Canine Parasites

Internal parasites cause harm to your dog by damaging organs and tissue or by competing for vital nutrients in your dog's diet. Classic signs of parasite infection include a dull coat, a pot bellied appearance, poor growth, and diarrhea, constipation or vomiting. Proper treatment requires safe and effective dewormer and repeated treatment according to the life cycle of the individual parasite. Dewormers are only effective against adult parasites and have little or no effect on eggs or immature stages of the parasite in your dog's system. That is why it is necessary to retreat the dog at specific intervals - to kill the parasites after they mature into their adult stages

Roundworms (ascarids)

Virtually all puppies of every breed are born already infected with roundworms or ascarids. Round worms have a very complex life cycle and it is reasonable to assume that almost every adult dog has tiny, encysted roundworm larva in their bodies that are basically in a dormant state. Remember that deworming dogs of any age only kills adult parasites, so these dormant round worm larva can remain in the dog's body until they become "activated." Also, roundworm eggs are very resistant to environmental factors and many cleaning chemicals, so they also remain infective in or on the ground for several years. Pregnancy activates the dormant roundworm larva and they infect the developing fetuses in the bitch's womb. So obviously this is not a condition of an unsanitary home or kennel and also not a condition of dogs not properly cared for. It is a simple fact of life that all puppies will need to be wormed. Roundworms live in the small intestine of puppies. Deworming should be started at 3 - 4 weeks of age and repeated at two to three week intervals for a total of 3 - 4 treatments.

Hookworms (Ancylostoma caninum and Ancylostoma braziliense)

Another common parasite in all dogs are hookworms. Puppies become infected through their mother's milk while nursing. And dogs of any age can become infected by consuming hookworm larva in food or water. Hookworms affect puppies more severely than adult dogs as they live in the small intestine and suck blood from the intestinal wall. Older dogs may tolerate the infection without having ill effects. A dark, tar-colored stool is often a sign of hookworm infection due to the presence of digested blood. The deworming treatment will quickly and effectively remove the parasites and should be repeated in two weeks.

Whipworms (Trichuris vulpis)

Whipworm infection is primarily a problem in older dogs. Whipworm eggs are extremely hardy and remain viable for long periods of time. Infection by whipworms is the result of a dog consuming whipworm eggs from contaminated soil or water and it causes a bloody, mucus filled diarrhea. It is difficult to diagnose whipworm infection due to the eggs being difficult to find in the stool. Only a few wormers are safe and effective against whipworms. After initial treatment, it may be necessary to deworm again in 90 days.

Tapeworms (Dipylidium caninum and Tanenia pisiformis)

Tapeworm infection is not as common in dogs as roundworm and hookworm. Tapeworms are also contracted in a much different way than roundworms and hookworms. Tapeworm infection requires consumption of an intermediate host or carrier of an infective stage of the tapeworm. There are two common types of tapeworms and each requires a different host. A dog flea is the host for the Dipylidium caninum and a rabbit is the most common host for Taenia pisiformis. To become infected with one of these species of tapeworms, a dog would have to ingest a flea or rabbit that had an infective stage of the tapeworm.

Tapeworms live in the small intestine, but rarely cause damage to the small intestine and over all do not affect the dog's health to as much an extent as other parasites. However, tapeworms seem to cause more concern and disgust due to the sight of tapeworm segments crawling out of the dog's rectum and onto their hindquarters. Other types of worms can be seen in the dog's stool, but people are not as horrified by seeing worms in stool outside as they are seeing tapeworms crawling on their dog's rear end inside the house. There are highly effective and safe treatments for tapeworms and a single treatment is usually all that is needed. However, if the intermediate host - fleas and rabbits - are not controlled, reinfection will occur.

Coccidia

Coccidia is a parasite that infects the intestine in the same way as worms, but coccidia is not a worm. It is a single cell organism that is microscopic and not visible to the naked eye. Coccidia are passed in stool and infection through consumption causes a watery diarrhea. This is a common parasite and is not necessarily a sign of unsanitary conditions. Coccidia comes from ground or soil that had fecal matter present. When coccidia is passed into the environment through stool, it starts to mature and sporulate. After adequately maturing coccidia becomes infective to dogs who may ingest them through grooming or licking dirt off their bodies or paws.

The dog's immune system kills off coccidia infections in the intestine. So depending on the degree of infection your dog could have contracted coccidia and you might never know. There are no medications available that will kill coccidia, but in cases where coccidia infection causes watery diarrhea, a medication that inhibits cocccidia reproduction is recommended so that the dog's immune system can "catch up" and effectively kill off the coccidia infection. Typically treatment lasts for at least 5 days, but medication should be given until the diarrhea stops plus an extra couple of days.