Dog Drugs to Kill Internal Parasites

Some of the worms that infest pets are flat worms (pathologists) and round worms (emollients). The drugs used to eradicate these worms are called antifeminist. This class of drugs is of vital importance to us all, since the most prevalent group of diseases which pets contract is caused by worms and external parasite infestation.

Most of the effective worm medicines cannot be purchased legally over-the-counter. They are prescription preparations that drugstores do not carry, which force the veterinarian to maintain supplies to dispense. This is necessary since with one exception each of the more effective preparations has specific problems associated with it. Your veterinarian will explain them to you.

Several of these drugs are given by injection. As some must not be administered to a dog with heart worms, a blood test for these parasites must prove negative before the medication can be safely given. No worm medicine is nap percent effective n.00 percent of the time, so don't be alarmed if one treatment is not successful. For example, tapeworm medication will digest the bodies of the worms but occasion-ally will not destroy the tapeworm heads. The remaining head requires about three weeks to develop into an eighteen-inch worm, which will start shedding terminal segments again, so it behooves you to watch freshly passed stools for new segments, the evidence needed to rewrote dog.

Dog Drugs to Kill External Parasites

Dozens of drugs can be used to kill insects, but some of them will kill mammals, including humans, if misused. The dangerous long-lived environmental polluters have been outlawed but many organophosphate still around. They are effective and sometimes spectacular in the sudden death of fleas when applied. Ticks arc difficult to kill and these products are useful; but for fleas you can use an old product, rotenone,which has a short life. Although it docs take longer to kill a flea, the flea is just as dead as if it were killed instantly by more dangerous drugs.

Rotenone and related resins are obtained from the roots of tropical plants, notably derris in the East Indies and cube in South and Central America; it is one of the most potent insect killers known. Pets can ea tit in small amounts, usually with no ill effects. It is more poisonous if inhaled, and is especially so if it gets into fresh open cuts.

Rotenone also kills fish. If you use it, don't allow rotenone to blow into the water in a fishpond. And don't allow a dog dusted for flea infestation to swim in water with fish in it.

Rotenone in dusts, diluted to i percent, is probably as safe a flea and louse powder as anything one could ask for. No dog should be put in closed box and dusted, since it is then forced to breathe the dust. It is hard to believe that pets could be so mistreated, but they often are by people who want to keep the powder off their clothes.

Dog Drugs Applied to Skin

The person who did not own pets B.S.D. (before sulfa drugs) cannot possibly appreciate what their discovery has meant to pet owners. True, most sulfa drugs are outdated and most are being replaced for some purposes by the antibiotics, but veterinary medicine is now a far happier profession because of them.

The first to be discovered was sulfanilamide. Shortly thereafter unfounded claims were made for it as a cure all; it was said to be a specific for coccid, viruses, including distemper in dogs, and all kinds of bacteria. But further research showed that its field was very narrow that it killed only a limited number of bacteria and was ineffectual against viruses, coccid, warts, bad disposition, or in growing toe-nails! Moreover, it killed some patients.

One sulfa drug after another appeared for many years until so many shortcomings were observed that most have quietly faded away. How-ever, a few remain and are lifesavers. Others are returning to be used with other drugs much more effectively than by themselves.

Powdered sulfa drugs are often sifted into surgical incisions and wounds, where they are of great help. Now they are being used in solutions, such as in propylene glycol, and poured into inaccessible wounds where they often prove to he true miracle drugs.

Dog Drugs and the Reproductive System

Nearly every pet owner has wondered what drug he or she could use to advantage in some particular phase of a pet's reproduction cycle.ould males be made to stay home if certain drugs were fed to them?Could other drugs cause a bitch to dry up? Could a female hunting dog have her heat period postponed by drugs? Could anything be used to stop the undesirable results of a misdating? In each case, the answer is yes, and in these matters the veterinarian can often be of great assistance.

In the Male. Male dog have had all manner of drugs fed to them and injected into them to make them fertile and eager to mate. Some drugs make matters worse. There was a vogue for using testosterone until it became apparent that it was making dog sterile instead of fertile.

Several preparations have been used in attempts to encourage re-tai ned testicles to descend to their normal locations. It should be men-toned that retained testicles arc a genetic anatomical defect not influenced by medicinal products.

In the Female. Starting with preparation for breeding, certain vitamins are essential for reproduction. Chief of these is vita-min A. Vitamin E is essential for rats; despite the testimonials you may have seen to the contrary, it has not been demonstrated as necessary for other species.

What can you do if your bitch is bred by accident to an undesirable male? If she has been bred during the very first part of the acceptance period, breed her at once to the desired male. Then breed her every other day as long as she will accept him. The chances are good that her pups will be sired by the proper male. Of course, it will be necessary to observe the results for some months to be assured the resulting puppies are from the chosen mating's.