Worms in dogs and cats are becoming an increasingly common problem among pet owners. And the pet sitter is one of the professionals capable of detecting this problem.
Ask your trusted veterinarian to analyze your pet’s feces and make sure he doesn’t have any intestinal parasites. Especially before traveling and needing to host it at someone’s house
Why ask your veterinarian to analyze your pet’s feces?
Dogs and cats fall victim to several internal parasites commonly called worms. The most common are Roundworms, Tapeworms, “Whip Worm” and Hookworm – of these four, only two can be seen with the naked eye: roundworms and tapeworms.
Most worm infestations in dogs and cats can cause a variety of symptoms, the most common of which are:
- Diarrhea, sometimes with blood;
- Weight loss;
- Dry hair;
- Vomiting, perhaps with worms.
But stay tuned! Some infestations cause few or none of the symptoms mentioned above. In fact, some worm eggs or larvae can remain dormant in the pet’s body and be “woken up” only in case of stress, or, in the case of roundworms and tapeworms, even in the most advanced stages of pregnancy, starting to affect the puppies that are born. will be born.
If you feel insecure about leaving your dog or cat alone, an excellent option is to hire a pet care professional. Pet Sitter!
Pet sitter: types of worms in dogs and cats
1. Roundworm
Most puppies are born with larvae in their tissues. Larvae are acquired in the mother’s womb – by migration between tissues. Nematode larvae can also be transferred to nursing puppies or kittens from the mother’s milk.
The larvae make their way to the intestinal tract, where they can grow up to 5cm in length. They begin to lay eggs and maintain their “home” in the baby’s small intestine. The eggs that the adult worms release in the feces can now re-infest the animal or other animals if these feces are ingested due to coprophagy. When the eggs hatch, the larvae are released internally and begin to migrate to the lungs, where they are dried and saved to grow in the small intestine.
A female roundworm can produce 200,000 eggs in just one day. These eggs are protected by a hard shell, which allows them to exist in the soil for up to years. Puppies with active roundworms in their intestines often have a peculiar appearance: pot-bellied and growth-affected. Parasites can be seen in vomit or feces.
If not treated in time, a serious infestation can cause death from intestinal obstruction. Roundworms don’t just affect puppies, adults are also commonly infected. However, as mentioned above, larvae can lodge in the body tissue of adult animals, remain dormant for periods of time, and activate during the later stages of gestation to infest the young. Worming the mother has no effect on the larvae encysted in the body’s tissues and cannot prevent the worms from infecting the baby. Almost all dewormers work only on adult parasites in the intestinal tract.
2. See me Chicote
This parasite is more often seen in dogs than cats. Adult whipworms, although rarely seen in feces, look like small pieces of thread, with a flared end. They live in the cecum, the first section of the large intestine.
Infestations caused by this parasite are difficult to analyze due to the small number of eggs it lays – often requiring more than one fecal examination.
If a dog exhibits chronic weight loss, mucus-covered feces, and lives in a kennel or in an area where worms are prevalent, your veterinarian may prescribe medication based on circumstantial evidence. Although they rarely cause the death of a dog, they are a real nuisance for both the pet and its owner and can be a problem for the veterinarian to diagnose.
3. Tapeworm
The tapeworm is transmitted to dogs and cats that ingest fleas (apparently fleas think the parasite eggs are really tasty), hunt and eat wild animals or rodents infested with worms or fleas.
The tapeworm’s body is very particular: a small head at one end and a long, thin and segmented body. Tapeworms can reach around 10cm in length inside the intestine. Each can have up to 90 segments, although the last segments of the chain are released in feces.
Many cases of taeniasis are diagnosed simply by the presence of these small terminal segments stuck to the animal’s fur, around the anus or on the tail – these segments still move around a little right after they are expelled and then they dry out and look like small grains of taeniasis. rice or confetti. It is also important to know that it is these expelled segments that contain the eggs.
Tapeworms cannot be killed by common dewormers. So, don’t waste your time and money medicating your animal on your own, consult your trusted veterinarian for a treatment that really works.
4. Ancilostomo
It is also more common to find dogs with hookworm than cats. These worms are very small, thin and attach themselves to the wall of the small intestine to suck blood from the tissues. Animals can contract the parasite either through the migration of larvae from the mother’s uterus to their body, or through contact with the larvae or eggs (in feces, in the soil and through breast milk).
Severe infestation of this SIM parasite can kill puppies and cause serious problems in adults, often making them seriously anemic due to the fact that the parasite spends most of its time sucking blood from the intestinal wall.
Chronic infestation is a common cause of disease in older animals, often noted by the animals’ lack of resistance, dietary deficiency and alarming weight loss. The main signs include bloody diarrhea, excessive weight loss, anemia and extreme weakness. The diagnosis of parasitism is made by examining feces.
Now that we know the most common types of worms in dogs and cats, let’s look at some questions that many owners still have:
Why ask your veterinarian for a fecal examination?
Early diagnosis to discover the presence and type of intestinal parasite is essential. To do this your pet’s feces are mixed with a special solution, which makes the microscopic eggs more visible. Many veterinarians include fecal checks as part of the annual health exam – talk to your trusted veterinarian about including these exams.
Use: Tapeworm eggs don’t show up well in routine stool analysis, if you find the segments we talked about (which look like rice) in the stool or stuck around the anus/tail, tell your vet!
What is a vermifuge?
A solution that is used to kill worms and prevent their appearance.
Use: Not all worms respond to the same treatment and no dewormer works against all types of parasites. Additionally, some over-the-counter dewormers are very ineffective at removing worms in dogs and cats.
How to prevent?
If you let your dog or cat play in the yard, or do their business outside, you need to remove their feces at least once a week. It is also important that you see where your dog plays in the places allowed to take dogs: these places are generally infested with larvae of these parasites. Use the right dewormer recommended by your veterinarian – do not mix dewormers and do not use any one if your pet is taking any other medication, without first consulting your veterinarian.
Can these worms in dogs and cats parasitize humans?
YES! Worms in dogs and cats are a huge risk to their health and to ours, too.
If hookworm larvae penetrate the skin, they can cause serious inflammation. For example, if roundworm eggs are ingested, they can cause an illness in which the worm larvae migrate through the person’s intestinal wall and into the body’s tissues. They then grow to a larger size almost anywhere on the body, which can cause, among many other symptoms, severe blindness.
Children are at greater risk, especially if they play in an environment where animals may have feces, such as a playground, sandbox or lawn.
What is the transmission cycle of these worms like?
What are the symptoms of the presence of worms in dogs and cats?
BE INFORMED!
We know how common it is for most pet owners to despair when they see something wrong or abnormal with their pets. They always want to medicate them as quickly as possible, they want to resolve the situation at any cost.
But this is not correct! Many animals receive medication in an inadequate form/quantity and many of them receive toxic medications, which end up making the situation even worse.
With these situations in mind, we provide a Free ebook on toxic medications for dogs and catswhere you, in addition to learning which human medications you cannot give to your pet, also learn how to better control medications and prevent serious side effects.
Click and download the material “Toxic medicines for animals”
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