Deworming Meds

My rescue poodle who I brought home in July had fleas, hookworm and tapeworm.

We found the hookworm when he came down with diarrhea. The vet took a stool sample and it was found that way. He treated him with Interceptor, the same medication we give for heartworm.

At the time of the fecal exam and hookworm, tapeworm didn't show up.

I found out that fleas and tapeworm are related. The tapeworm didn't show up in the fecal exam because many times it's visualized, in other words you see rice like 'things' come out of their butt, get stuck in their fur, on their poop or in their bedding. Apparently, the vet didn't see any in his poop at the time.

I found a great website that decribes the life cycle of a tapeworm. I'll try and find it and post a link here.

In esscense, the way a dog (or anyone else) gets tapeworm is this way....
The tapeworm is long (6 inches or so) and attaches to the intestine by it's mouth only. As it grows, segments detach from the end and come out of thier butt. The segments are little packets filled with tapeworm eggs. The segments break open and FLEAS eat the eggs. When a dog eats a flea (by biting itself) infected with tapeworm larvae, the larvae hatches into a tapeworm in the dogs intestinal tract and attaches. That's the lifecycle. The only way you can get tapeworm is by eating an infected flea.

So in answer to you question about how to get them out of your house...you don't need to. You won't get them unless you eat an infected flea. You need to rid the dog of fleas and the lifecycle is stop.

Here's a link....it's not the original one I found, but give a good explanation:

http://www.whitneyveterinaryhospital.com/disease/tapeworm.html

I cut and paste this here from another site:

Keep your house clean. Vaccuum your carpeting and pourous surfaces regularly as well as areas that your pets frequent. Fleas and flea eggs can survive in carpeting for a long time, and while they are hard to find, by cleaning regularly you can reduce their numbers and prevent the cycle from happening once again. Tapeworms can be found crawling out or around the tail and hind end of the animal which turn into small brownish white rice shaped grains which are dried up tapeworms that contain the eggs which fleas then eat to get the tapeworm initially. By vacuuming and cleaning these up you greatly reduce the chances of more tapeworms.

Better to be safe than sorry. Just like with a flea infestation, I would clean just as thoroughly with a tape worm situation. It's your personal choice tho.

Yes, Fleas & Tapeworms do go hand in hand. It is very seldom detected in a poop sample.. but always good to get one at the same time to rule out any other parasites. Reinfection after 3 weeks is common (as my vet suggested) so be on the lookout.

Symptoms include the grains of rice, white wriggly worm like things, scooting, biting/licking, weight loss... you will know if something is wrong with your dog.

In Snoops' case he either got it from a) a past flea episode or b) licking on a dead mouse in the neighborhood or c) both

Be sure to have your pet on a monthly medication such as Interceptor (this does not cover tapeworm, but covers other worms/parasites), regular flea maintenance regime..

Tapeworm can also be transmitted to humans but as it was suggested to me on here before - you would either have to eat your pet's poop, or have mouth to butt contact of some sort.. or eat a flea. Ewww.
Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling your dog's poop, etc..
Tapeworm (in my experience) was completely manageable..a slight inconvenience but manageable