Tapeworm - Symptoms of Tapeworms in Dogs

Learning to recognize the symptoms of tapeworms just might save your dogs life. If your dog has tapeworms you'll want to get this condition corrected as soon as possible. Not only are tapeworms gross but they make your dog very uncomfortable. Just the very thought of worms living inside of my dog gives me the willies.

Once consumed, tapeworms live in the intestines of your dog and they do not provoke an immune system response meaning that your dog can be reinfected each time it consumes a tapeworm or tapeworm egg. Dogs and cats get tape worms most often from fleas and other sources such as eating on dead animals etc.

Here's a typical cycle that can be never ending. Your dog consumes a flea that is acting as an intermediate host for a tapeworm and as a result the tapeworm makes its way out of the flea and now takes up residency in your dogs intestinal tract where it thrives and feeds on your dog for as long as it can.
You'll notice white like segments in your dogs stool as well as segments in and around bedding areas and you may even see them on your dogs rear end. Gross to say the least. You'll want to be careful when handling these segments because they are in fact full of tapeworm eggs just waiting for a host.

If you have small children you'll want to be especially watchful if you have a dog that has tapeworms because small children will put just about anything in their mouth. Your little one could be crawling around the floor and see this white like segment and you know what comes next....down the hatch it goes! Eeewww I know, just the thought of that happening grosses me out. It does happen though.

Your dog will excrete these segments of tapeworm on an ongoing basis until medicine is given to kill the tapeworm. Each excreted segment contains worm eggs. Most dogs have fleas some more than others depending on how well the dog is kept. Flea larva will eat anything and since the tape worm segments are readily available in and around your dogs bedding and or on your dog the flea larva scarfs these tapeworm segments on down like a kid eating his favorite ice cream.

The flea larva goes on to complete its life cycle and hatches as an adult flea which loves to feed on your dogs blood. A fertile female flea lays hundreds of eggs. The flea larva eats the tapeworm segments that are full of eggs and now the tapeworm eggs have their host (the flea) where the tapeworm begins its life cycle. Your dog scarfs down one of these adult fleas that is acting as a host for the tapeworm and viola your dog is infected all over again.
So its always best to keep your dog up on flea treatments as well as on a regular schedule for deworming. Your vet will be able to guide you on the frequency of deworming and flea treatments. Owning a dog is a lot of work and responsibility. If your dog ends up getting tapeworm you might as well plan on mounting an all out assault on the fleas as well because these two critters work together like Batman and Robin "the dynamic duo" against you and your dog.

If you have multiple dogs and or cats you might as well plan on getting them all checked and treated because there's an excellent chance that all of them are infected with tapeworm and hundreds if not thousands of fleas are now carriers/intermediate hosts for the tapeworm and if your dog scarfs down just one of these infected fleas....bam tapeworm infection all over again. This cycle can be very frustrating until its broken and once you have the cycle broken its a great idea to get all your pets on a deworming schedule and keep them as flea free as possible.

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