My dog is weak, has worms, and skin issues. What can I give him?

Hello, there are multiple different medications for different type of parasites. Parasites of the skin may include fleas, lice, ticks, or mites. You would need to differentiate between these type of parasites to determine which medication is needed. Hope this help and best of luck.

Skin parasites can range from ticks/fleas where I would suggest a flea/tick preventive such as Seresto collar, Capstar or Bravecto. Bravecto is an oral medication that off-label can also protect from mange and mites. Bravecto can be ordered by your vet and the collar or topical flea/tick preventive is over the counter in the USA. Hope this helps! -Dr. Gordon

Young puppies have to be dewormed every two weeks until they are three months of age, then dewormed every month until they are six months of age. After that, they should be dewormed every three months. Your breeder probably did deworm Patch, but it can take at least two treatments for all the worms to be killed. The first kills the adults already present, while the second kills the ones that had not yet hatched at the time of the first deworming treatment. He will be ok until Thursday, but if he does start having diarrhea or vomiting (heavy burdens of worms can cause this), I would take him into the vet sooner. As for the sores on his skin, that could be due to fleas. If he isn't up to date on his flea treatments, you will need to treat him for fleas. First, I would give him Capstar. It's a one time pill that starts killing fleas within 30 minutes. Then follow up with a spot on treatment, such as Advantage or Revolution. This is a treatment that has to be used once a month. You will also have to disinfect the environment. Wash his bedding in hot soapy water, and vacuum the furniture and carpet surfaces. You can use a spray to kill fleas in the house, such as Indorex, or a flea bomb would work well to kill the fleas in the home.

The dewormer i usually recommend is called Drontal plus, bear in mind that unlike the flea/tick products, dewormers do not protect your dog from future infestation, it only kills the worms on spot. for fleas and ticks i usually recommend Bravecto tablet or Advantix spot on. all these medications are considered to be high quality and safe.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It looks like Bruce’s feces has tapeworm proglottids (or sections) in it. These are transmitted by fleas (when dogs eat them) which are likely to be causing Bruce’s itching. I recommend starting him on a monthly flea control product such as FrontLine and a flea shampoo. He should be seen by a vet to confirm the presence of tapeworms and receive appropriate deworming. Your vet can also examine Bruce for any other underlying conditions that may be causing these symptoms. You should bring a stool sample from your puppy to speed up the diagnosis. I hope this helps and that Bruce gets better soon!

It really depends on the type of worms he has. Different worms require different treatment, so I always recommend that you only give deworming medication as directed by your veterinarian for the best outcome. Below is a link to an article with more information about worms. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/internal-parasites-in-dogs I hope that helps and all is well with your dog.

From that description, it sounds like he may have tape worms. The heartworm test doesn't test for tapeworms (or any intestinal parasites) and the medication is heartgard wouldn't kill tapeworms. A fecal test doesn't always show the worm eggs either for this particular type of parasite. I'd recommend giving your clinic a call to see what they policies are - you may be able to pick up medications from the description alone, or they many need you to schedule an appointment. Finally, make sure Buddy is on a good flea preventative -- he got the tapeworms from eating a flea. He could definitely have just found it outside, but it's worth mentioning!