Has anyone heard this theory before? I heard this from a first time breeder - their vet doesn't believe in routine worming of puppies, vet feels this contributes to development of allergies in the dog. Had the breeder bring in a mixed stool sample from the litter at 5 weeks - same was found clear.

Opinions, anyone? This is a new one on me......

I can only speak for myself. Why worm if it is clear? The drugs that kill the worms are necessary if they have worms but they are not benign drugs by any stretch of the imagination. JMO

Having seen the gross evidence afterwards, I believe in routine worming. I don't want those things staying in my baby pups.

Sometimes fecals will come up negative, because the worms are intermittantly shed, and do not always appear in the stool specimen. I usually worm at 2 weeks and 4 weeks with Nemex II, and at 6 weeks with Drontal. So far it has worked for us.

Worms are ALWAYS passed from mom to pups. This is normal process. ALL puppies should be wormed.

Have never wormed my puppies at all, always do a stool check and no worms no worming, my adults don't have worms either so that vet makes PERFECT sense!
Aloha,
jackie

After a half dozen negative fecals on a half dozen litters, my vet declared my foundation bitch did not carry worms and the puppies down from her would be worm free.

The more litters a bitch has the less worms the pups have.

Worms aren't ALWAYS passed from the mom to the pups. In the UK, Intervet has a worming protocol that doses the pregnant bitch with Panacur at the rate of 1 ml/4 kg daily from day 40 to 2 days post-whelping. This gets the worms as they emerge during gestation, prior to infecting the puppies. I do worm my puppies a few times before they go home, but when I follow this protocol I haven't seen any evidence of worms after worming. Here's the website with the info:

http://www.intervet.co.uk/Products_Public/Panacur_10__Liquid/090_Product_Datasheet.asp

Thanks Patty, that's a great article!