Worms and Your Pet: Types, Symptoms, Precautions and Treatments

Worms are intestinal parasites that live inside your furry friend.  How can furry pets have worms? If you think, my fido is healthy and living inside the home, so worms cannot get inside my fido, that’s not always true. Let’s today go through all types of worms, how they make your furry friend their home, and also precautions and treatments for same.

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First lets us go through all kinds of signs through which your Fido is trying to tell you about intestinal worms.

Symptoms:

  • Coughing or sneezing more than usual
  • Sudden vomiting or diarrhea
  • Scratching or itching all the time
  • Feeling low in energy the whole day
  • Hungry all the time
  • Losing his weight
  • Dull coat

If your little pooch has any of the above signs, then there are chances that he is been affected by any of the below worms.

  • Heartworms

Other than a bite of an infected mosquito there is no way your dog is infected by heartworms. For heartworms prevention is easy. Once the dog is infected, it is hard and costly to cure.

The major problem with heartworm is, your dog doesn’t show any sign if he is infected with heartworm. You will come to know suddenly when he coughs the blood. Hence, prevention of it is very much important for your furry pal. Heartworms travel to the heart through the lungs and veins. But, sometimes they miss their way and can affect other parts also. If heartworms are found in the eye of Fido, then it can be a dangerous sign and your dog can lose his eyesight also.

  • Roundworms

Roundworms spread through pregnancy, nursing, or feces. They eat the food of their host.  Potbelly, belly pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and dull coat are symptoms of roundworms. For adult dogs, roundworms don’t matter much but for little puppies, they can be fatal.

  • Hookworms

Hookworms can easily spread from anywhere, sand to the skin or while cleaning. They are also harmful to humans and for little puppies, they are lethal. Puppies can have hookworms from their mother also while nursing. They drain blood out of their host. Weakness and malnutrition are signs of hookworms. 

  • Ringworms

Ringworms are actually an infection caused by a fungus. They don’t show any sign but often present in your dogs as a dry, gray, and scaly patch. They cause itchiness, hair, accumulation of surface skin, and dandruff.

  • Tapeworms

Fleas are a host of tapeworms. Infected fleas carry tapeworm larvae.  So, your dog only gets tapeworms through licking themselves or swallowing. Tapeworms live in the intestine and drain the dog’s nutrition. If your dog scoots his anus across the ground or rough surfaces, it is a sign that your dog is affected by tapeworms.

  • Whipworms

Dogs can be affected by whipworms through contaminated soil or by grooming. Whipworms drain blood out of their host. They reside where the small and large intestines meet. They mainly cause diarrhea and when severe, they can also cause bloody diarrhea. 

Prevention and Treatment for Worms:

In most cases, early detection and prevention of all worms is must. Also when caught later, it is always harder to recover and costlier. So, it is advisable to feed your pooch regularly with wormers. Most worming oral treatments are either monthly or quarterly. Pregnant or lactating pets should be treated monthly and must get at least one wormer for dogs every 3 weeks after whelping. They are available in form of tablets, chews, or liquid. Regular or monthly consumption of them isn’t harmful to dog and don’t have any side effects. Just make sure you follow instructions and don’t overdose on your doggie.

There are many wormers available in the market nowadays like Cazitel, Endogard, Virbac, Tapewormer, Popantel, Paragard, Milbemax, and Drontal. Most of these products like Dog Drontal, Endogard, and Popantel are useful for all worms, except heartworms. They are cheap and reliable but still click here to compare all the products, and then buy suitable ones for your furry pal.

For heartworms, Heartgard is more known. There are also other products available in market like Advocate, Milbemax, Nuheart, and Comfortis.

Some heartwormers include protection against other fleas, ticks, and worms also.  So, the best way is to compare all products, their effects, and ingredients. Also, take care of Fido’s like. If your Fido has resistance against medicine or liquid, you can choose chewable. Just make sure he chews the whole dosage or you need to give another one.

Without a miss, regularly feed Fido with oral treatments and keep worms away from a dear furry friend!