Dog Deworming Schedule: Puppy Chart by Age and How Often (2026)

When to deworm a puppy: the first dose at 2 weeks of age, repeated every 2 weeks until 8 weeks (the Companion Animal Parasite Council’s 2, 4, 6 and 8 week protocol; ESCCAP says until two weeks after weaning), then monthly until 6 months. How often to deworm an adult dog: either a monthly broad-spectrum parasite preventive all year, which is the CAPC and AAHA standard in North America, or, under the European ESCCAP guideline, deworming or fecal testing at least 4 times a year, rising to monthly for high-risk dogs. Heartworm prevention runs separately: start by 8 weeks, give it year-round, test every year. The chart below lays it out by age. Your veterinarian sets the final plan for your dog and region, because parasites, products and laws differ by country.

Dog deworming schedule chart by age

Age	What to do	Guideline
2 weeks	First deworming for roundworms and hookworms (the breeder or rescue does this). The nursing mother is treated at the same time.	CAPC, ESCCAP
4 weeks	Second dose.	CAPC, ESCCAP
6 weeks	Third dose. The first DHPP vaccine is usually given between 6 and 8 weeks.	CAPC, ESCCAP
8 weeks	Fourth dose. Start a monthly heartworm preventive no later than now; many of these products also cover intestinal worms.	CAPC, AAHA, AHS
8 to 12 weeks	Move to monthly dosing. Fecal test at the first vet visit. Most puppies go home in this window, so ask for the dates and product names of the doses already given.	CAPC, ESCCAP
3 to 6 months	Monthly dosing continues. Second and third fecal tests. The vaccine boosters at 9–11, 12–14 and 15–17 weeks run on the same calendar.	CAPC, ESCCAP
6 to 7 months	Switch to the adult routine. Fourth fecal test of the first year. Any dog older than 7 months is tested for heartworm before starting a preventive.	CAPC, AAHA, AHS
Adult	Monthly broad-spectrum control all year, or at least 4 dewormings or fecal exams a year. Fecal exam 1–2 times a year (CAPC) or 1–4 times (AAHA). Annual heartworm test.	CAPC, AAHA, ESCCAP, AHS
High-risk adult	Monthly: homes with children under about 6, immunocompromised or elderly people; kennels, sport and working dogs; dogs that hunt or eat prey; raw-fed dogs (tapeworm treatment every 4 weeks); dogs that eat slugs or snails (lungworm).	ESCCAP
Senior	Same as adult. Keep the annual fecal and heartworm tests; older dogs on medication benefit from the extra check.	CAPC, AAHA
Pregnant or nursing	Nursing mother dewormed with the pups’ first dose. Pregnant dogs may be given a vet-prescribed protocol from day 40 of pregnancy to reduce transmission to the litter.	CAPC, ESCCAP

Print this, or put each row into your pet app with a reminder, and the schedule stops depending on memory.

How often to worm a puppy: the direct answers

When do puppies get dewormed for the first time? At 2 weeks of age. Roundworm larvae cross the placenta and pass through milk, so most puppies are infected before they open their eyes. CAPC’s wording: puppies should be given anthelmintics starting at 2 weeks of age and repeating every 2 weeks until regular broad-spectrum parasite control begins.

How often do you worm a puppy? Every 2 weeks until 8 weeks of age (2, 4, 6, 8), then monthly until 6 months. ESCCAP frames the first phase as “every 2 weeks until 2 weeks after weaning”, which lands in the same place for a litter weaned at 6 to 7 weeks.

When should you worm a puppy you have just brought home? Ask the breeder or shelter for the record. An 8-to-10-week-old puppy should already have had three or four doses; if there is no record, your vet restarts the protocol and runs a fecal test. Our guide to an adopted pet with unknown medical history covers what to ask for.

Morning or night? No veterinary guideline prefers a time of day. Follow the product label (some are given with food), and give recurring doses at the same time of day so the log stays clean.

How do you deworm a puppy? Weigh the puppy first, because every product doses by weight. Use a product your vet prescribed or approved for that age and weight (tablet, liquid or spot-on), give the full dose, write down the date and product, and set the next reminder. A fecal test afterwards confirms it worked; CAPC recommends at least four fecal tests in the first year.

Can you see worms after deworming? Sometimes. Dead or paralysed roundworms may appear in the stool for a day or two after a dose. Live worms a week later mean a call to the vet, not another dose on your own.

Why puppies need so many doses

A dewormer kills the worms present on the day. It does nothing about eggs already in the yard, larvae still migrating through tissue, or the reinfection from tomorrow’s walk. Puppies are also uniquely exposed: they can be infected with roundworms before birth and with roundworms and hookworms through milk. That is why every credible protocol repeats doses every two weeks early on, and why CAPC asks for four fecal exams in the first year rather than one.

Adult dog deworming schedule: monthly or four times a year?

Both are correct answers from different guidelines, and they are closer than they look.

Monthly, year-round (CAPC, AAHA). The North American standard is a monthly broad-spectrum product that covers heartworm and the common intestinal worms, given every month of the year for life, plus a fecal exam once or twice a year. AAHA’s canine life stage guidelines state that dogs remain susceptible to intestinal helminths throughout their life and that infections can be controlled by continuing monthly deworming year-round. If monthly preventives cannot be given consistently, CAPC’s fallback is to treat adults four times a year, timed with fecal diagnostics.

Risk-based, at least 4 times a year (ESCCAP). The European guideline (7th edition, June 2025) asks the vet to assess each dog’s risk and assign it to one of four groups, based on whether it goes outdoors unsupervised, meets other dogs, hunts or eats prey, is fed raw meat, eats slugs or snails, or lives with young children:

• Group A (lowest risk): treat 1–2 times a year, or run fecal exams at that frequency
• Group B: treat 4 times a year, or fecal exams at that frequency
• Groups C and D (highest risk): treat 4–12 times a year against intestinal worms, with monthly tapeworm treatment for group D

ESCCAP’s own rule for the undecided case: if a dog’s individual risk cannot be clearly assessed, it should be dewormed or have its feces examined at least 4 times a year, because studies have shown that 1–3 annual dewormings do not provide sufficient protection. Monthly treatment is recommended where the dog shares a house with small children and has frequent exposure, since the roundworm pre-patent period is a little over four weeks.

Fecal testing instead of blanket dosing. Both guidelines accept regular fecal exams, treated according to the findings, as an alternative, provided the tests happen as often as the treatments would. Tapeworm eggs shed intermittently, so fecal tests are less reliable for them; ESCCAP recommends treating against tapeworms at least 4 times a year regardless.

Tapeworms arrive via fleas, which is why parasite control is one system: intestinal deworming, flea and tick prevention and heartworm prevention each cover a different front.

Heartworm: separate product, separate rules

Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes and lives in the heart and lung vessels. Treating an established infection is long, expensive and hard on the dog; preventing it is a monthly chew. The American Heartworm Society’s canine guidelines, echoed by AAHA:

• Start by 8 weeks of age, as early as the product label allows
• Give it every month, all year, in every region where mosquitoes occur; seasons keep lengthening
• Test annually, even for dogs on prevention, and test any dog older than 7 months before starting a preventive
• Ordinary intestinal dewormers do not prevent heartworm. Many owners assume a quarterly worming tablet covers it. It does not.

Many monthly heartworm products also treat roundworms, hookworms and sometimes whipworms or tapeworms. Check the label with your vet so you know what your “monthly” actually covers, and log the product name, not just “wormer”.

Signs your dog has worms right now

Between scheduled doses, watch for:

• Rice-grain segments around the rear or in bedding (tapeworms)
• Spaghetti-like worms in stool or vomit (roundworms, common in puppies)
• Potbelly with poor weight gain in a puppy
• Diarrhea, especially with blood or mucus
• Scooting, weight loss with a normal appetite, dull coat
• Pale gums and weakness (hookworm anemia, urgent in puppies)

Any of these means a vet visit and a fecal test rather than a guess-and-dose. “We noticed scooting around the 12th” is exactly the detail a daily pet diary keeps and memory loses.

Worms and your family

Dog roundworms and hookworms infect people. The CDC states that toxocariasis spreads to people through contact with the feces of dogs and cats with roundworm, and that severe cases are more likely in young children who have been playing in or eating contaminated dirt. Its prevention advice is the schedule above: have a veterinarian test and treat pets for worms, especially when they are young or spend time outdoors, pick up waste promptly, cover sandboxes, and wash hands after handling pets. ESCCAP treats dogs living with children under about six as a high-risk group for that reason.

Puppy vaccine and deworming schedule, side by side

The two calendars overlap almost completely, which makes the vet visits easy to combine. The vaccine column follows our puppy vaccination schedule guide.

Age	Vaccines	Deworming and parasite control
2, 4 weeks	—	Doses 1 and 2
6–8 weeks	DHPP #1	Doses 3 and 4; heartworm preventive starts by 8 weeks
9–11 weeks	DHPP #2	Monthly dose; first fecal test
12–14 weeks	DHPP #3, rabies (12–16 weeks)	Monthly dose
15–17 weeks	DHPP #4 (final puppy booster)	Monthly dose; second fecal test
6 months	—	Adult routine begins; heartworm test if prevention started late
12 months	1-year boosters	Annual fecal exam and heartworm test

Why the log matters as much as the dose

Deworming fails for administrative reasons far more often than pharmacological ones:

• The missed quarter. “Every 3 months” without a reminder becomes every 5.
• The double dose. Two family members each give the tablet, three days apart.
• The mystery product. The vet asks what you used in spring; nobody remembers whether it covered tapeworms.
• The new-vet blank slate. No portable record means restarting protocols and repeating fecal tests you already paid for.

In PokiPaw, each deworming is a treatment entry with the product, dose and date; recurring reminders fire before the next one is due; every household member sees the same record; and the medication tracker shows the full dose history at a glance. The PDF export answers a new vet’s first three questions before they are asked.

Dog deworming FAQ

Do indoor dogs need deworming?

Yes, less often. ESCCAP’s lowest-risk group, dogs kept indoors with no contact with other dogs, parks, raw food or prey, is still treated or tested 1–2 times a year. CAPC and AAHA keep all dogs, indoor or not, on a monthly broad-spectrum preventive, because mosquitoes and shoes come inside.

Does the monthly heartworm pill also deworm?

Often, but not always. Most monthly heartworm products also treat roundworms and hookworms; whipworm and tapeworm coverage varies by product. Read the label with your vet and record the product name every month.

What if I missed a deworming dose?

Give it as soon as you remember and keep the original schedule from there. For heartworm prevention, a lapse of more than a month or two means a test before restarting, because some preventives are risky in an already-infected dog; ask your vet.

How long does a dewormer take to work?

Most products kill adult worms within 24 to 48 hours. They do not kill migrating larvae or eggs in the environment, which is why the next dose is already scheduled.

Can I deworm my dog myself?

You can give the dose yourself, and most owners do. The product choice and interval should come from your vet, because the right drug depends on which worms are common where you live, your dog’s weight and age, and whether it is also on a heartworm preventive.

Is there a dog deworming schedule chart I can print?

Use the age table at the top of this article. If you prefer the app, each row becomes a treatment with its own reminder in PokiPaw, and the schedule prints as part of the PDF health report.

Sources

• Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC), Ascarid (roundworm) guidelines — puppy dosing at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks, monthly control, fecal exam frequency, nursing dams, zoonotic risk
• ESCCAP, Guideline 01: Worm Control in Dogs and Cats, seventh edition, June 2025 — puppy schedule, risk groups A–D, “at least 4 times a year” rule
• American Animal Hospital Association, 2019 Canine Life Stage Guidelines: parasite control — deworming from 2 weeks, monthly year-round control, fecal exams, heartworm preventive by 8 weeks
• American Heartworm Society, Canine heartworm guidelines — year-round prevention, annual testing, testing dogs older than 7 months before starting prevention
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Toxocariasis — transmission to people and prevention

This article summarises published veterinary guidelines for healthy dogs. It is general information, not advice for your individual dog; product choice, dosing and intervals are decisions for your veterinarian.

Download PokiPaw to put your dog’s deworming, heartworm prevention and vaccine schedule on reminders, with the complete history in your pocket.