PUPPY PAL POINTERS

Pesky puppy pal parasites can be found almost everywhere, including the digestive tract.  We’re barking about nasty creatures such as tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.  All of them can debilitate your puppy pal.  You can look for tapeworms in your puppy pal’s stool (feces); the segments look like grains of rice.  Puppy pals get the most common tapeworms by eating another pesky pest, namely fleas.  Roundworms are sometimes passed in the stool and look like strands of spaghetti.  Young puppy pals can get these, as well as hookworms, from their mother before they are even born.  To detect the eggs of roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms, you need to ask your veterinarian to test your puppy pal’s stool for them.  Any puppy pal can get them by eating eggs that have been deposited on the ground via the stools of dogs infested with parasites.  For instance, after a romp in the park, parasite eggs can get pasted to puppy pals’ paws; they then might ingest the eggs while licking their paws.  They can also ingest the eggs while chewing on grass that has been contaminated with infested feces.  Intestinal parasites can possibly cause puppy pals to be malnourished, do poorly, and have signs of gastrointestinal upset, such as diarrhea.  Hookworms are even more sinister in that they suck blood and can cause anemia, especially in young or small animals.  Fortunately, they are relatively easy to treat with oral medication.

I have a few myths to dispel at this point in my parasite presentation.  Although the nasty worms mentioned above can be shared with people pals, don’t fall for the story line that we also give kids pinworms.  People share this parasite with members of their own species, so that’s one parasite problem you can’t pin on us!  Another fable is that ringworm is an intestinal parasite when it is actually a zoonotic skin fungus.  It causes scaling in patches frequently the shape of a ring.  Some folks are relatively resistant to it while others are quite susceptible.    Although this fungus among us can be passed from puppy pals (or more commonly kitty cats) to people, it can also be spread to a person by direct contact with an infected person.

Heartworms, which are spread by mosquitoes, are not so simple to treat.  As their name indicates, they are found in the heart.  They need to be diagnosed via a blood test and, if they are present, treatment is extensive and not without possible complications.  However, preventing heartworms is easy by giving your puppy pals medication; consult with a veterinarian so you can pick whichever product and schedule work best for you and your puppy pal.

RW

Puppy Pal Pointers:  Attend to puppy pals’ health needs; get them checked regularly for pesky parasites.

If puppy pals eat grass, are they sick?  Do they have worms?  Possibly, but not definitely!  This is an issue similar to “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”  Puppy pals sometimes eat grass simply because they enjoy it.  Then, because they are not ruminants (like cattle) and cannot digest the cellulose in grass, they vomit what they can’t process.  Through eons of evolution, puppy pals have learned that, if they eat grass, they probably will vomit.  So, if their stomachs are upset (for instance, when they have worms or bacterial or viral gastrointestinal infections), they may possibly eat grass to vomit and relieve the nausea.

Sorry, my fellow puppy pals, but good dental hygiene must also be discussed.  I know I seem like a traitor to my species with my talk about the importance of taking baths and brushing teeth, but I can’t help it.  Our mama instilled these concepts in me.

Bad teeth don’t just produce bad breath.  Plaque can cause rec