Puppy throwing up

[Frightchen]

I don't know whether I should be more panicked; my head says I probably shouldn't worry (yet), but I just wanted to check with you all.

Pup's now 7 1/2 months old; about 11kg and generally a happy, energetic chap. For various reasons I had to get him wormed at fairly short notice. I would usually get him the drontal tablets, but my local petshop only had Bob Martin or Beaphar. As I've heard fewer bad things about Beaphar, I got theirs and gave him two tablets (the instructions were 1 tablet for every 10kg; so a dog of 10.1-20kg should have two. he had the two tablets yesterday evening (Tues 22nd at about 8pm)

Since then he's been fine - normal appetite etc, up until this evening. he ate about 75% of his dinner at 6:30 and didn't want the rest. He'd eaten all his lunch and isn't the most food oriented dog, so I wasn't concerned. Then at 9ish he threw up what appeared to be all his dinner (partially digested), and has thrown up little bits more since then, ending up with clear liquid (bile?) coming up.

I've offered him water and he's had a little bit. He still seems to be acting like normal, and has now curled up next to me and is sleeping.

Could this be a reaction to the wormer? Has anyone else had this sort of response 24hrs after administering? My mum walked him today and he was on lead for the whole walk so hasn't eaten anything horrid/different to normal, but he does like to chew things so I'm not ruling out his having eaten something he shouldn't have.

If he's still throwing up/off his food tomorrow I'll be taking him to the vets, I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance in the meantime.

[Frightchen]

Looks like he picked the wrong night to be poorly - the whole place is quite distracted!!! Not to mention that it's stupidly late and all the sensible folk are sleeping!

Anyway, he's still happily dreaming, no more signs of vomiting, and he doesn't appear to be upset or uncomfortable in any way. Will get myself some sleep and prepare him some chicken and rice in the morning so he can have a day or two on bland food.

[Tillypo]

Wouldn't be too worried at the moment it could be the tablets. But it could also be the little fella is just feeling off. Make sure he takes in water so he dosen't become dehydrated. If he brings back the chicken and rice you could try him with some scrambled eggs.

[Frightchen]

Thanks Tillypo I felt a bit silly the yesterday for writing such a looooong post! He had chicken for breakfast yesterday, turned down lunch and dinner, but then ate something later in the evening. He's never been too enthused about food, so that was all fairly normal for him. Today he's in the office with me and is bright, lively and generally back to normal. And we won't be buying the cheap wormers again.

[Tillypo]

Glad he is feeling better. Might cause some controversy here but I don't actually worm my dogs. As I have been told that the tablets only work if they have worms. I haven't wormed them for four years and they have never had them.

[Frightchen]

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't normally do it unless I saw a reason to. It's just because I was filling out the paperwork required to take him into my office, and they require worming...

[idirdog]

Dogs often do not show symptoms but still can have worms. If your dog is showing symptoms of worms you have a pretty bad case.

As worms can be transferred to humans and children I think it is a better policy to regularly treat dogs to regular worming treatment. The worms can cause major injury and even blindness is humans. I think dog owners have a responsibility to prevent this.

Apparently 20% of land in the UK has worm eggs on it

Some worms will kill your dog is is really worth the risk?

Most dog organisations will recommend a regular worming protocol.

Wormers bought over the counter eg Bob Martin etc are not effective so you do need to discuss this with your vet, either drontal or milbemax would be better.

[Tillypo]

My dogs are tested for worms every six months and the test always come back negative. It costs £6.50 for each dog to be tested.

[idirdog]

Has the lungworm test improved then - it did not used to be 100% reliable?

[Bakingtins]

You will not be getting a lungworm test for £6.50. I suspect that is just looking for worm eggs in a faecal smear. Tablet wormers do not prevent lungworm anyway unless you use milbemax monthly. You need to use advocate spot on for lungworm prevention.
However, I completely agree with idirdog that it is part of responsible dog ownership to regularly worm your dog particularly for toxocara. If the dog was positive on a test they could have been spreading the eggs for 6 months already.
I'm not sure what was meant by "wormers only work if they have worms"? that seems self-evident.
OP I hope your puppy is back to bouncing.

[Tillypo]

Well if it seems self evident then why worm your dogs when they haven't got worms. Seems pretty obvious to me. I am a responsible dog owner they are tested every six months I could do it every month if wanted it is my choice. A test has never come back positive and if it does then you worm them the retest. It's easy to critcise people from the other end of a computer.

[idirdog]

No criticism just that on a public forum it is important that the correct information is given out.

The only guaranteed way to ensure your dogs do not have worms (that can cause health issues to others) is to regularly worm them using good quality wormers.

Worms that can kill your own dogs often give no symptoms and are not picked up on the test until it is too late and your dogs life is at risk.

If more owners regularly wormed their dogs then that would minimise the amount of egg contamination in the environment

In my eyes it is not worth the risk.

[Tillypo]

My point is many people are under the impression that worming tablets prevent worms they do not. They only kill the worms if your dog has them.

[Bakingtins]

That's absolutely correct, Tillypo, they don't prevent worms. If there are no worms at any stage of their life cycle the wormer will not do anything. The point is you can't know that - by the time you see any evidence then there is an established infestation.