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As a pet parent, you may be shocked to find worms in dog poop — but youre not alone. Intestinal parasites including hookworms, roundworms, whipworms and tapeworms are common in dogs. Worms can often cause a variety of health concerns as theyre highly contagious. These parasites may often go undetected as well if your dog isnt taken in for routine checkups with your veterinarian for microscopic worm eggs in dog poop. If you want to keep your dog free of worms, keep reading to learn more about how to spot worms in your dogs feces and how they may affect your dogs health.
How Do Worms Affect Your Dog and Their Health?
Your dogs health, size and age will play a large role in how intestinal worms will affect their overall health. The type and number of worms a dog is infected with are also important to note. Worms not only live in the stomach and intestines, but they can also be found in the heart, kidneys, lungs and other organs. Keep in mind that ringworm, which is also seen in dogs, isnt actually a worm but a fungus.
Dogs can contract intestinal worms in several ways. A mother dog can pass worms to her puppies in the womb or when nursing. Dogs can also become infected with worms by accidentally ingesting dog poop that contains worm eggs or eating an animal thats infected with worms. Dogs can become infected with tapeworms if they accidentally ingest a flea that contains tapeworm larvae. Worms are obligate parasites that get all of their nutrition from their host. Dogs who are smaller, younger and/or have a compromised immune system may be more prone to developing worms in their poop than others.
In addition to seeing worms in your dogs poop, intestinal worms may also cause:
If you notice any of these clinical signs, call your vet as soon as possible. Note that some intestinal worms, including hookworms and roundworms, are contagious to humans and are considered a human health risk. In addition, some worms, like roundworms, can live in soil for years and continually reinfect animals that come into contact with the eggs.
Passed to Puppies From the Mother Dog
Puppies can get worms from their mother. This can happen a few different ways:
4 Common Types of Worms in Dog Poop
Why do veterinarians always want a stool sample at annual visits? Well, the stool sample is used to screen your dog for intestinal parasites—or worms—in their poop.
Many pet parents that come into the office think that their dog couldn’t possibly get worms for one reason or another. But every dog is at risk for worms, no matter where they live or how much time they spend outside.
A fecal exam is needed because the majority of worms will not be visible to the human eye—except for tapeworms, in some instances. The vet will perform a special test or examine the sample under a microscope to check for worms.
This article will tell you everything you need to know about the most common parasitic worms in dogs, and how to treat and prevent them.
These are a few different ways a dog can get worms. These will be explained further within the sections for each type of worm.
Worms are usually transmitted through a fecal-oral route. That means that your pet comes into contact with microscopic parasitic eggs that are present in fecal material (poop) and accidentally ingests the eggs.