Worming tablets issues

Hi all, unfortunately my little Shih-tzu refuses to swallow worming tablets. I tried to break the tablet in small pieces and hide them into all sorts of foods including tasty cheese but unfortunately she always manages to detect the smell and separate the tablets from the food. is there anything else I can do? I am currently using Drontal and can’t find any liquid version either for a 4kg dog. is worming even necessary given that the dog is always indoors a part from a few walks a day? thank you in advance

Hello!  You may like an article from our blog, called something along the lines of:  Giving medication to pets.  There is a search function to help you to find it.  At least, you will see that you are not alone! My approach with a Shih Tzu would be to ask someone to hold them as described in the article, then place my thumb on the inside roof of its mouth, inside the teeth.  This makes it hard for a dog to close their mouth and gives me a couple of seconds to push the tablet over the top of the tongue, as far to the back of the throat as I  can with a single finger. However, it isn't easy.  Most vets will happily book a dog into the nurses clinic to be wormed by a professional (after all, vets shouldn't ask members of the public to do something we wouldn't do easily ourselves).  Always clarify in advance what the fee would be for this, as it varies from nothing to the price of a worm-check consultation. Another alternative would be to try eg a liquid or spot on wormer, but always do this through your vet in order to ascertain that it has a veterinary license and would work, and that it can be safely given alongside any existing flea treatment.

Often, if asked, a vet would order liquid wormer in for you if they don't usually stock it.

Have a search for Worms in the blog.  I wrote some articles called Worm Tales at one point, but there are others there now which might be better suited to your purpose. In short however, worms can get into houses on your shoes; a survey of British doormats front found worms on some of them.  A dog doesn't have to luck a dog poo to catch worms; they can be found on the grass.  One worm, Toxocara Canis, has public health implications as it can make people blind.  For this reason, worming is generally thought to be a good idea.

My apologies:  A dog doesn't have to LICK a dog poo to catch worms.    (Soil often contains work eggs or larva).      We cannot delete posts once we've made them on this blog, which is good because we vets are accountable for whatever we say; on the other hand, I'm afraid that my typo has to stay there.