what happens if you give a dog too much wormer?

You must be aware of the fact that dog worms are common in our environment. Even healthy dogs have some percent of worms present within them. Dog, go outside, eats or smell suspicious items, roll over the dirt, and catch these worms. Some of the worms are even transmitted by flies, insects, and mosquitoes. Nearly all dogs may have some worms in their bodies.

A small percentage of such worms may not affect the health of the dogs. However larger and dangerous types of the parasite may drastically affect the intestines of your dog and make them severely ill or bring loss in their appetite. For all such reasons deworming of the dog is necessary. Below are some of the common worms found in dogs-

Hookworms:

Such parasite possesses hook type of teeth due to which they have been given such names. They tend to stick to the intestinal wall of your dog and can lay hundreds of eggs within a few days. Hookworms are generally found in wet soil and grass from where your dog can catch these worms.

Roundworms

Such worms are found in puppies are also available in feces and contaminated soil. They are easily transmitted through mother’s milk to puppies. So puppies generally require a deworming process to stop the spread of such worms. Symptoms of such worms include vomiting, lethargy, swelling in the stomach, colic, etc

TapeWorms

They are one of the longest breeds of worms and you may have noticed their segmented structure. They are usually found on the fur and anus of the dog. Such worms are transmitted through fleas. The eggs of the tapeworm can also survive on the soil and your dog can take them while licking its paw soon after their walk. Severe abdominal pains in dogs are often caused by tapeworms followed by vomiting.

Whipworms:

: Similar to tapeworms these worms are also present in soil and may enter if your dog licks the soil. This worm possesses the capability to lead to diarrhea in your dogs.

Heartworms:

: Such worms are quite dangerous if you do not treat them at an early stage. If such worms spread in the body of your dog they start attacking the lungs and heart of your dog. Heartworms are spread by mosquitoes and you should give monthly pills to your dog to save them from this dangerous parasite. Of all the above worms these worms can be detected through a blood test.

Once the worms are killed they are excreted by the dog through its poop. Sometimes worms are not seen in the feces of your dogs that do not mean that the treatment has failed as it is not mandatory. So do not overdose them with more medicines thinking that the medicines have not worked yet. You can consult your vet if you have any doubts regarding this. For such dogs who like to eat whatever comes between their walk, deworm them at least 1-3 months.

Can Too Much Deworming Treatment Kill a Dog?

It is not likely that the worming treatment may kill an adult dog but it can kill a puppy depending on circumstances. The deworming medicines are tested by varying the concentrations to see the damage they do to the body of the dog if exceeded. There is a wide difference between dosing and overdosing to affect the health of the dog. Moreover, the dog might likely die due to the infections present in the worms than the treatment.

There is one possibility of severe infection that can cause problems to your dog due to deworming but such a situation rarely occurs. You may witness vomiting, diarrhea as symptoms of overdose. But in case of actual anaphylactic overdose, the dogs are unable to breathe properly as their air pipe swells thus reducing the amount of air they intake.

Below are some of the common mistakes that dog owners do while deworming their dogs,

Not Revising the Dog’s medicines after some Days:

The owners need to revise the dog’s medicines after few days. Deworming process in dogs is generally through oral practice and forgetting to give medicines to your dogs will waste the entire session of the deworming process. These medicines stay in the dog’s body for only a few hours and care should be taken to provide them another dose of medicines frequently. Some medicines even stay in the dog’s body for a month. So take the information about the medicines from your vet.

Keep a Track on Dog’s Weight during the entire deworming session:

Maximum of dogs tend to lose weight when they have worms. So it is essential to keep track of the dog’s weight and give the medicines accordingly. Make sure to match the ratio between the number of medicines and the weight of your dog to prevent overdose. This is also the answer to your question about how much dewormer to give a puppy to prevent overdose.

Medicines Varies as per Worms:

It is common for dog owners to misunderstand that any anti-worm medicine is enough to cure all types of worms in dogs. But this is not completely true. Every medicine is designated to treat any particular worm. The best way to prevent worming in the dog is to give your dog a germ-free and healthy environment. 

Never depend on Dog to take medicines:

Dogs are just like kids they do not like to take medicines voluntarily. They may spit the medicine out of their mouth in front of you or after some time. To prevent this you should insert the medicine deep inside their mouth so that it goes in and also hold your dog’s mouth so that they might not spit out. One option is to select such medicines that can be applied from outside similar to cream.

Deworm Every Pet of Your House At The Same Time:

Pet owners usually deworm only that pet in which they see symptoms of worms. But you should know the fact that such worms might have spread to all the pets before you have noticed symptoms in one pet. So it is better to deworm all your pets at the same time to control the worms.

Never try Deworming process by yourself:

Never try to become a vet by yourself and start the deworming process of your dog. Deworming of dogs is a tricky process and the only vet can understand the type of worm and its exact process and medicines to cure.

• Most of the adult dogs required deworming once every three months. 
• Adult dogs have a fully matured immune system and can bear the burden of worms and they are also intelligent enough to eat only selected and healthy items.
• Puppies can catch worms before their birth or through their mother’s milk in case their mother has worms. Even if you see a healthy puppy they may have some worms in their intestinal tract. Moreover, they like to eat whatever comes in their way and so are more prone to worms.
• As per the above situation of puppies should be dewormed at a minimum of two weeks of their age and consequently after two weeks until they reach six months of their age.
• Soon after six months, you will not witness any worms in your puppy‘s bodies if you follow the above plan.

Just remember that never give your dog more than the recommended dose of such anthelmintic and take the advice of your vet regarding what happens if you give a dog too much wormer.