Is garlic beneficial or, on the contrary, toxic for dogs?
Yes, garlic is toxic to dogs.
Garlic is often credited with antiparasitic properties for dogs. Let’s face it: using garlic to deworm your dog is either ineffective or dangerous for dogs because the effective dose of garlic to have deworming activity is greater than its toxic dose in animals.
Like all plants of the genus Allium, which also includes onions, garlic contains sodium thiosulfate, a substance that disrupts the activity of certain enzymes and can cause anaemia by destroying the animal’s red blood cells.
Garlic poisoning develops over several days. It usually begins 1 to 2 days after ingestion of garlic (or more quickly if ingestion is massive) and manifests itself early with vomiting, anorexia and sometimes diarrhoea. This results in fatigue, paleness of the mucous membranes and discolouration of the urine, which turns dark or even brown.
If garlic poisoning is generally not fatal (if the amounts ingested are moderate and treatment is put in place early), it is, therefore, better to avoid taking the slightest risk by giving garlic to his dog, especially since his body can take several days to eliminate toxins.
Garlic, in high doses, is therefore toxic in all its forms to dogs and cats, whether cooked or raw, fresh, dehydrated or even fermented. So be careful not to feed leftovers from cooked meals that may contain garlic to your pet. Also, ban all-natural garlic-based dewormers in your dog and cat.
What alternatives to garlic as a natural dewormer?
Fortunately, there are many plants with deworming activity (more or less effective) that are safe for dogs.
This is particularly the case with phytostandardized extract of walnut or pumpkin seed oil (or powdered pumpkin seeds), two natural products that can be used as natural dewormers in dogs to fight against intestinal parasites. These herbal remedies are given at a rate of 3mg per 10kg of body weight (or 4g of powder for 10kg of body weight) 3 days in a row, at the time of the full moon and in the morning after the night fast.
Certain essential oils can also be effective in deworming dogs, but their use must be strictly supervised by a specialized veterinarian.
It should be noted, however, that the effectiveness of these natural alternatives is absolutely neither proven nor equivalent to conventional medicinal dewormers sold in veterinary surgeries.
