Dog tape worm
By: Johan
Most of you that ever have had a dog know this, a dog is bound to get worms sometime during its existence, dog tape worms that is. A parasite as it is, it most probably won’t affect your dog in an extremely negative way and your dog might probably learn to cope with the situation, question is why you want one of your best friends gnawing at their backside all the time because their anus is infested with dog tape worm and you are just to ignorant or cheap to help out. It is just cruel and there are cheap medical cures to buy.
Dog tape worm - What is it?
The dog tape worms are parasitic creatures that most probably have gotten into your dog via the nasty fleas. As the fleas bite your dog, your dog will with all right try to bite back and probably swallow a handful of fleas in the process. Fleas that are carriers of dog tape worms, you see the connection? Once inside the dogs guts, a dog tape worm will attach itself to the inside of the dogs intestine and feed on whatever you feed your dog, hence stealing nutrition meant for your best friend. The dog tape worm will then grow and grow and grow all throughout the dogs intestines, releasing egg sacks or dog tape worm segments that finally reach your dogs rectum and cause extreme anal irritation.
Dog tape worm - Seeing the signs
Your dog will appear to be sick for no apparent reason. Although vomiting and lack of energy is not as common as an increased appetite and weight loss they are still symptoms to look out for. As the parasite start to release its egg sacks you will see some more graphic signs of something being wrong. Your dog will start chewing obsessively on its backside and even drag its anus across the floor to stop the itching. Egg sacks and dog tape worms will follow with the faeces or simply fall out of the dogs rectum. The eggs look somewhat similar to rice seeds and the segments remind somewhat of pieces of tape, hence the name of the parasite. Those are signs of dog tape worm that you should not miss. Once you’ve established that is might be dog tape worm consult your veterinarian
Dog tape worm - Curing it
The veterinarian is the answer as there is really nothing that you can do personally to cure your dog from this. Do not believe anyone that says that you can do this on your own, you might stun the dog tape worm for a while but it will return, and you might hurt your dog in the process. You will need to get an antiparasitic medicine and then somehow lure or force your dog to take it. Believe me, your dog will thank you once the itching stops. The most medicines dissolve the dog tape worm and flush it out with the faeces, but some after-treatments might still be in order just to be on the safe side. Most probably you will get some kind of folder together with the medicine from your veterinarian.