In adults, annual fecal exams are recommended to remove asymptomatic infections. Monthly heartworm preventive drugs contain good round wormers and effectively worm the dog each month during the heartworm season. There are many good round wormers on the market. Pyrantel pamoate is one the more common effective inexpensive wormers. Other wormers include dichlorvos, febantel, fenbendazole, ivermectim and piperazine.
Hookworms are common parasites of dogs regardless of age.
They are most common in warm humid climates but, exist all over North America. Ancylostoma and Uncinaria are the two hookworms found. Both worms are transmitted by chance skin penetration by the immature larvae or by ingestion of contaminated feces. Hookworm is a zoonotic. Skin penetration of infective larvae penetrate the bare foot of man and cause mostly a self limiting local skin irritation for three weeks.