You might think that your luxurious living can prevent your dog from getting any worms. But the truth is far from it. These crawlers can creep into your dog from many places that you might not have imagined before. That is why it is essential to understand the types of worms that can infect your furry friend and how to find out if your dog is affected.

Worms can cause many severe health problems if they are left untreated. Your dog can get infected from other dogs, contaminated soil, mosquitoes, so on and so forth. Most worms inhabit the intestines of dogs, except heartworms that can multiply in the heart, lungs, or blood vessels of your dog. In this article, we are going to discuss the five kinds of worms that can infect your dog.

Symptoms of Worm Infection

Even though the symptoms might vary from one dog to another, intestinal worms usually cause one or more of these symptoms:

• Chronic diarrhea, constipation or abdominal pain
• Unnecessary weight loss
• Nausea or vomiting
• Poor skin or coat
• Lethargy and fatigue
• Nutrition deficiency and dehydration
• Anemia
• Blood in stool

Heartworms usually cause the following symptoms:

• Respiratory problems, such as coughing or labored breathing
• Intolerance to exercise
• Weakened pulse
• Unnecessary weight loss
• Pale gums

Treatment of worms is not very difficult. Most intestinal worms and heartworms can be treated with oral medications, such as Trifexis chews for dogs. One of the active ingredients in the medicine is milbemycin oxime that can kill roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and heartworms. Once administered, these tablets can be effective for almost a month.

Roundworms

Roundworms are one of the most commonly found worms that can affect your dog. Some roundworms are mostly found in puppies that can also infect human beings. Most puppies are born with roundworms that they get from their mothers. That is why it is essential to deworm puppies with medication soon after their birth. If the infestation is left untreated, the puppy might die or have diminished growth.

There is a rare type of raccoon roundworm that can be found in various parts of Northern Northern America. Dogs can get infected if they ingest the eggs of the worm that are commonly found on rodents, birds, and rabbits. Raccoon roundworms also have the potential to infect humans, so any symptoms of the infection in dogs must get checked by veterinary doctors and treated immediately.

Tapeworms

Tapeworm infection is usually the after-effects of a flea infestation, although they can get into your dog from other sources too. Fleas are well-known carriers of tapeworm eggs, and dogs can ingest them while chewing on their itching skin. Once the eggs hatch inside your dog, the tapeworms attach themselves to the inner lining of the intestine and feed off the nutrients that pass by them. Tapeworms can grow for several feet, and they shed segments that can be found in an infected dog's stool. These segments look like tiny grains of rice. Another noticeable symptom is when a dog scoots or rubs their bottom on the ground. If you notice such symptoms, take the stool sample immediately to a veterinary clinic for examination.

Hookworms

Hookworms are very dangerous for your dog and can be fatal to small dogs and puppies if it is left untreated. There are many kinds of hookworms, and the average size is about 1/8th of an inch. Despite their small size, they can latch onto the internal walls of your dog's intestines and consume copious amounts of blood, causing anemia and many other symptoms. Dogs can ingest hookworm eggs and larvae from many sources in the environment. The microscopic eggs can be transferred from a mother to the puppies through the milk. Eggs that are present in an infected dog's stool can hatch and remain alive in the dirt for several months, which might get other dogs infected when they lick their paws or sniff the ground. Hookworms can also affect human beings.

Whipworms

Whipworms also get passed on through an infected dog's feces. The eggs can survive in warm and moist environments for up to 5 years. They can get ingested by a dog from the environment. Mild infections do not cause any symptoms, but severe cases can create inflammation, loss of weight, and occasional anemia. Whipworm eggs are not easy to detect in a stool sample, which is why a repeated examination is necessary, especially if you find blood in the stool.

Heartworms

Even though heartworms are easily preventable, they are the most dangerous of all the worms. If heartworms do not get killed in the early stages, they can multiply in your dog's cardiovascular and respiratory system resulting in severe health problems and even death. Heartworms are spread by mosquitoes that infect healthy dogs after biting infected dogs.

Therefore prevention of infections is essential for the well being of your furry friend. Medications are recommended to keep worms away from your dog, or there might be severe consequences.