Worms in dogs and the potential health risk they pose not only to the pets but to people as well should always be at the forefront of responsible dog owners’ minds.Worms in dogs are internal parasites which can lead to ill health in dogs as well as humans.

Although worms in dogs can be damaging, there are often no outward signs of ill health until the worms are already damaging the dog’s health. Worms in dogs are undoubtedly hard to spot but look out for vomiting and diarrhoea as well as general loss of condition. Roundworms and tapeworms are the two types of worms in dogs.

Roundworms

Roundworms can appear to be coiled in the shape of a spring, can grow to around 10cm in length and are pale white or beige coloured. You might be able to see them in your dog’s faeces or sick. Dogs become infected with roundworms when they ingest their larvae, permitting the adult worms to develop inside the dog’s body.The eggs are then passed out in faeces, allowing the worm’s life cycle to be completed. Unfortunately, the most common type of roundworm is dogs is Toxocare Canis and it can have devastating effects on human children. When children ingest eggs as a result of contact with contaminated soil, larvae can grow in their bodies and migrate around the body. The larvae can potentially damage children’s eyesight if they reach the eyes. For this reason, dog owners must always pick up after their dog.

Tapeworms

You may be able to see evidence of tapeworms in your dog’s faeces or around his anus: they look like flat segments filled with what look like moving grains of rice but are actually eggs. Fleas carry tapeworm larvae so dogs become infected when they swallow fleas whilst grooming.Once inside the dog, the adult worm can grow up to 5 metres in length.

As with most conditions the old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ is true of worms in dogs. It is therefore important to ensure your dog is wormed every three months.Puppies should be wormed even more regularly than that. Effective worming medication can be bought at either a pet shop or a veterinary surgery, but you should ask your vet to suggest the most appropriate one.

Dog owners always want the best for their beloved animal. Most dog owners are also unable to resist the temptation to feed their pets scraps of human food from the table thinking that they are being kind.However, it is important to remember that some foods that humans regularly consume can be poisonous to dogs and might result in a serious dog health care emergency.

A classic example of a type of food that we people regularly enjoy but that is very dangerous to dog health care is chocolate. Many people have heard that it is unhealthy for dogs but few realise that it is actually seriously poisonous and dangerous to dog health care. Whilst hallucinations, internal bleeding and seizures all arise from eating chocolate, the worst case scenario could be death. Because even a small chocolate bar could be enough to kill a dog, depending on its size, it really isn’t worth taking the risk. If your dog eats chocolate you should try and make it sick and consult a vet as soon as possible.

Grapes and raisins are not conducive to dog health care, so it is lucky that most dogs aren’t so inclined to eat them anyway.Grapes and raisins will lead to kidney failure and death in dogs if enough are eaten.The amount of raisins and grapes a dog can eat before becoming seriously ill depends on its size and breed, but it is obviously better not to take the dog health care risk.

Another serious threat to dog health care are onions and macadamia nuts. Shakes, stiffness, hyperthermia and stomach pain are all symptoms of a dog having eaten them.

We don’t often see drunk dogs, but a dog that has been drinking alcohol will behave in a comparable way to a drunken human.Obviously drinking alcohol has the same health effects in dogs and is likely to leave your pet feeling quite poorly.However, there is another risk if the alcohol in question is beer. Dog health care is jeopardised by the hops which are used to make the beer. The hops cause malignant hyperthermia which very often leads to death.Again, the dog’s tolerance of the hops is affected by breed, with greyhounds known for their intolerance to hops.

Whilst as a dog owner you may be confident that you are familiar with general dog health care, it is important to follow this advice to keep your furry friend in the best shape.