Internal parasite checks should be performed routinely on all dogs and cats. It is an important preventative health care tool to maintain the health of your pet. It is often perceived as unnecessary due to several myths that people have about internal parasites and their pets.

Common myths associated with internal parasites (worms):

Myth # 1

Since I do not see any worms when I check the stool of my pet regularly, my dog doesn't have any worms.

 Fact :   Most worms, including roundworms, pass microscopic eggs in the stool. The worms stay in the body where they thrive as adult parasites stealing nutrients from your pet. Therefore, while observation of the stool is helpful, it is not dependable for analyzing the worm problem in the pet. 

Exception: Tapeworms can be seen in stool periodically as short white segments. Puppies will pass long white worms (roundworms) in the stool if heavily infested.

Myth # 2

I used a general dewormer to be sure my pet is dewormed.

 Fact: There is not any all purpose dewormer. Many OTC dewormers are older dewormers that only kill selected worms and are only partially affective against the worms they are supposed to eliminate. It is important to know what type of worms your pet has in order to properly treat the problem.

Myth #3

My pet seems to be doing just fine, so the worms must not be causing any major problem.

 Fact: All worms are parasites. While it is true that some types of worms cause more harm than others, all steal from your pet.

Myth # 4

There is not any concern about these parasites affecting our family.

Fact: While it is not common for parasites to infect human families, under the right situation, they will infect people. 

Recommendations

The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) is a non-profit organization of veterinarians and parasitologists dedicated to protecting your family and your pets from parasites and zoonotic disease (the spread of disease from animals to people). The CAPC recommends that veterinarians conduct fecal examinations two to four times during the first year of life and one to two times per year in adults, depending on the patient's health and lifestyle factors. In addition, the routine use of a board spectrum combination heartworm and internal parasite preventatives such as Interceptor in dogs and Revolution in cats should be used year around. (While these are the best preventatives on the the market, they still only eliminate the most common parasites our pets may contract. Hence, the need to combine with routine internal parasite checks is still necessary.)