Dr Emily J Jenkins consults with a number of veterinary diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. She receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Dog owners — and gardeners and foragers — should be concerned. Both dogs and people can be exposed to the tapeworm eggs in dog, fox, coyote or wolf scat. People can be exposed through consumption of contaminated produce such as berries, herbs, greens, wild mushrooms or surface water.
About half of the dogs in a Swiss study were euthanized because of their poor prognosis or the owners couldn’t face the cost of the surgery followed by lifelong, daily medication.
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And we’re far more likely to contract the parasite from infected dogs, who sleep on our beds and poop in our yards, than a coyote hunting rabbits on an urban golf course.
This discovery led us to completely re-examine what we thought we knew about this parasite: It wasn’t supposed to cause disease in dogs, it wasn’t supposed to be in B.C. and it wasn’t supposed to be established in forested regions in North America.
The tapeworm, Echinococcus multilocularis, is normally found in rodents and other wild animals, including coyotes and foxes, but can spill over into cats and dogs — and even humans.
In humans, the tapeworm behaves differently. It can invade the liver and spread throughout the abdomen and the rest of the body like a tumour.
This led us to check if coyotes and foxes in the region might be hosts for the European-type strain. Sure enough, it was present in about one third of all coyotes examined. This meant that the dog likely came into contact with an infected canid — and that the parasite was now on the loose in Canada.
We spotted the first North American case of the liver form of E. multilocularis in a dog in British Columbia in 2009. It has since caused severe disease in at least seven dogs in Western Canada and four dogs in Ontario, a new region for the parasite.
Are tapeworms dangerous for my dog?
Tapeworms do not normally cause serious health problems in adult dogs. Occasionally dogs will drag their bottoms on the ground, a behavior known as scooting, in order to calm irritation associated with the proglottids. Note that scooting can also occur for other reasons such as impacted anal sacs. It is important to have your dog examined by your veterinarian if scooting is noted.
In puppies, heavy tapeworm infestation can be more serious. Lack of growth, anemia, and intestinal blockages can occur.
Clinical diagnosis is usually made by observing the white, mobile tapeworm segments in the feces or crawling around the anus. These segments look like grains of white rice or cucumber seeds. Occasionally segments are seen crawling around the dog’s anus.
Tapeworm segments are only passed intermittently and therefore are often not diagnosed on routine fecal examination. If you find any segments, white or golden color, bring them to your veterinarian for a definitive diagnosis.
Occasionally, the head of the adult tapeworm detaches from the intestinal wall; the entire adult tapeworm will then be passed in the feces, or vomited up if it migrated to the stomach.
With todays deworming medications, treatment is simple and effective. The parasiticide may be given either in the form of tablets or by injection. It causes the parasite to be digested in the intestines so you normally will not see tapeworms passed in the stool. These drugs are very safe and should not cause any side effects.
Can Humans Get PARASITES From DOGS? – Zoonotic Diseases
Most of us deworm our pets to save them from discomfort — but it’s also important to reduce the amount of eggs these parasites shed in soil or dirt. When eggs are present in the environment, they can reinfect our pets — and us. Keep reading to learn more about the parasites you and your pet could catch.
Humans can pick up roundworms from a variety of places, so it’s important to know where they are most prevalent and to follow up with good hygiene practices.
All puppies and kittens are considered infected with roundworms. Puppies can actually be born with them, and both puppies and kittens can become infected by drinking their mothers milk.
When infected, pets can shed thousands upon thousands of microscopic roundworm eggs in their feces, which we can unknowingly ingest without realizing it. This is why it’s so important to promptly pick up and discard your pet’s feces, washing your hands thoroughly afterward.
Roundworms can cause disease in humans if we unknowingly eat the microscopic eggs that infected cats and dogs shed in their feces. If stools are not picked up by owners, any parasite eggs present will disperse in grass and soil as the stool decays. Always use a bag to collect your pet’s feces, use gloves when cleaning the litterbox, and keep your garden free of dog waste.
Roundworm eggs can survive in soil for years, and people can come in contact with them by eating improperly washed food, such as salad greens or root vegetables. Young children are at risk of infection if they play outside in the dirt and don’t wash their hands afterward. Roundworm eggs in the soil can occasionally stick to your pet’s fur, especially if your dog or cat loves to dig — just one good reason to always bathe your pet after a trip to the dog park or hiking.
Tapeworms are long, segmented worms that live in the intestine. Small segments break off and are passed in your pet’s feces. These segments, which can sometimes be seen moving, are actually packets of tapeworm eggs. If your pet has tapeworms, you may see tiny white segments that look like grains of rice slowly moving around their waste or stuck to their back end.
Dogs and cats can become infected with tapeworms by swallowing infected fleas or by hunting rodents and rabbits. This can lead to an itchy bottom, causing your pet to scoot along the ground in an attempt to relieve the itch. Symptoms of a tapeworm infection can also include weight loss and GI upset, though animals often will not show any symptoms at all.
Humans can become infected with one type of tapeworm, called Echinococcus, if they unknowingly ingest eggs that have contaminated an area through a dogs feces.
It’s also possible for tapeworms to be transmitted directly from pets to humans; we can become infected with the flea tapeworm if we eat an infected flea by accident, often through playing or sleeping with our pet.
Pets can pick up hookworms — thin, short worms with sharp mouths that hook into the lining of the intestine and feed off blood — by eating the small, worm-like infective stages found in the soil. They can also become infected from eating small mammals. Symptoms of hookworms aren’t common in adult cats and dogs, but can be more serious in young dogs and cats, and include diarrhea, lethargy and anemia.
Hookworms can also affect people. If we walk across a contaminated area in bare feet, the microscopic, infective worm stages can burrow into our skin and cause irritation and itching. Wear shoes whenever walking on damp sand or soil to reduce the risk of a hookworm infection.
Pet owners can choose from a range of worming products for their dog or cat, including spot-on treatments and tablets. Deworming products kill the parasite inside your pet, which then passes with their stool.
Deworming your pet helps protect them from further damage and discomfort caused by worms. Your vet can help you find the right product for your pet and also set up a regular deworming schedule to help protect them in the future.