Natural Pet Wormers

Are you concerned about using strong chemicals as a wormer for your dog or cat? Here are a few old-fashioned, natural alternatives:

Add cayenne pepper to your pets’ food. Typically, cayenne pepper as a nutritional supplement comes in 450 mg capsules. Use approximately 225 mg per 50 pounds of body weight per day. For smaller pets, like cats, just a little pinch mixed into the food is fine. This is an ongoing preventative. Understand that cayenne pepper as a nutritional supplement doesn’t have the hot taste of cayenne pepper as a spice. Be sure to get the kind that is intended as a nutritional supplement.

Add fresh parsley to the food. Dice it up small or grind it and add it to food at approximately one teaspoon for every 10 pounds of body weight. Of course, this may be a bit much for a cat, so they may not like it in food. However, cats may like parsley as a live plant to chew on. For cats, it has the added benefit of helping with fur balls!

Add wheat bran to the diet. One eighth teaspoon per ten pounds of body weight works for bigger pets. For small pets just add a pinch. Be sure to add it to very moist food and give it a chance to soak up moisture before feeding it. You may want to add a little extra water to be sure it is palatable.

You can choose to add the above to your pets’ food on an ongoing basis in moderate amounts and/or you can add diatomaceous earth as a wormer monthly.

Food grade diatomaceous earth can be sprinkled around your house and kennel and used as a light dust on your pets to deter and kill fleas, ticks, and lice. I don’t recommend using it outdoors. It works by drying up the mucous membranes of the pests, so there is nothing to keep it from drying up the mucous membranes of beneficial insects as well! You should exercise caution when handling it. Avoid breathing it in and don’t toss it about. Sprinkle it carefully where it is needed without allowing it to be blown around.

It can also be used as a wormer at the following rates:

¼ teaspoon: Kittens

½ teaspoon: Miniature dogs

1 teaspoon: Large cats and dogs under fifty pounds.

1 tablespoon: Dogs fifty to one hundred pounds.

2 tablespoons: Dogs over one hundred pounds.

This goes over best when mixed with something extremely delicious (like jack mackerel) once a month.

Copyright:SB:June 20, 2009