==> Dog Worms?
Yes, and puppy worms too!
Continuing with our present dog health series, we now arrive at dog worms:
Remember to share your experience with fellow dog owners.
Types of Dog Worms
You may have heard of any or all of these worms in dogs:
So, let's quickly shed some light on the types of canine worms! Again, "an image says more than a thousand words":
We distinguish Flatworms and Roundworms, both indeed are worms (helminths). Flatworms and Roundworms are internal parasites (living inside a host's body) or external parasites (living in soil and/or water - often until they enter a host's body).
Conversely, the Ringworm actually is not a worm (despite its name!), the Ringworm is a fungal skin infection. And the Pinworm (although a worm) does not use dogs as host - but people, particularly children!
Flatworms are the simplest group of worms. Flatworms can be free living (in marine and fresh water), but can also be parasitic (inside a host animal or person). The most familiar flatworm is the Tapeworm (cestode). Adult Tapeworms inhabit the intestines of the host, while its larvae inhabit extraintestinal tissues.
Less familiar are Flukes (trematodes). Of the more than 10,000 fluke species most are flat and leaf-like in appearance, and they range from 5 mm to 10 cm (max) in length. Millions of people, particularly in Africa and East Asia are affected by a fluke-mediated disease called schistosomiasis.
Flatworms have no skeleton, and they reproduce by simply splitting in two! The flatworm is called flatworm because it is typically very thin. However, in length the flatworm can be microscopic to many feet long (in case of tapeworms)! The flatworm moves (inside and outside of a host) with the help of tiny bristles.
Roundworms are Nematodes. You may remember that some nematodes are beneficial (see in the extensive Periodical on fleas, under natural flea remedies). The nematodes we discuss in this Periodical however are not beneficial.
Roundworms too can be free living, but can also be parasitic (inhabiting intestinal and extraintestinal tissues). The most familiar roundworm is the heartworm, the whipworm, the hookworm and (for humans) the pinworm (see the image above).
Roundworms have no skeleton either, but they require a partner to reproduce. The female roundworm lays over 200,000 eggs at a time (quite unbelievable)! The roundworm is called roundworm because it has a thin round smooth body. However, in length the roundworm can extend to four feet!
Up to 800 million people in the world are infected with the whipworm! However, human heartworm infection is very rare (less than 100 cases a year in the entire USA), because humans are not a natural host to the heartworm. In the rare cases where heartworm does affect a person, the heartworm affects the lungs, rather than the heart.
Conversely, heartworm disease in dogs is common and severe: Heartworm ultimately leads to lung failure, heart failure, and other organ failure - in short: death of the dog!
The heartworm is called heartworm because the adults live in the blood vessels of heart, lungs, and other organs of the dog.
Worm Life Cycle
The worm life cycle includes egg, larva, and adult stage. With flukes, all three worm life stages are pathogenic for the host (animal or human), with tapeworms and all types of roundworms the eggs are not (yet) pathogenic.
How do dogs get worms?
And how do people get worms?
Most worm infections of dogs and people happen by way of ingestion:
- Dogs eating poop (coprophagy)
- Dogs scavenging 'food' remains covered with contaminated soil
- Dogs licking off the microscopic eggs when scouring the ground
- Dogs eating or drinking from bowls that haven't been cleaned for years
- Dogs ingesting worm eggs or fleas during grooming, and the fleas bear worm larvae
- Dogs consuming raw meats and innards infested with dormant worm larvae
- People and dogs breathing airborne microscopic eggs in bedding etc, or swallowing them
- People and dogs consuming vegetables or fruits that have not been carefully cooked, washed or peeled!
- Children putting fingers with contaminated dirt in the mouth (hopefully no dog poop, although I've seen that too)
Here again you see why our flea Periodical was so extraordinarily comprehensive: Fleas are carriers of countless parasites. Likewise, you get a feeling for why we have to discuss mosquitoes next: Mosquitoes carry the parasites fleas don't want to carry...
Also, here you have yet another reason why MYGERMANSHEPHERD.ORG does not easily jump onto the current fashion wagon of raw food dog diet: Despite some benefits, for the modern domesticated dog (and particularly for the German Shepherd dog with its generally weak intestines thanks to reckless overbreeding) the risk of catching worms from uncooked/unsteamed meats is just too high in many geographies on the planet.
Very few dog owners have the education to relate a worm disease (which is only discovered months to many years later!) to an individual dog meal served months or years ago - of which the dog will have consumed many, possibly two each day.
Now to continue with How do dogs get worms:
While most worm infections are ingested, the heartworm only spreads from animal host to animal host through the bite/sting of an infected mosquito (mosquitoes will be our next Periodical).
In the USA, heartworm disease is most common along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf coasts, however the disease is transmitted in all states except Alaska and Hawaii (since we are a German Shepherd Dog site we will not join the discussion whether Hawaii actually is a US state or not).
Obviously, in all warm and moist countries around the globe, heartworm infection of dogs and other animals is an issue (because of the many mosquitoes in such conditions).
Finally, some worms (particularly the hookworm and some fluke species) can even penetrate the skin (animal and human)! Meaning, your dog could be happily wallowing on a grassy or not so grassy patch in the dog park and ... catch a worm infection! Yes, really. - Sadly.
However, for us humans to get infected that way, we would need to wallow in infected feces (ie rest half-naked on soil that some dogs considered the public toilet - unlikely), or walk barefeet over such soil (more likely, particularly for kids), because our human skin is thicker than canine skin, thus it is not as easily and as quickly penetrated.
Worms in Puppies?
Puppy worms? Is that possible?
Oh yes. For example, many types of roundworm larvae rests in tissue throughout an infected dog's body, and when the larvae develop during extraordinary metabolic changes like pregnancy, they cross the placenta into the unborn puppies. In addition, worm larvae may be transmitted with the mother's milk. In either case, puppies as young as 11 days may then pass fertile eggs from adult worms in their feces.
In fact, almost every puppy has worms! Unless you are regularly deworming your pup (see below), your pup too has worms - although you don't see them, hear them, or smell them. You won't notice your pup's worms - until the worms or larvae significantly impact on the pup's health (eg with the heartworm this may happen four months after infection, but can also happen as late as 5 or 6 years of age).
Symptoms of Worms in Dogs
First note that, like puppies, most adult dogs have worms too! Unless you regularly deworm your dog (see below).
Signs of worms in dogs
Light worm infections may grow unnoticed, with no noticeable symptoms for months to several years (depending on the type of worms). However, worm infections should always be taken serious since at some point they typically become severe.
At that point you may then notice with your dog or puppy any of these worm symptoms:
- Abdominal pain
- Painful passing of stool (sometimes bloody stool)
- Infected rectum
- Excess gas and Bloat
- Recurrent Diarrhea or Diarrhea over two days in a row
- Recurrent Vomiting or Vomiting over two days in a row
- Weakness, no interest in heavy play or exercise
- Weight loss
- Reduced growth in puppies (and children!)
- Visible worms in stool (or even moving stool!)
- Distended stomach
- Rectal prolapse
I suspect you don't want to let it come that far, hence let's look subsequently at some early worm signs.
Tapeworms in dogs attach to the lining of the small intestine. There, they grow in length by growing new segments behind the worm's head which then move down the tapeworm as they gradually mature.
The oldest, weakest segments are then shed off from the worm's end - either one by one or in short chains - and leave the dog's body with the feces.
Thus, tapeworm infection is best diagnosed from stool samples. Each segment has the size and color of a grain of (white) rice, just flatter. If you see such tiny spots moving on the feces, you have the diagnosis - without having forked out $100 to the vet!
The vet won't necessarily diagnose tapeworm infection from a stool sample anyway, because the segments are only passed intermittently, ie not with every defecation.
Now here's why you should only inspect fresh ('steamy hot') feces - not because they smell so delicate but because:
When exposed to the ultraviolet sunrays (even under cloud cover, see in the Black German Shepherd Periodical), the tapeworm segments quickly dry and stop moving. When drying, they break apart and release myriads of fertilized tapeworm eggs into the environment.
Now RUN! And don't come back to this spot!
Roundworms in dogs may also be diagnosed from stool samples, however here you may not want to do this yourself(?):
A severe roundworm infection will result in eggs being passed with the feces. These eggs are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope - and obviously eggs don't move! Thus you would need to collect some feces with a glass slide, put another slide on top, and place it under the microscope.
Instead of linking blank microscope slides I have linked a beautiful (but bargain!) wooden box with assorted specimens on glass slides, because they make a wonderful present if you have kids or grandchildren!? And then you can let your (or your neighbor's) kids inspect the feces to see if your dog has a roundworm infection - most kids find feces rather fascinating than disgusting...
Today's kids are so smart, they know how to compare what they see under the microscope with googled photos of the different types of worms. - And again, you've saved $100 in vet fees, yeah! Give your kids a kiss.
Just be sure that you have taught your kids or grandchildren hygiene before you gift them the microscope, such that they learned how to properly wash their hands out of routine before they lick their fingers, touch the face or ... touch you!
Although the subsequent types of worms are roundworms too (see the image at the top), let's address them separately because of some specifics.
Hookworms in dogs typically also attach to the intestinal lining, and these worms suck blood from the small vessels in the lining! However some hookworms always 'get lost' when they migrate from the dog's skin where they may have entered the body (see above) to the intestines.
These hookworms then become dormant in the dog's muscle tissue, until some extraordinary metabolic change in the dog's body (like say pregnancy, administration of antibiotics, corticosteroids, or other medication) 'awaken' them.
Note that it is these worms (the dormant ones) that are guilty of infecting puppies of a seemingly healthy mother dog. In fact, hookworms and whipworms (next) are considered the most 'obstinate' of all types of worms: It's difficult to get rid of them with old-school medication that don't reach the dormant larvae.
Hookworms are more common in puppies than in adult dogs, however a hookworm infection may be newly acquired by any dog, eg when the dog is merely licking its feet after an outdoor walk, or breathing the microscopic eggs while sniffing other dogs' feces or contaminated soil!
Here's a G-rated movie of an adult hookworm hooking on to the colon lining of a dog (G-rated: your kids may watch it too). Think of it as biting into the intestinal wall - as that's what it is, it causes internal bleeding and a bloody stool:
Thanks to Cornell University
Early warning signs of a hookworm infection are microscopic eggs in the feces (again ask the vet or - cheaper - the kids to analyse them!), bloody feces or Diarrhea, pale gums, weakness of the dog or puppy, and anemia.
Whipworms in dogs attach to the lining of the large intestine, and they cause small tears that result in bloody feces and bloody Diarrhea. Another early warning sign is the diagnosis of microscopic whipworm eggs in the dog's stool.
Note that (very different to the tapeworm segments discussed above) whipworm eggs are highly resistant to heat, they don't dry out: These eggs can survive in the environment for up to 5 years! Hence a whipworm infection is the most persistent worm infection to affect your dog's living environment!
Since, again, whipworm eggs are passed with the stool only intermittently (and thus won't be found in a single dog stool sample), I suggest you save another $100 on the vet's diagnosis and rather let your kids detect the eggs under the microscope (or if you don't have kids and no neighbors, you may want to do it yourself).
In short: The early warning sign of an infestation with intestinal worms is found in the dog's feces.
Find out more: Click to save vet cost, training cost, and your nerves!
However, note that in addition some of the eggs of all intestinal roundworms will stick to the hair around the dog's anus, and from there they intermittently fall off - long after the dog defecated. More so: When an infested dog farts, worm eggs (and with strong farts even tapeworm segments) will be catapulted out into the open.
I don't dare to shock you with a video of an egg airforce strike, but if you'd like to watch the worm infantry (??) here you go:
In other words (short too): If your dog is worm-infested (because you are not regularly deworming, see below), then worm eggs (and possibly even worms, see above) will fall off in your house too - and onto your couch (if your dog may occupy the couch) - and into your bed (if your dog may sleep with you). In this regard, note that eg hookworm eggs easily survive 3 weeks on dry fabrics, and remember that whipworm eggs survive five years(!) on slightly moist surfaces.
Here you see yet another reason why we already 'warned' in one of the very first Periodicals that you received, not to let your dog onto your bed (or your children's bed) - unless you follow a whole array of hygiene and safety precautions, or unless you don't mind to get a worm infection too??
Heartworms in dogs do not affect the intestines but the blood vessels in heart, lungs and other organs (see above). Thus here the warning signs of a dog worm infection are different:
- soft dry cough
- shortness of breath
- loss of stamina
- sudden death after exercise (too late!)
Again, if a puppy doesn't want to play a lot (exercise a LOT), this is a clear sign that something is wrong.
However, since a heartworm infection can take several years before the microfilariae mature into adult heartworms (which then block the blood vessels), the only early warning sign of a worm infection here is a serological antigen test (ELISA, SNAP) from a blood sample.
But even then you can't feel safe because a dog with (yet) less than four or five adult heartworms may not have produced enough circulating antigen to show a positive test result (ie to identify the heartworm infection). This is why, again, regular deworming of your dog is essential (see below).
For effective deworming, three factors need to be addressed:
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