Dogs & Tapeworms

You’ve probably heard of tapeworms or had to deal with them before. The bad thing about worms is that they can affect your dog’s overall health and cause horrible gastrointestinal issues. Tapeworm infestations in dogs are not usually considered life-threatening; however, you should still take them seriously. This article will go into detail about everything that you need to know about tapeworms in dogs.

Tapeworms are generally flat and segmented. Each segment of the tapeworm is called a proglottid. Several common tapeworm species can affect dogs. These include:

• Echinococcus
• Metacestoides
• Taenia
• Dipylidium caninum (most common)

You may be wondering about the symptoms that come with tapeworms. You may notice your dog licking or biting at their anus or scotting along the ground due to an itching sensation. Your dog may also experience weight loss if it is heavily infected. Unfortunately, dogs with heavy adult parasite burdens have vomited whole tapeworms.

Dogs get tapeworms when they ingest fleas infected with the tapeworm larvae. That’s right. The flea is the intermediate host in the cycle of transmission of tapeworms. The good news is that tapeworms can be treated with a parasiticide drug called praziquantel. Preventing tapeworms in dogs doesn’t require much effort at all. The most effective means of prevention are using flea and tick prevention and practicing good hygiene.