Friday, September 21, 2012

The night my heart dropped... #petchat

how to get rid of fleas, ticks
I had a "parenting moment" one night several months ago. Yes, my fur babies. Baby Pom had been know, dragging his bottom along the floor. It was adorable and I didn't think much of it except that it was ridiculously cute, especially since he had that goofy smile the whole time too! Then it continued happening and it bothered me. So I had looked it up and had learnt that most of the time, it's due to impaction of the anal glands and that the glands needed to expressed. This is not for those with weak stomachs. However, it could also be due to worms. God, I hoped that wasn't the case.

So yes, I you-tubed how to express anal sacs, watched multiple videos, got everything ready and then set him up for it. Mind you, this was already 2AM when I was doing this. When I was all set up, I took a peek and thought to myself, "Am I really going to express his anal sacs? Seriously?!" Then my heart dropped as I thought, "Oh sh*t! Tell me I didn't see what I just thought I saw." A wriggling thin strip writhing it's way out of Baby Pom's bottom. It was a proglottid...a segment of a tapeworm that was shed containing thousands of eggs. baby had worms and it just had to be the typical tapeworm, judging from what I had just seen. It made no sense, I thought. What happened!? Since I have had him, he has never had any ticks or fleas. We put monthly preventatives on both JR and Baby Pom. I grew increasingly upset as I realized that probably meant JR may have worms as well. Then began the calls to the emergency vet. I didn't know how long the worms were there or why they chose to finally manifest themselves at that time. I couldn't sleep that night. I was worried sick about how long the worms had been there, how I could clean my home to get rid of any eggs laying around, and most of all, how I could get them healthy again. The weird thing is my babies never showed any signs of illness, which was probably a good thing.

The worst part about this whole story is where he got the worms from. It was before I even got him. When I got him, he was already "healthy" and flea-free. However, it would appear that prior to that, he might have had fleas as a pup, wherever he was raised and he probably accidentally swallowed one during that time. Sure, they dewormed him before I got him. Where was the problem then? The problem lay in what they used to deworm him. The dewormer used does NOT take care of the common tapeworm. So, it had been hiding in him all along. 36 hours later, I was exhausted but happy. I was lucky that all they needed was a dewormer tablet and everything went back to normal. By the way, before you freak, tapeworms cannot be transmitted dog to dog or dog to humans unless there is a flea intermediate host. The dogs have to ingest a flea that's carrying tapeworm eggs in order to develop the tapeworm. So, it really can't be passed on unlike some other parasites.
Frontline generic review
Ever since then, I've been more vigilant in doing the monthly tick and flea preventative treatments. Pet Armor is one of these tick and flea monthly treatments, trusted by vet Dr. Karen Halligan. Pet Armor is the approved generic equivalent of Frontline meaning that it consists of the same ingredients but is cheaper on the wallet. If there's no fleas, there's no chance of the babies swallowing a flea and getting worms again. It serves to kill existing fleas, tick and lice and prevent new ones. My babies currently don't have fleas or ticks so I can't tell you how well it works to kill them. However, if it helps to prevent any new infestations, I'm happy.

Buy ItShop online or in stores for Pet Armor products. Get $5 off any 2 packages with this coupon. Get educational materials at Petvocate.


Follow WOS:

                                                         Until next time,


Yipperbear said...[Reply]

lol. i've mentioned to you before i've been a pom breeder for almost 30 years. just want to add a couple of things if you don't mind. 1 kinda take it with a grain of salt if anyone tells you that you only need to treat once for tapes. it's usually best to retreat in case in eggs "hid from the first treatment. 2. although it is VITAL to treat monthly for fleas and ticks they can still jump on your dog. although if they try to feed they may still be ingested. for most adult dogs tapes are as much a nuisance as anything. 3. please treat monthly for hooks they are liver destroyers. an 8$ bottle will last your babies a year glad by comparison your pup ate a flea. one in a million ticks carry a bacteria that causes tick paralysis. ducky (although treated monthly) ate one of the one in a million ticks. blood tests, 3 medications multiple times a day and daily iv treatment saved her but you don't want to go there. if you or any of your readers have a pom question preciousyipperbear uses gmail. i never get more than 12 hours behind on my emails. (i enter too many giveaways to get behind in case i win lol) sorry so long

Jennifer S. said...[Reply]

OMG I give you so much credit for doing that yourself! I don't think I could, even though I feel like my dogs are my babies, too! I am going to have to check out this product.

Angela said...[Reply]

Oh gosh! I would be so afraid to do that for my own dogs. Sorry to hear that your 4 legged baby had worms. Monthly preventative heart worm and flea meds are so important for dogs.

Ellen said...[Reply]

Oh my I totally would have freaked out!


How awful! Poor dog!


Post a Comment

I'd love to hear your thoughts!