INTUSSUSCEPTION AND RECTAL PROLAPSE IN PUPPIES: A SEQUELAE TO IMPROPER DEWORMING

Dogs are hosts for wide varieties of worms which includes round worms , tape worms, whip worms  and hook worms. This mainly happen due to the natural behavior of licking, sniffing and snatching any thing on their path like stones, trash, poops and all inanimate objects.

Many times deworming  in pet practice may fail due to improper selection of dewormers , improper dosage and improper procedure of drug administration.

Signs of worms in dogs include Pica or eating inanimate objects , scrotching or rubbing the anus in ground and increased peristaltic movements of intestine , diarrhea and rough hair coat.






















It is a common practice among vets to correct the rectal prolapse manually just by pushing the prolapse mass.  But it is pertinent to mention that CHRONIC RECURRENT RECTAL PROLAPSE MAY BE A SEQUELAE TO AN INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION AND IN WORM INFESTATIONS THIS MAY BE DUE TO AN INTUSSUSCEPTION.

Chronic worm infestations can lead to hypermotility resuting in Torsion, volvulus or intususseption of intestines. Torsion is the rotation of intestines in their own axis. Volvulus is rotation of intestines in mesenteric axis. Where as intussusception is the telescoping of one portion of intestine to other .

Rectal prolapse is the protrusion of the rectum. The codition may arise from hyper motility of intestines. Chronic rectal prolapse is condition in which the rectum get prolapsed and every time an attempt to push it back in position leads to recurrence. The main cause of chronic rectal prolapse may be intestinal obstruction resulting from intussusception.

                  This 4 month old puppy was presented with chronic rectal prolapse nit responsive to medical

treatment. 

According to the owner he had never dewormed the pup and that the pup was eating mud and stones .It had severe diarrhea and scrotching. C ARM imaging revealed hard firm mass on caudal colon .An exploratory laparotomy revealed complicated intussusception at ileo-caeco-colic junction. The condition was difficult to be corrected and hence enterectomy followed by entero anastomoses was performed.  

YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO OF CHRONIC RECTAL PROLAPSE COMPLICATED WITH INTUSSUSCEPTION IN A PUPPY.

To prevent an incidence of rectal prolapse, proper deworming is an inevitable measure . There are many types of dewormers such as  pyrantel palmoate, fenbendazole, albendazole, praziquantel , ivermectin etc.

Common dewormers for dogs and efficacy are as under

Dewormer	Hook/ Round worm	Whip worm	Tape worm	Dose mg/kg bw
Pyrantel pamoate	+++	--	--	5-10
Fenbendazole	+++	++	--	50 for 3 days
Praziquantel	++	+++	++	8
Milbemycin	+++	+++	++	0.5
Praziquantel with febantel	+++	++	--
Praziquantel with pyrantel pamoate	+++	+++	+++
Ivemectin	++	++	--	0.02

Right age of deworming in puppy is at 15 days with pyrantel pamoate liquid every 12 days for four times. followed by this a dose of pyrantel pamoate and fenbendazole at months 2,4 and 6. After this every six months deworming can be done using combinations of praziquantel / pyrantel pamoate/ febantel and ivermectin . It is also very important to  alter the combination/ drug every time as the worms also get resistance to wards a single dewormer. In pregnant bitches fenbendazole is the only safe dewormer and this can be used at 10-15  day of gestation to avoid trans placental infection to pups.

  

You are free to post your comments and suggestions .