worms in dogs seem to be one of those dog health care problems that return. This is because of the way their lifecycle works. The threat of worms in dogs to canine and human health means that owners have a responsibility to intervene in the worm cycle and try to stop infestation.

The roundworm is the most common type of dog worm we see in the UK because most puppies are born infected. In puppies this infestation causes swollen bellies and may delay growth whilst in humans it may rarely cause blindness.

Like other types of worms in dogs, the cycle can be broken with a little understanding. At first, a female puppy is infected in the womb or through her mother’s milk. Then, in the infected puppy, some worm larvae will migrate through the intestine wall, into the bloodstream and into muscles where they will form cysts which cannot be destroyed. In the event of pregnancy in later life, the larvae will be reactivated and will move through the blood to infect the puppies.

Not all the larvae in the young puppy will form the cysts previously mentioned. Rather, some will stay in the intestine and become adults. Having reached maturity by feeding of the partially digested contents of the intestine, the worm will release eggs which will be passed with the dog’s faeces. In the open air, the eggs are infectious to other dogs and even people. For people it is the touching of contaminated soil rather than the handling of puppies which poses an infection risk.

That is the cycle and in order to interrupt it, dog owners should give worming treatment to adult dogs every three months. Because of puppies’ predisposition to this type of worms in dogs, they should be treated every two weeks between the ages of two and twelve weeks and once a month thereafter until they are six months old. Worms in dogs do pose a danger to public health, so even though the risk is relatively small, picking up after dogs and promoting hand hygiene in the whole family is vital to break the cycle and reduce risk.