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Parasites

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What kind of parasites can your dog get? Where do dogs get parasites? And how do you get rid of them? Can humans contract these parasites? These are question every dog owner should know. The most common parasite would be roundworms. Roundworms are few inches in length and look like spaghetti. Owners may notice them in their animal’s poop or sometimes the animal may vomit them up. They can contract them from their mother before they are ever born or by drinking their mother’s milk if the mother is infected. They can also ingest the roundworm eggs from other infected animal’s feces. Signs to watch for are pot-belly, weakness, weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting, or seeing the worms themselves.  There are safe and effective treatments such as Pyrantel, Fenbendazole, Milbemycin that your veterinarian can prescribe to get rid of this parasite. Hookworms like roundworms live in the digestive system and found in the environment where feces droppings are. The eggs develop into larvae in about 10 days after being in the soil. Dogs then either ingested after sniffing the area or the larvae penetrating through the skin. The signs of Hookworms are bloody diarrhea and severe anemia in puppies. Also, Hookworms can be contracted by humans. Whipworms are much like hookworms causing bloody diarrhea and severe anemia in severe infestation. Heartworms are given to dogs via an infected mosquito bite. Once bitten and the larvae is deposited it will take an average of 5 to 6 months to migrate to the blood vessels of the lungs or the chambers of the heart. This will result in the right side of the heart working harder once the worms mature causing heart failure. Your pet will not show signs until once the worms are mature and then the pet will be short of breath when exercising, get tired easily, and coughing. As time goes on the pet will exhibit fatigue and coughing at rest. Heartworms if not treated can be fatal. Tapeworms are another common parasite. They come from an infected flea. The dog will ingest the flea and the tapeworm eggs will mature to adulthood in the intestines. The adult tapeworm is made of segments and sometimes they break off and the segments are seen in the feces. The adult worm can grow from 4 to 28 inches in length. Puppies will need to be checked every couple of weeks and your veterinarian will put the puppy on the proper preventative. Our dachshunds are de-wormed regularly per our veterinarian’s recommendations.

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