How do you know if your dog has a skin parasite

Parasites In Dogs: Types, Symptoms, Treatment, Prevention & More

This content was reviewed by a veterinarian.

Most dogs will be plagued by some type of parasite in their lifetime. External and internal parasites can cause everything from mild itchiness to life-threatening conditions. And some parasites in dogs can even infect humans. Well give you an overview of the most common dog parasites, ways your pup can get them, and how to treat and prevent them.

What Are Parasites?

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention defines a parasite as an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Parasites are common in dogs, but many are easy to prevent, so its best to be informed about how you can keep these pests at bay.

Types Of Parasites In Dogs

There are two main categories of dog parasites:

1. External live on the outside of the body
2. Internal live inside the body. Most internal parasites live in dogs intestines, with some exceptions e.g., heartworms and lungworms, which infect the heart and lungs.

How Do Dogs Get Parasites?

Dogs can contract parasites in several different ways. One of the most common means of transmission of external parasites, such as fleas, lice, and mites, is through direct contact with an infected animal (or shared bedding, collars, etc.). Dogs pick up ticks from the woods, bushes, tall grasses, or other outdoor places.

Intestinal parasites are usually transmitted when a dog eats or licks feces, soil, grass, food, or water contaminated with the parasites eggs. In addition, puppies can catch roundworms and hookworms from their mother in utero or their mothers milk when feeding. Dogs can get tapeworms from ingesting infected fleas, usually from self-grooming, and they get heartworms if theyre bitten by an infected mosquito.

Symptoms Of Parasites In Dogs

The signs of parasites in dogs differ depending on the type. Many of the symptoms of external parasites are similar regardless of which bug is infecting your dog. The signs of internal infestations depend on the location of the parasites. All intestinal parasites can produce similar symptoms. But if your pup has heartworms, the symptoms will differ from external and intestinal parasites.

*Roundworm larvae can migrate to the lungs and cause respiratory symptoms, pneumonia, and heart problems in some cases. These cases are called lungworms.

Diagnosis

Most external parasites are pretty easy to diagnose because theyre usually visible on your dogs skin or in his ears in the case of ear mites. However, mange mites that infect your dogs skin are too small to see with the naked eye, so your vet will take skin scrapings to examine under a microscope to detect them.

In the case of intestinal parasites or lungworms, your vet will typically require a fecal sample and well as a physical examination because they can all cause gastrointestinal (GI) issues. A blood test is required to identify a heartworm infestation.

How To Get Rid Of Parasites In Dogs

Dog parasite treatment depends on the type your dog has. But no matter the type, early detection and treatment are crucial to avoid an infestation of parasites. Severe health problems can result from untreated ticks, heartworms, lungworms, and intestinal parasites.

Dogs not treated for parasites are at high risk of anemia, dehydration, or secondary internal or skin infections. If you suspect any parasite, you should consult your vet to get your pups proper diagnosis and treatment.

External Parasites

To kill fleas, ticks, and lice, you may want to consider using a spot-on treatment, likeFrontlineor Advantage, which will kill fleas and their eggs, ticks, and lice (but not lice eggs) directly on your dog. Youll also want to treat your home with an insecticide spray. For ticks, its important to properly remove any ticks as soon as you spot them from their fur or skin because they spread serious diseases to dogs, such as Lyme disease.

If your dog has mange mites, your vet will prescribe the best medication to kill them. In some cases, you can use a medicated antiparasitic shampoo for dogs to help relieve symptoms from external parasitic infections. For ear mites, your vet may prescribe a topical medication, likeRevolution, that you apply to the skin on the back of your dogs neck or between the shoulders to kill the mites.

Intestinal Parasites

There is no single dog parasite medicine that can treat all GI parasites. Once your vet identifies the specific parasite, theyll give your pup the most effective treatment. In the case of roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, and whipworms, your vet will recommend a dewormer medication, like PanacurC. Other oral medications that your vet can prescribe effectively kill the Coccidia and Giardia parasites.

Heartworms

Heartworm treatment is complex. Dogs first need to be kept confined and inactive because activity speeds up heart and lung damage. Then, depending on how far the infection has progressed, your vet may need to stabilize your pup with steroids, heartworm preventives, or antibiotics before treatment.

Next, your dog will receive a series of FDA-approved Immiticide (melarsomine) injections that kill adult heartworms, which can take 30 to 60 days. During this time and for at least 30 days after the last injection, dogs must get complete rest and remain inactive. In severe cases, surgery may be necessary to remove the worms.

Prevention

The good news is that there are many preventative medications you can give your dog to stave off pesky parasites.

Fleas, Ticks, Lice & Tapeworms

The best way to prevent fleas, ticks, chewing lice, and tapeworms (since dogs get tapeworms from eating infected fleas) is touse flea and tick preventative medication regularly.

Ear Mites

Since mites feed on ear wax and oils, keeping your dogs ears clean can help reduce the risk of a mite infestation. We recommendZymox Cleanser With Bio-Active EnzymesorBohdi Dog All-Natural Ear Cleanser.

Heartworms, Roundworms, Hookworms & Whipworms

Giving your dog monthly heartworm medication (oral or topical) is the best way to prevent heartworms, roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. Some of the most commonly used heartworm preventative medications include:

Giardia And Coccidia

Unfortunately, theres no preventative medication you can give your dog to prevent him from getting Giardia infections or coccidiosis. But there are some measures you can take to help keep these parasites away. These steps also help keep your dog protected from other intestinal parasites.

• Keep infected dogs away from other dogs.
• Dont let your dog drink from puddles, lakes, or other untreated bodies of water, especially if the water is stagnant.
• Clean up dog poop immediately, and avoid areas where theres a lot of dog feces on the ground.
• If you have to board your dog, make sure the kennel practices proper hygiene and keeps its crates, runs, and yards free of feces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most common questions we get from our readers about dog parasites.

What Are The Most Common Puppy Parasites?

Puppies are just as susceptible as adult dogs to all of the parasites we discuss in this article. Out of all of these parasites, the most common in puppies are roundworms. Most puppies have traces of roundworms or roundworm eggs in their tissue at birth, but they can also contract roundworms from their mothers milk. For this reason, veterinarians and breeders commonly administer dewormers to young puppies.

Do Dogs Get Worms In Their Skin?

Worms in a dogs skin are possible but rare. For example, a roundworm species, Dracunculus insignis, can infest the tissue beneath the skin of a dogs legs or abdomen. Signs include red ulcers on the skins surface and swollen, snake-like tracks under the skin. Although extremely rare, dogs can contract D. insignis from small lakes and shallow, stagnant water.

Also rare, Pelodera dermatitis is a skin infection caused by the larvae of a roundworm species called Pelodera strongyloides that invades the skin. The affected skin is red with patchy hair and may have bumps, ulcers, or pus-filled lumps. These larvae are present in decaying organic matter and on the surface of moist soil. Dogs with healthy skin arent usually at risk of developing an infection.

What Parasite Causes Green Poop In Dogs?

A Giardia infection in dogs can often cause chronic diarrhea with a greenish color. If you notice that your dogs stool is green, its important to get veterinary attention. Giardiasis is particularly dangerous for puppies, immunocompromised dogs, and senior dogs.

Can Humans Get Parasites From Dogs?

Fleas, ticks, and lice can all transfer to humans from your dog, and theyll bite us but not live on us. In contrast, intestinal worms can transfer from dogs to humans, especially children, and live in their bodies. See more information in the brief video below.

Shop Online To Save Money On Preventative Meds & More

Speak to your vet to get advice on the best over-the-counter preventative medications. Most vets will offer medicine for you to take home, but you can also save a lot of money by purchasing preventative parasite medicine online. You can also protect your family from backyard parasites by getting the best pooper scooper and poop bags.

Parasitic Worms of the Skin in Dogs

Dracunculus insignis is a species of roundworm found mainly in the connective tissue beneath the skin of the host's legs. They are known to infect raccoons, minks, and other animals, including dogs, in North America. Female worms can reach more than 1 foot (300 millimeters) in length. Male worms are tiny in comparison, around 0.8 inches (20 millimeters) long. These worms can produce skin ulcers on their hosts. When the ulcers touch water, the worms stick their heads out of the wounds in order tolay their long, thin-tailed larvae. The larvae then develop inside of another host, the water flea. Dogs can also become infected when they drink contaminated water or eat another host, such as a frog.

Signs of D. insignis worm infestation include snake-like, swollen tracks under the skin and crater-like red ulcers on the skins surface. These infections are rare, but have occasionally been found in dogs that have been around small lakes and shallow, stagnant water.

Veterinarians treat the infection by carefully and slowly extracting the parasites. Antiparasitic drugs of the miridazole or benzimidazole classes can also be useful.

In parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, a guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) is a well-known parasite of humans that may also infest dogs and other animals.

How to Tell If Your Dog Has Worms

One of the most common concerns that you may face as a dog owner is whether or not your dog has worms. As gross as that thought may be, intestinal worms are pretty common.

Heres what you need to know about worms in dogs: how to tell if your dog has worms, how dogs get worms, and how to get rid of worms in dogs.

How Do Dogs Get Worms?

Here are some of the most common ways that dogs get worms:

Eating Feces

Transmission of intestinal worms (hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms) commonly occurs when your dog ingests contaminated soil or feces containing eggs or immature worms (larvae) that have been passed from other infected animals in the environment.

Roundworm infections can develop when the ingested eggs hatch and the larvae migrate through the tissues of other organs, often a dogs lungs and liver, before returning to the small intestine to grow to maturity. Whipworms typically grow to maturity in the upper part of the large intestine.

Getting Them From Their Mother

Pregnant and nursing dogs can transmit hookworm and roundworm larvae to their puppies during pregnancy if the larvae migrate across the placenta. These larvae can also migrate into the mammary glands and be passed to puppies during lactation. Hookworms, like roundworms, will eventually grow to maturity in your dogs small intestine.

Ingesting Fleas While Grooming

Your dog could be infected with tapeworms while licking herself during grooming, or by chewing at her fur. Fleas transmit tapeworms by ingesting the tapeworm egg packets in the environment before jumping on your dog for a blood meal. Once the flea host has been swallowed and digested, the tapeworm larva is able to attach to the wall of your dogs intestine and grow to adulthood.

How to Tell If Your Dog Has Worms

Since worm infestations can sometimes show few to no symptoms, keep an eye out for any or all of these changes in your dogs daily health and appearance:

• Diarrhea, sometimes containing blood or mucus

• Vomiting, which can sometimes contain adult worms

• Weight loss, particularly if your dog has a good appetite

• A bloated belly or generally unhealthy appearance

• A dull, dry coat

• Excessive scooting and chewing at their bottom

• Visible segments that look like grains of rice attached to the fur around their bottom or on their tail (or in their feces)

Common Types of Worms and Their Symptoms

Heres a list of common types of worms in dogs and the specific symptoms you might see for each.

Whipworms

Adult whipworms are smaller than roundworms and may be visible to the naked eye, but they are uncommonly seen as adults in the feces. These worms can cause:

Hookworms

Adult hookworms are usually not visible to the naked eye. Hookworms could cause:

• Bloody diarrhea

• Anemia

• Weakness

• Lethargy

Roundworms

Roundworms are visible to the naked eye (they look like spaghetti) and can be seen in feces or sometimes vomited or coughed up as single worms or in clusters. They can cause:

Tapeworms

Tapeworms can look like grains of rice on your dogs fur (individual egg packets) or may be visible to the naked eye in longer segments. They can cause:

• Excessive scooting

• Itching

• Chewing at the rear end

Can Humans Get Worms From Dogs?

Humans can also contract hookworm and roundworm infections if they accidentally ingest contaminated soil or feces. Frequent hand washing andwearing shoes and appropriate clothing outdoors can decrease the chance of exposure.

Roundworms

Humans can be exposed through dogs, usually by coming into contact with their contaminated waste. Theoretically, it may be possible to contract roundworms by petting a dog, if the dog had recently rolled outside in the dirt and picked up either contaminated soil or fecal material on their fur.

Roundworm ingestion can sometimes lead to a condition called visceral larval migrans, which occurs when the roundworm larvae migrate through the intestinal wall into other internal organs, including the lungs, heart, nervous system and eyes. Roundworm larvae have been identified in several cases of acute blindness and retinal detachment in humans.

Hookworms

People can get hookworms by walking barefoot, although there have been cases of people developing lesions on their back or shoulders after lying on the ground with no shirt on. Any exposure of bare skin to contaminated soil/feces could pose a risk for transmission.

Exposure to soil that is contaminated with hookworm larvae can lead to a skin condition known as cutaneous larval migrans. These infections look like red tracks or coiled lesions just below the surface of the skin and can cause a great deal of itchiness as the live larvae migrate through the tissue.

It is rare, but hookworm larvae can also survive in the intestine and grow to adulthood in a human host, which can cause intermittent and recurrent episodes of abdominal pain and cramping.

Tapeworms

Tapeworms can be passed to humans much like they are transmitted in dogsby ingesting an infected flea. Once the flea is swallowed and absorbed in the digestive tract, the tapeworm larva can attach to the wall of the intestine.

Whipworms

Canine whipworm infections are species-specific and not typically considered a zoonotic threat to humans.

How to Get Rid of Worms in Dogs

Heres what to do if you suspect that your dog has any type of intestinal parasites.

Call for a Vet Appointment

If you think your dog might have worms, you should schedule an appointment with your regular veterinarian right away.

If left untreated, intestinal parasites can migrate to other organs in your dogs body, including the heart, lungs, liver, eyes and brain, which could lead to worsening sickness and even death in the most severe cases.

Collect a Sample of Your Dogs Stool

Your veterinarian may ask you to bring a fresh sample of your dogs stool from home, especially if you are seeing worms in their feces or notice dried, rice-like segments in their fur.

You only need a small amount of feces; usually about a teaspoon-size sample will do.

If you cannot collect a fresh sample at home, however, the veterinary staff will collect a sample when you arrive for your dogs appointment.

If your vet is suspicious of hookworms, roundworms, or whipworms, they will be looking for individual microscopic eggs in the sample.

Tapeworms can be identified microscopically by their egg packets, which are the rice-like segments you might also see attached to your pets fur. Occasionally, you may also see an adult worm in the fecal sample, which can be extremely helpful for identification.

Use Deworming Medications Prescribed by Your Vet

Once your veterinarian has had a chance to examine your dog and analyze the fecal sample, they will determine the best type of deworming medications to treat the worms that are present.

Your veterinarian may prescribe an oral or injectable dewormer that will kill the adult and larval worms. They may also recommend starting your dog on monthly topical or oral flea prevention, since tapeworm infections can recur if there are fleas in your dogs environment.

Oral Dewormers

Broad spectrum prescription medications such as Panacur (fenbendazole) and Drontal Plus (pyrantel, praziquantel, fenbendazole) can be used to treat hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and tapeworm infections, but they must be carefully administered according to your veterinarians instructions and may require multiple doses to kill any larvae that may have hatched after the first dose was given.

Oral dewormers do not generally cause severe side effects. If your dog has a large worm burden at the time of treatment, it is possible that an oral dewormer could cause mild diarrhea, vomiting, and a temporary loss of appetite as the worms are paralyzed or killed by the medication and passed from your dogs system.

Injectable Dewormer

Praziquantel is also available as a one-time injectable treatment for tapeworm infections, which works by paralyzing and dislodging the sucker of the worm from the intestinal wall, allowing the worms to be passed in the feces.

Injectable dewormers may cause a local injection site reaction, including pain, swelling, and local inflammation due to its viscous nature.

Over-the-Counter Remedies

Purchasing over-the-counter or natural remedies for treating intestinal parasites is never recommended. While it may seem like a faster and cheaper alternative to visiting your veterinarian, there is NO guarantee that those products are safe or effective in treating any type of medical condition, and they could actually be harmful to your dog.

Featured Image: iStock.com/yulkapopkova

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