Dog Bark Collars

worms in dogs, although normally not serious, are one of those little problems that seem to come back a lot, particularly for puppies. This is because their lifecycle is designed to be hard to break. Given that worms in dogs can cause health problems in both dogs and humans, owners have a responsibility to interrupt the cycle and try to keep it broken.

In the UK, the roundworm is the most common worm infestation seen in dogs, because most puppies are born with an infestation. It often causes puppies’ bellies to swell and may delay their growth, whilst in humans the worm larvae can cause blindness, although this is rare.

Like other types of worms in dogs, the cycle can be broken with a little understanding. At the beginning of the cycle, a female puppy is infected by her mother, either before birth via the placenta or afterwards via her milk. Then, in the infected puppy, some worm larvae will migrate through the intestine wall, into the bloodstream and into muscles where they will form cysts which cannot be destroyed. If she later becomes pregnant, the larvae will be activated and will move back into the bloodstream to infect any unborn puppies, completing the cycle.

Not all the larvae in the young puppy will form the cysts previously mentioned. Instead, some will remain in the intestine and grow into adults. Having reached maturity by feeding of the partially digested contents of the intestine, the worm will release eggs which will be passed with the dog’s faeces. In the environment, the eggs pose an infection risk to other dogs and even humans. The risk of infection for people does not arise from handling puppies, but from touching soil which has been contaminated by puppies’ faeces.

That is the cycle and in order to interrupt it, dog owners should give worming treatment to adult dogs every three months. As they are so prone to worm infection, puppies should be treated every two weeks from the ages of two to twelve weeks and once a month thereafter until they reach six months. Worms in dogs do pose a danger to public health, so even though the risk is relatively small, picking up after dogs and promoting hand hygiene in the whole family is vital to break the cycle and reduce risk.

Tags: Guardian, Dog, Canine, No Bark Collar, Innotek, K9