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How to dose Safe-Guard dewormer for tiny puppies under 1 pound?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 10 days old | 3 lbs

My mother bought a box of the safe-guard canine dewormer that comes in 3 2-gram pouches. Our puppies are chihuahua/pom mixes, one 7 weeks old, the other turns 6 weeks on Friday. But the dosage says 10 pounds/1 pouch. Both puppies are barely a pound, so how much would we give them per dose?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 26th, 2017

My recommendation is to separate the powder from ONE pouch into 4 equal parts. Then take one of those parts and separate it again into 2 parts and give each puppy one of those parts. That would treat 1.25 pounds which will be fine for those puppies. Each puppy needs that same dose once a day for 3 consecutive days. Don't get too crazy separating every grain of powder. The dewormer is safe so if it is a bit more it will not hurt them. However, you don't want to WAY overdose them. I hope this helps. Best wishes!

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    Answered By Lauren M. Jones, VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Great question! Since Bitzy and her friend are both so tiny, I would not recommend using the Safe-Guard deworming medication since it is nearly impossible to precisely calculate a proper dose without a gram scale (each would need about 0.2 grams at 1 pound of body weight). If you are looking for a general dewormer to treat roundworms and hookworms, I would consider a pyrantel pamoate based product instead since this liquid can be dosed more precisely. (Here is an example: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1430 ) I hope this helps and that all goes well!

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