I wormed all my dogs this morning at about 10.30 and since 2pm one of them has been very very sick - loads of partailly undigested food. She's only a small terrier and I am amazed at how much she has brought up.

Is this likely to be just from the drontal? if so surely I'll need to re worm her?

All other dogs fine and they all get wormed every 3 months.

I used drontal on my boys a couple of months ago and one of my boys was very quiet, the other was sick for a couple of days and lost quite a lot of his coat.

I usually worm naturally, with 4 seasons wormer and feed garlic and vit b in their diet which prevents worms.

I only used the drontal as I knew they had been playing with a dog that had worms.  I think it is much better to worm naturally, the chemicals in wormers are quite strong.

well she's totoally fine today so it must have been the wormer. Will maybe use a different one next time or go down the natural route.

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but what are the natural wormers you recommend?

I use 4 seasons wormer, but pumpkin seeds in the diet and garlic also help protect them.
I get mine from here: http://www.holisticpetsupplies.co.uk/

Is garlic not for fleas?  I can understand how something like that might deter a paracite opting to make a home amongst a pelt but intestinal worms are a different matter.  The paracite is not exercising choice it is ingested or, more relevently here, the host is infected via its mother's blood and milk.  To kill another living creature you, unfortunately, are going to need a chemical capable of doing that.

Fleas can transmit worms from host to host though can they not? I've probably gone and got myself confuzzled.

> Fleas can transmit worms from host to host though can they not?

In a roundabout sort of way.  Fleas eat the eggs of worms and can be ingested by the dog when it grooms itself but this is not the only way that worms are ingested so detering fleas in itself will not stop your dog getting worms.

Yes I use garlic for fleas and the 4 seasons and pumpkin seeds for worms. 

Have you ever had a dog that definitely had worms though? if not you won't know if the natural treatment is working or if you're just worming dogs without any worms to start with. Same thing with the garlic for fleas.

Yes you are right, I don't know, I just know they haven't had fleas or worms and this is what I use to protect them. 

I don't use anything but mine don't have fleas or worms either. :) Just feel it might be a bit dangerous to use this type of treatment when there IS a problem. Like Isabel says, it does need strong chemicals to kill off unfortunately. Which is why I don't use anything unless there IS a problem -and unless I have a pregnant bitch and young pups, of course.

Just feel it might be a bit dangerous to use this type of treatment when there IS a problem.
Well you could be right here as I used drontal after my boys had been around I dog that had got worms, I needed to be sure.  But there is no way I would use anything like drontal on a regular basis, I know lots of people use wormers and flea treatments every 3 months, which I think is dangerous.  So, I feed garlic and vit b to prevent fleas, and the 4 seasons to prevent worms.

> and unless I have a pregnant bitch and young pups, of course.

I think it would be criminal not to use a product that has been properly tested with sound evidence and licenced for use when breeding as this is a serious threat to puppies.  If people want to try different things with an adult that is up to them I suppose but they really do not know if it is just down to luck that their animal has not been infected.

I do believe that litters should be wormed using products prescribed by the vet, but as you say, once the dog has been through the worming programme as a puppy then I feel it safer to use more gentle preventatives. 

My last dog was wormed every 3 months and had a chemical flea treatment every 3 months (no fleas or worms) but the vet recommended I follow that programme and I blindly followed.

I do think it is worth looking at alternatives and using a more gentle approach, of course sometimes you migh just have to use a chemical wormer but I wouldn't use them as preventatives as I was advised to do with my last dog.

If I wasn't using a product that had been tested and licenced for it's efficacy I think I would not bother at all, which is what I do for fleas.  "Natural" remedies are also chemicals and are not without side effects and, generally, have no evidence to support their efficacy so, apart from minor conditions, ears, skin that sort of thing, where you can actually observe results yourself, I personally would not bother and save my money :-)  Of course, if you want to invest in a microscope and have a scrape about yourself..:-D

No chemicals in garlic, pumpkin seeds, b vits or 4 seasons wormer :)

There may not be laboratory refined chemicals but they certainly contain chemicals.  Without chemicals, if something was totally inert, you could not hope to have any effect on the body at all and any effect always means the possibility of unwanted effects.