Drontal range

How worms affect your dog and how you can treat the problem

Dogs in the UK may be infected with around a dozen different types of intestinal worm.
It is not always easy to spot the symptoms, and as your vet will tell you, that's why it's best to use Drontal at least every three months to prevent any serious worm infection.

Drontal is the only wormer to kill every type of intestinal worm commonly found in UK dogs – which is why vets prescribe it more often than all other wormers put together!

For dogs

Drontal Plus Flavour
For 20 years, Drontal Plus Flavour as been overwhelmingly vets' first line choice of wormer.

Like all Drontal tablets, it works with a single dose, and can be given with or without food. For dogs, the new artificial beef flavour makes it less like a treatment, and more like a treat!

Drontal Plus XL
Because a St. Bernard may weigh 20 times more than a Chihuahua, worming big dogs used to require as many as 6 tablets. Not any more! With Drontal Plus XL, you can worm a 35 kg dog with just one tablet.

Drontal Oral Suspension for Puppies
Unweaned puppies are hardly ever infected with tapeworms, but they are particularly at risk from roundworms, transmitted both via their mother’s milk and from other pups in the litter. That’s why puppies should be wormed every fortnight, up to 12 weeks of age. And with its highly palatable, easily administered liquid formulation, Drontal Puppy Suspension is ideal.

Types of worms

If you thought that intestinal worms were all alike, you couldn't be more wrong! There are around a dozen different species which can infect cats and dogs in the UK, and they range in size from just a few millimetres to a frightening five metres!

Causes of worm infection

Nature has given worms many ways of surviving and multiplying, many of them almost unbelievably complicated. But however improbable these strategies may seem, they are highly successful – so successful, in fact, that it is safe to say that a dog which is never treated is virtually certain to be infected with worms at some time in its life.

The main causes of infection are:

Fleas
Scavenging
Contaminated soil
Mother's Milk

Symptoms of worm infection

It’s not always easy to determine whether a dog is infected with worms. The most obvious sign is “scooting” – that is, dragging its bottom along the ground. This may indicate tapeworm infection. The dog does it because the egg filled segments shed by the mature tapeworms are expelled via the anus and irritate the dog's bottom.

To avoid worms reaching maturity and affecting your pet's health, and to reduce public health risks, you should worm your pet regularly. Worming with Drontal at least every three months will reduce this risk, but your vet will be able to evaluate your pet's and your family's requirements and advise you on a specific worming routine.

Heavy roundworm infections may cause a distended stomach – particularly noticeable in puppies. And almost any type of intestinal worm can cause vomiting or diarrhoea.

In general, though, by the time symptoms are visible, the worms have reached maturity, and are already damaging your dog’s health. That’s why it’s far better to follow veterinary advice on a specific worming routine, before the symptoms become obvious.

Treatment

Unfortunately, there is no tablet or injection you can give a dog which will prevent worm infection. The best you can do is to kill any worms which may be present, on a regular basis. To avoid worms reaching maturity and affecting your pet's health, and to reduce public health risks, you should worm your pet with Drontal regularly.

Worming at least every three months will reduce this risk, but ask your vet who will be able to evaluate your pet's health and your family's requirements and advise you on a specific worming routine for your pet.