Parasite & Health

A parasite is an organism that derives nourishment by feeding on
or within another animal. All parasites of concern can result in
damage to a pet's health. Some can be transferred from your pet
to other animals and even to you! No dog or cat that is
parasitized is considered healthy. Luckily, all parasites are
preventable and/or treatable.

Heartworm

A parasitic worm, Dirofilaria immitis, is responsible for
Heartworm disease. If an infected mosquito bites your pet, it can
transfer larvae to the animal's tissues. The larvae will develop
inside the animal and migrate through the body, eventually
reaching the animal's heart and lungs. Once inside the animal's
heart, the worms may grow to 7" - 11" long and cause significant
damage to the heart and lungs.

If left untreated, Heartworm disease may result in death. Signs of
Heartworm disease include: coughing, sluggishness, weight loss,
and difficulty breathing.

A simple blood test can diagnose Heartworm. Heartworm
disease can be treated, but treatment is expensive and can be
dangerous.

Fleas & Ticks

Fleas can cause the following problems: severe itching; anemia;
rickettsiosis (which can spread to humans); bubonic, septicemic,
and pneumonic plague; tapeworm (which can spread to humans);
and Cat Scratch Disease (which can spread to humans). Warning
signs that your pet has fleas: black specks in the fur or in
bedding areas (flea dander/droppings), excessive scratching.

Ticks can cause the following problems: Lyme Disease (which
can spread to humans), Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever, and Cytauxzoonosis. Warning signs that your pet
may have been bitten by a tick: fever, lameness, loss of appetite,
sudden onset of pain in your pet's legs or body, arthritis or
swelling in your pet's joints, lethargy or depression, and cough

Intestinal Worms

Roundworms

Most dogs have roundworms at some time in their life. This worm
can be passed to puppies while they are in the uterus and while
they are nursing. Eggs that are passed can develop into infective
larvae that are capable of directly infecting another dog. The
eggs may also infect an intermediate host, such as earthworms,
mice, rats and moles and then when this creature is eaten by the
dog develop into adult roundworms in the dog. Roundworms
have a strange life cycle, migrating out of the intestine and into
the lungs before returning to the intestines. Once infected, a dog
may pass millions of worm eggs in the stool. The eggs can live
for several months in the environment. They are sensitive to
ultraviolet light, so pens which are exposed to direct sunlight do
not support the life cycle of the worm as well as more protected
pens. Roundworm eggs can be killed by using aqueous iodine
solution but are not killed by chlorine bleach, although it is
supposed to remove the sticky outer coating of the worm,
making it easier to cleanse them from infected areas. If your
adult dogs are on Heartworm prevention medications there is a
good chance that they are being dewormed with a medication
that can kill roundworms on a monthly basis, which should be
sufficient to prevent any real worry over them getting infected,
especially since dogs become more resistant to infection with
roundworms as they get older. Cleaning up stools daily prevents
the spread of the eggs pretty efficiently and is a good practice to
prevent infections.


Hookworms

Hookworms are less common than roundworms, but are still a
major problem. Hookworms eggs develop into infective larvae
which can pass through the skin or be ingested and cause
infection. The eggs and infective larvae are susceptible to
sunlight and drying. Cleaning up the stools daily also helps to
prevent the spread of hookworms.

Whipworms

Whipworms have the most environmentally resistant eggs of all
the worms. The eggs of this worm can live for longer than a year
in the environment. They are susceptible to drying and sunlight.
This worm is killed by milbemycin.  Therefore, it is more
important to monitor fecal samples for evidence of the worm.
The time from infection to the appearance of worm eggs in the
stool is over two months, though, so it can take awhile to know if
this worm will become a problem when there is potential
contamination of the soil. Whipworms are harder to kill than
roundworms and hookworms. Many vets use fenbendazole
(Panacur®) for whipworm therapy.

Tapeworms

Tapeworms are usually acquired by eating infected fleas or small
rodents. Good flea control eliminates most problems with
tapeworms except in dogs who are allowed to run free or to hunt
small animals at times.