Can dogs be constipated

The risk of death from deworming a dog is minimal when performed by a veterinarian. There are a few exceptions, however:

1. Treating an active heartworm infection is very risky to the dog - the medication is based on arsenic and as the worms die they can cause pneumonia, blood clots in the blood stream and shock.

2. Ivermectin-based intestinal dewormers are dangerous to collie-type dogs; Collies and Collie-related breeds have a genetic sensitivity to ivermectin. Veterinarians know about this and won't use ivermectin in Collie-type dogs; however, if you deworm your dog on your own, you'll likely get ivermectin from the store and could accidentally overdose your dog.

3. Pyrethrin-based flea/tick medication is easy to obtain and easy to overdose your dog on. While this is generally more of a problem in cats, dogs can also overdose on this drug, particularly if you think "a little is good so a lot is better".

4. If there is a severe enough worm infestation, even the safest dewormer can cause a potentially fatal intestinal obstruction when given to a dog due to killing such a large volume of worms that the dog cannot pass the dead worms in its stool.