HOW DO DOGS GET WORMS & THE 6 TYPES WITH DESCRIPTIONS

Last Updated on February 23, 2024 by Thee Puppypreneur

HOW DO DOGS GET WORMS 

The answer to how do dogs get parasites like worms is simple. Dogs can get worms from a variety of places.  

If you are a new puppy owner the most common cause of your dog’s worms is due to the fact that its mother had worms and passed it on to your puppy when they were born. 

Other ways for how do dogs get worms would be from ingesting fleas or from eating poop that has been infected. Walking across ground that has been contaminated by an infected host is another way.  

If your dog is an avid adventurer and loves exploring the outdoors with you such as in the case of hiking. When your dog is exploring the wilderness, it can come across many different places where wild animals have been, this opens them up to a whole host of diseases and that is yet another way they can be infected.  

Even after all that, something as simple as the dog park or your own back yard can also infect your dog. 

A mosquito bite from an infected mosquito can cause heartworms. Something as simple as bird droppings or eating a mouse or cockroach can cause worms. 

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORMS DOGS CAN GET 

• WHIPWORM 
• HOOKWORM  
• ROUNDWORM 
• TAPEWORM 
• LUNGWORM 
• HEARTWORM 

Below is a brief discussion on what are the different types of worms dogs can get, where it could come from and how it looks.  

For more detailed information on each type of worm and how they are diagnosed by veterinarians and what the course of treatment for that specific parasite is make sure you click the link under your specific parasite. 

WHIPWORM

How do dogs get worms like whipworms? They come from contaminated soil. How did the soil get contaminated? 

Well, if there is already an infected animal and they poop then the whipworms eggs pass into the feces and can actually stay there in the soil for up to 5 years.  

If your dog is walking around and steps in poop and then licks their paws or decides it wants to eat the poop then the eggs are ingested and viola, whipworms. 

Whipworms are very small, white and look like their name. If you have ever seen a whip then you know it has a thick handle at one end to hold onto. 

Whipworms are the same, they are thicker on one end and then thin out on the other end just like a whip. They are about as thin as a piece of thread and very small, only about a ¼ inch long.  

For more information about whipworms click here 

HOOKWORM

How do dogs get worms like hookworms? They come from their mothers as a puppy. They can also get them from walking around in contaminated soil where an infected animal has defecated.  

Aside from the worry of them ingesting the feces, licking their feet or even sniffing the contaminated area.  

These eggs once pooped out, hatch and can remain active for months. So even if your dog isn’t smelling, licking or eating.  

Just walking over an area where an infected animal pooped months ago might be all it takes for the hookworm to penetrate your dog’s skin, especially between their toes. 

Hookworms are even smaller than whipworms by about half the size, they are a white color and their bodies resemble a hook since they are curved. 

For more information on hookworms click here 

ROUNDWORM

How do dogs get worms like roundworms? They get them from their mom’s or from smelling another animal’s poop.  

Another way that dogs can get roundworms is if they are an avid hunter and like eating birds, earthworms, mice and even cockroaches. These animals are the carriers of the roundworm eggs. 

Roundworms are easily seen with the eye. They can be white or yellowish-brown. They resemble spaghetti noodles and are usually a couple inches long. 

For more information on roundworms click here 

TAPEWORM

How do dogs get worms like tapeworms which can happen from ingesting a contaminated flea or from eating an infected animal that had tapeworms. 

Tapeworms in dogs are long, flat, white worms (like fettucine). People think that the small, white grains of rice they see in dog poop are the tapeworms but they are actually the segments of the tapeworms that carry the eggs inside.  

Did you know that there actually used to be a tapeworm diet for humans? People used to actually ingest the tapeworm eggs to lose weight. ¹Tapeworm Diet: Weight Loss, Risks and Side Effects (healthline.com) 

For more information on tapeworms click here 

LUNGWORM

How do dogs get worms like lungworms which can come from a variety of different hosts. Your dog can get lungworm from eating frogs, foxes, birds or mice. 

They could even get it from their mother as a puppy. Saliva is a great transporter of the lungworm as it could harbor infected eggs or larvae. 

Snail or slug slime trails could crawl over your dog’s toys or water bowls and the snail could be carrying the lungworm eggs and then your dog drinks his water and is now infected.  

Other sources of possible contamination include other dogs that have been affected and could spread the disease through their saliva or nasal secretions. 

Lungworm are microscopic and can’t be seen in the feces of dogs or in animals.  

Depending on the species the worms live in the lungs, trachea and nasal cavities of the dog just to name a few. They are very small only centimeters in length. 

For more information on lungworms click here 

HEARTWORM

Dogs get heartworms from infected mosquitos. If a mosquito has bitten a host who is already infected with heartworm and then they bite your dog. 

Then your dog could get heartworm and in approximately 6 months your dog will now have mature worms living in his heart.  

Heartworm is not identifiable in the feces. You can check if your dog has heartworm by taking a specialized blood test. 

This is not usually included in your annual blood tests for your dog. Heartworms look like vermicelli noodles, they are thin, long and white.  

For more information on heartworm click below

 HEARTWORM IN DOGS AND EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW

The link below will discuss both regular and herbal deworming options that may be effective.  

How long the course of treatment is and any side effects that could occur depending on the treatment option you choose.

TYPES OF DEWORMERS FOR DOGS, SIDE EFFECTS & HERBAL DEWORMERS