Heightened Symptoms of Worms in Dogs
You have a pet dog, right? Your great dog suddenly doesn’t seem to be
doing too great. You did ignore for some days but now it is going too
far. Even your friends feel something is wrong with the dog. So get
going. Your dog might have a worm wriggling inside its body. Worms can
cause a lot of problems to dogs. Weight loss, loss of appetite, bad
breath, low energy and vomiting are the most common symptoms of a worm
infection. There are five kinds of worms that can make your dog limp.
Tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, heartworms and whipworms are the names
of those deadly worms. You can have a look at the symptoms of particular
infections by particular worms.
Tapeworm: a common parasite
Infection of a dog by a tapeworm is pretty common. As the name suggests
these worms are flat and look like tapes. They have separate internal
organs. Their body parts can break off anytime in the gut of the dog.
The dried broken segments generally come out with feces. The dog will
start itching itself vehemently if it has been infected by this worm.
Other symptoms are weight loss, vomiting, abdominal pain and
fretfulness.
Roundworms:
This worm is a typical one. It can pass from the mother to the pup. Your
dog may be born infected because the mother had this worm in her body.
The pup can also get infected while drawing milk from the infected
mother. But the mother is not the culprit all the time. Sometimes the
dog can contract this infection if it gobbles up contaminated food or
soil. Vomiting and weight loss are the two common symptoms here. Acute
Diarrhea can be a symptom too. Generally dogs with roundworms in their
bodies develop bulging bellies.
Heartworm: The scary one
These are really dangerous to your pet dogs. They not only make your dog
sick but they can even cause death of your beloved friend. The
heartworms directly infect the respiratory organs of the dog, once the
worms are matured enough. Till then you can heave a sigh of relief. But
once these terrifying worms settle down they can also affect the heart
of the dog. Dogs cannot be infected by this worm through food and water.
This worm gets inside a dog only through a mosquito bite. Symptoms
include coughing, fainting, weakness and breathing problems. In the
severest case the dog may die due to a heart attack.
Whipworms:
These parasites happily suck blood once they get attached to the large
intestines. They appear like whips and so are called whipworms. The
symptoms are drastic in this case. The dog can suffer from anemia,
dehydration, slimy tools, and weakness. Sometimes there is intestinal
bleeding too. You will find a marked weight loss in your pet dog if he
is suffering from this infection.
Hookworms:
These worms are the most irritating types. They can enter the body of
the dog even through its skin. They have a distinctive passageway. They
enter the lungs through the skin. The dog then swallows the worms and
sends it to its intestine. The worm attaches itself to the intestine and
gets going with its job of sucking blood. The worms cause bleeding of
the intestine. The other symptoms include anemia, weight loss, dry skin,
diarrhea, cramps and even blood stained stools.
The symptoms are checked by the vets so that they can properly treat the
dogs. If you find any of these symptoms in your dog then there is no
time to lose. Immediately visit a vet and ask him to check your dog.
Your dog may be suffering from a minor infection or maybe infected with
a formidable worm.
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