and dogs.
This statistic may not sound too big in a country of approximately 300 million people, but on the assumption that medically reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg for those unreported, are these infections more widespread?
The disease is not limited to cat or dog owners, as anyone not following sensible hygiene rules may be prone to it; the largest of this group being children. How? By coming into contact with and ingesting dirt or other matter contaminated by dog or cat stool.
While the disease can be caught from cats (Toxocara cati), the main cause, according to CDC, is from dogs (Toxocara canis). While cats tend to bury their toilet, dogs do not. Maybe this is the reason why infection from dogs is so prolific?
A puppy will usually get infected from the mother, and at only a few weeks old will produce a great quantity of eggs that soon turn into worm larvae, being excreted in the puppys feces. Once ingested by the human, the larvae hatch and spread throughout the body to major organs such as the lungs, heart, brain, liver and the eyes. While most infections within humans pass without any of the symptoms, in some cases serious illness can occur. If the worm gets into the eye, it can cause tissue damage and, in around 700 cases a year, cause permanent loss of some vision. The symptoms for continued infection can be fever, asthma, or pneumonia.
So worming your Labrador puppy is extremely important. But thats not all, it is not just the children of dog owners (or the owners themselves) who are just at risk, but any child in the environment. Imagine an expanse of grass at a local park, or recreational area or a sand pit. If dog stools contaminate that area, and a child crawls through it and eats it then there is an increased risk of the disease spreading.
So the next rule is to clean up behind your dog using a poop scoop and bag it. Many communities provide special bins for disposal of this mess. However, clearing up after your dog should not be limited to public places. Since infected dog feces can contaminate the ground for many years, it is worth giving some thought as to whether it is likely that a child (or adult) will get infected if you leave the dog mess where it lies (say, in a wooded, or off-the-beaten-track area).
The third rule is to make sure you wash your hands well and follow common sense hygiene. This not only applies to dog-owners with their own hygiene, but also to parents of children by teaching their child not to eat dirt. This should also include being proactive in teaching them to regularly wash their hands. There are many specialist gels on the market that allow hands to be washed where there are no hand washing facilities, thus helping prevent the spread of these diseases.
Labrador training
Alan Isaacs trains dogs and has written an ebook on puppy training