Hi Guys,

Does anyone have their dogs faeces tested for worms before worming?  Is it accurate?  Does the vet do it or does the sample have to be sent to a lab?  Does it cover all worms that a wormer would treat?  And have you found on the basis of that test, you didn't have to give your dog treatment for worming?  Would really appreciate your thoughts. :-)

The dog would only be excreting eggs once the worms were mature enough to breed but if you could live with that I don't see why you could not invest in a microscope and learn to spot them yourself.  I'm sure any vet would do this inhouse but not sure what they would charge for the service maybe about £20 for preparing the slide and viewing it but only guessing.

You can ask for a worm count from your vet, many horse owners do this.  Most vets in the UK send samples away for testing, no worms found, you may decide not to worm.

However, even if you do worm, your dog can still contract worms the day after.  I don't have a problem with a small worm burden, recent studies show that a few worms can actually be healthy for some people, a lot depends on where you live, the type of worms that are endemic and the state of health your dog is in, its age and what it eats.......

Certainly from reading the US breed list I am on they seem to do a lot less routine worming of dogs once adult, and even as puppies nearly all having faces tested first.

In general the fndings indicate a lot less worming is needed than the Vets and manufacturers woudl ahve us beleive.

I suspect though that stool testing will be far more expensive here than the wormer.

Seems that way here as well B/L :)

Don`t see why it should be more expensive than worming tabs, they don`t come cheap do they.

£2 each, I think. :)

I was wrong. :rolleyes: Maximum price online is £1.77/10k bodyweight per single tablet (cheaper the more you buy).

Probably to encourage sales of wormer by making testing offputting by price.

Yes me :)

My vet does it & its accurate enough for him to tell me my dogs are worm free & don`t need worming :)

Haven`t used a wormer for 5yrs now :D

Thanks everyone :-)