I bring home my new pup Bonnie on 14th April and sooo exited. She has been wormed by the breeder on Pancur but o would like to switch to  using a natural wormer. My question is can I start this right away or should I wait until the pup is older? She is a shetland sheepdog.

I'm not sure what you mean by a natural wormer, but your pup will need regular worming at Panacur guidelines until at least 6 months of age.  It would be a great shame to spoil all the work that your breeder has done by using a veterinary recommended wormer.

Going to use Diatomaceous Earth eventually Jean. Seems to have lots of benefits for us humans too.

Diatomaceous Earth seems to be the product of choice for all most everything, interested to know which worms it deals with and what stages of worm growth can it deal with, any testing information would also be helpful.

Diatomaceous Earth seems to be the product of choice for all most everything,

I came across it last year as mentioned to be a suitable treatment for mites, such as harvest mites, which we were having a problem with. It didn't work at all, just gave us lots of dogs with coats you didn't want to touch as they felt dirty and unpleasant. So I wouldn't trust it to work for worms either.

I use Verm x herbal wormer on mine. I also do a stool sample every few months to double check all are clear.

My last pup I bred myself and her last worming was at 5 weeks old.Since then I have stool sampled her every 3 months to check and she has always been clear for all worms including lungworm,she is now 10 months and has verm x monthly...I use a company called wormcount. 

It probably works out more expensive this way to use herbal wormers and do stool checks but I prefer that to using chemical wormers on a dog just in case when they don't need it,

Ali

I believe it is effective for Ascardis, Hookworms and Whipworms Nova.

Thanks, do you happen to know if it works on all stages of worm development, no good if it takes the adults only. Was told to use it for ants last year and it did nothing hot water worked much better. Would love to see any testing that has been done if any one can point me in the right direction.

> Going to use Diatomaceous Earth eventually Jean

I certainly wouldn't use this as a wormer.

Have had a bit of a look into this and discover that it is because of the fine partials it acts as a mechanical insecticide as they are thought to block the breathing holes are kills them because they can no longer breath. so yes I agree, no use at all for worming. It is, if anyone is interested, a ground up sedimentary rock found in waterways. The rocks are finely ground and dried and is mostly about 90% silica, aluminium and iron oxide making up the balance.

It would seem it is used mainly as a fine abrasive for polishing although other uses are as filtration aid, absorbent for liquids, reinforcing filler in plastics and rubber,  porous support for chemical catalysts, cat litter, to stabilize dynamite, and as a thermal insulator.

It probably works out more expensive this way to use herbal wormers and do stool checks but I prefer that to using chemical wormers on a dog just in case when they don't need it,

However you have no idea if it is the treatment keeping the dogs worm free or if they would be anyway. Would be interesting to NOT give anything at all and then test.

Marianne does have a point here.

Years ago I wanted to convince myself on whether my dogs really needed worming as often as my vet reckoned.  I'm not telling anyone else to do this, just reporting my personal findings.  I used no alternative worming regime "natural" or otherwise.  Bearing in mind that all my dogs go through a full worming regime until adulthood.

I left my Border Collie and 2 Bearded Collies a whole year without worming.  Faecal samples were sent to Langford.  No worm burden was found.  None at all.

In the USA most breeders don't even worm puppies unless fecal sampling shows they need it, and it is puppies and nursing and pregnant bitches that are the most likely to have them.

Mind you a lot of the adults will be on monthly heartworm preventative, such as Advocate known by another name.

I'm all for natural products that actually work, but the number of stories I hear about dogs contracting worms whilst on DE, and the stuff it hasn't treated, is silly.

One person told me they put a flea in a pot with the stuff, it's supposed to work by piercing the exoskeleton and drying it out (just the kind of thing I want in my dog) but the flea was still happy and hopping around I think days later.

Faecal sampling is a great tool, along with monitoring condition and behaviour, to tell whether you need to worm or not. Though how that translates to a puppy I'm not sure. But I wouldn't rely on DE.

Maybe the Verm x might be worth looking into then, seen as others have tried it with good results.

However you have no idea if it is the treatment keeping the dogs worm free or if they would be anyway. Would be interesting to NOT give anything at all and then test.

I agree with this Goldmali, vets scare people into thinking our dogs constantly have worms, they don't......not at all. We don't know if these natural wormers do work as there may not be any worms or fleas to start with, we do know that the chemical ones do but.......I actually do not agree with worming or using flea treatments on dogs all the time anyway.

I may stand alone in that, but I don't, our dogs do not have constant battles with worms and fleas.....as dog owners are led to believe.

I religiously worm puppies, but afterwards....... it is done sporadically, that is only for peace of mind as my dogs have never had worms and only once in 40+ years of dog ownership has a flea been spotted at my groomers, I will do both treatments when I know there is a big meet with other dogs.

Otherwise.......Our dogs are not crawling with fleas and worms all the time....so who knows if treatments are working or not?

I'm with you 100 % Carrington. I do worm but NOT as frequently as you "should" (other than with pups!) and I would never flea treat unless there were fleas! And despite having a large number of dogs AND cats, we don't have fleas.

Agree Carrington.  My Vet told me that most adult dogs will not have worms unless they have regular contact with young puppies and pregnant and nursing bitches.

If we concentrate on those an occasional worming is enough for adults.

As I no longer have a flea allergic dog I stopped using flea products routinely following a reaction to spot on after pet travel abroad.  I had previously used the spray version with no problem as it's more dilute, and you use more f it all over.

I will use a household spay with insect growth inhibitor, and as mien are only occasionally bathed Vetzyme insecticidal shampoo.

Again never had fleas with the dogs, though when grass was long in back garden a litter of pups picked up some hedgehog ticks,  Frontline spray on cotton wool and problem solved.

Living in THE hot spot for Lung worm and hearing of cases, I'm routinely worming.

> I may stand alone in that, but I don't, our dogs do not have constant battles with worms and fleas.....as dog owners are led to believe.

No argument from me here.  After 45 years owning dogs I've only seen fleas twice.  And have only wormed all the dogs when I've been breeding.  It seems such an unnecessary dosing for worms when you just don't seem to get them.

I fully appreciate that, for a lot of dog owners, that where the dogs are exercised may be relevant in making a decision on what regime is required.