Intestinal Parasites in Pets

Intestinal parasites can be spread to dogs and cats through contact with an infected animal or from ingestion or physical contact with contaminated stool or soil. Parasite prevention is a vital aspect of maintaining the overall health and well-being of both dogs and cats and each month that a pet gets their oral or topical heartworm preventative, they are being dewormed against any intestinal parasites they have come into contact with in the previous month. Parasite prevention not only keeps your pet safe but also prevents them from spreading parasites to you or other pets. If a pet is found to be positive for an intestinal parasite, we will deworm them with a specific dewormer tailored to the type of infection they have. It is extremely important that we always recheck a stool sample 3 weeks later to be sure the infection has resolved. In some cases, 2-3 rounds of deworming is needed and we do not know if that is necessary if a stool is not rechecked after treatment.