Tapeworms in dogs or cats are not uncommon. If you’ve ever noticed white segmented worms or pieces of worms (look like pieces of rice or cucumber seeds) in your dog or cat’s stool, those are most probably tapeworms.  Another symptom is itchiness of the anus or ‘skooting’ their anus across the floor.

Dogs most often get infected by swallowing fleas which have eaten tapeworm eggs from infected dog’s faeces. The tapeworm then takes up residence in your dog’s intestine, consuming the food he eats. They can grow to many metres in length and can be very dangerous if they migrate to other parts of the body.

You can confirm the diagnosis by getting your vet to analyse a stool sample.

It is very important to treat the tapeworm infestation as soon as possible. Because of the harm it can do to your dog and also because the tapeworm can easily be transmitted to humans, especially children. Both natural and pharmaceutical remedies are very effective in treating the condition. The choice as to which route to take, is up to the individual after consulation with the vet.

Our dewormer, Cleansing Formula, contains pumpkin seeds, cloves, wormwood and garlic. Each of these herbs has been shown to be highly effective against tapeworms and other parasites.

Pumpkin Seeds

Curcurbitin is a fatty substance which occurs in pumpkin seeds. It has a paralysing effect on the tapeworm, causing it to drop off the intestinal wall. It is also toxic to parasite eggs.

Cloves

Caryophyllene and Eugenol are absorbed into the blood stream when cloves rare ingested by your pet. They travel around, killing microscopic parasites and parasitic larvae and eggs.

Wormwood

Wormwood is a very powerful natural weapon against tapeworm. It contains thujone, isothujone, santonin and sesquiterpene lactones all of which are deadly to most parasites. It can be dangerous when taken in large doses , so please do not exceed the recommended dosage of Cleansing Formula.

Garlic

Garlic does have anthelminthic properties, but the main reason I included it is for its ability to fight infection. An animal infected by worms is an animal susceptible to infection. Garlic, I hope, will help to guard against this.

In addition we have added a probiotic, in order to stabilise the gut flora and Dandelion as a gentle laxative in order to assist with the expulsion of the dead parasites and their eggs.

Care must be taken when using this product. Unlike the other herbal pet products, this product is strong. We recommend using it for ten days only. This is more than sufficient to kill and expel the parasites. We also don’t recommend using it in young animals or for pregnant or lactating or diseased pets.

REFERENCES:

1. Efficacy of garlic as an anthelmintic in adult Boer goats, Worku Mulumebet, Franco R., Baldwin K., Archives of Biological Sciences 2009 Volume 61, Issue 1, Pages: 135-140.
2. Effect of Artemisia herba-alba Extracts on the Dwarf Tape Worm Hymenolepis nana in the White Mouse. Ahmed M. Al-Moussawi, Furhan T. Mhaisen, Karim H.Rasheed.
3. Anthelmintic activity of the white wormwood, Artemisia herba-alba against Heterakis gallinarum infecting turkey poults Shaker A. Seddiek, Mohamed M. Ali, Hanem F. Khater and Mohamed M. El-Shorbagy.
4. Oates, Liza. Complementary medicines for intestinal parasites [online].Australian Pharmacist, Vol. 31, No. 2, Feb 2012: 132-135.
5. Eugenia caryophyllata Thunberg (Family Myrtaceae): A Review. Jitender Singh*, Anupama Baghotia and SP Goel  Sachdeva College of Pharmacy, Gharuan, Mohali, Punjab, India.
6. http://www.markusrothkranz.com/parasitefree/parasite_free.html
7. Usefulness of pumpkin seeds combined with areca nut extract in community-based treatment of human taeniasis in northwest Sichuan Province, China. Acta Tropica, Vol 124, Issue 2, November 2012, Pages 152-157. Tiaoying Lia, Akira Itob, Xingwang Chena, Changping Longc, Munehiro Okamotod, Francis Raoule, Patrick Giraudouxe, Tetsuya Yanagidab, Minoru Nakaob, Yasuhito Sakob, Ning Xiaoa, Philip S. Craigf.
8. African Cucurbita pepo L.: properties of seed and variability in fatty acid composition of seed oil. Y.M.H Younisa, Seniat Ghirmayb,  S.S Al-Shihryc. Phytochemistry Volume 54, Issue 1, 1 May 2000, Pages 71-75.