![]() What should I do if I think my pet has worms?ĭon’t panic if you see worms in your pet’s stool. If the stool sample indicates worm eggs, your veterinarian can resolve the problem by prescribing appropriate medication. ![]() Rather than regularly deworming your pet with these medications, ask your veterinarian to check a poop sample once or twice per year. You can purchase some over-the-counter (OTC) deworming treatments, but if your veterinarian does not examine your pet, you won’t know whether the treatment has been effective. Should I give my pet a deworming treatment? Tapeworms are segmented, and you will most likely not see an entire worm but individual segments that resemble rice grains around your pet’s behind, on their stool, in the litterbox, or dried up in their bedding. Roundworms are large, white, and round, resembling spaghetti noodles. On occasion, you may find a live or dead worm in your pet’s stool or vomit, especially if they were recently treated with a dewormer or if they have a particularly severe infestation. If your pet has diarrhea, a pot-bellied appearance, or a social lifestyle, your veterinarian may suspect parasites. However, live worms lay microscopic eggs, which your primary care veterinarian can only detect by performing a fecal floatation test. Most worms living inside your pet’s intestines do not pass into the feces. By keeping your pet worm-free, always thoroughly cleaning up after your pet has defecated, and teaching children good hand hygiene, you help prevent a potential tragedy. If a child ingests a roundworm egg after touching a pet’s rear end or playing in an area contaminated with infected stool (e.g., a sandbox), worm larvae can migrate into their brain or eye tissue and cause serious, permanent damage. Some worms can impact a person’s health, which is a major concern for households with children or immunocompromised adults. Infected pets can pass worm eggs into the environment, where they can infect other pets and animals or re-infect their host. The inflammation worms cause often leads to diarrhea, but a severe infestation may also result in weight loss or anemia. Worms live inside the intestines, damaging the host’s intestinal walls, stealing nutrients from the food they eat, or feeding on their blood. A tapeworm infection often indicates a current or past flea infestation. A pet must eat the intermediate host, either a flea or a small mammal, to contract tapeworms. Tapeworms, another common intestinal worm type, require an intermediate host for transmission. As a result, most puppies and kittens are born with roundworms or hookworms, the most common worm species. Mother-to-offspring transmission is extremely common in dogs and cats because worms have a clever life cycle hack: They hide dormant and undetected for years within a female’s body, and reactivate during pregnancy. In addition, if a mother is infected, she can transmit worms to her progeny before or shortly after giving birth. Let’s take a look at common intestinal worms dogs and cats can contract.Ī pet can contract worms by ingesting an infected animal’s feces that contains worm eggs. However, they often aren’t sure why deworming matters, how worms look, where their pet contracted worms, or worms’ potential impact on their four-legged friends’ health. ![]() Most pet owners understand they need to have their pets periodically dewormed. ![]() Parasites are everywhere, and your pet can pick them up from other pets and wildlife.
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