The most common problem for dog owners is their pet's worm infestation. No matter how the owner tries to protect the dog from this trouble, the worms still appear, tk. their eggs are everywhere, and the animal may even breathe them in and become infected. In order to competently deal with this problem, it does not hurt to know what type of worms the dog is infected with.
How to tell if a dog has worms
The dog may be infected with worms, but there may be no external manifestations. If the dog does not lose weight, eats well and behaves normally, it is enough for such an animal to carry out deworming for preventive purposes once every three months and before each vaccination.
But sometimes the dog develops some diseases, the symptoms of which the owner does not associate with worms. Although these signs can indicate not only the presence of worms, but even their appearance. If the dog constantly hiccups, vomits after feeding, diarrhea often opens, bronchitis occurs, the animal can be infected with round worms. The presence of flat worms may be indicated by frequent allergic reactions, intestinal obstruction, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes salivation and convulsions. If the animal is infected with esophageal worms, it has difficulty breathing, there is a cough and choking, and such a dog also loses weight a lot. Dogs can also have heart worms. In this case, the animal quickly gets tired, coughs, his legs and stomach swell, convulsions and photophobia begin.
If your pet does not have such symptoms, but you doubt that it does not have worms and do not want to overload the pet's liver with anthelmintic drugs, you can donate dog feces for analysis. For the reliability of the result, you need to do this 2-3 times, because not all worms live in the intestines and do not always throw their eggs into the feces.
It happens that after preventive deworming, worms come out of the dog along with the feces. You have a chance to examine them and determine if they are round or flat. Round ones look like spaghetti, flat ones look like noodles. Based on what you have seen, you can continue the treatment by choosing a drug that will effectively deal with a specific type of worms.
Why do we need prophylaxis against worms?
Worms are very dangerous to dogs if left unchecked. They settle in different organs and, growing there, pierce them, causing mechanical damage and increasing the risk of infection.
In addition, worms are parasites that take all nutrients from the body and release toxins into the bloodstream, poisoning the dog and reducing its immunity. This is especially detrimental to a growing organism. Puppies may develop rickets with worms.
If your dog has a lot of worms, they become tangled, which can cause a blockage in the intestines. And this is often fatal. Therefore, it is better not to neglect prevention in order to protect the dog from such problems.
In addition to tablets and suspensions for worms, the animal must also be treated with a flea and tick agent in a timely manner, because these insects are also able to bring eggs of worms into the dog's body.
