Many varieties of worms can affect adult dogs, the most common of which are whipworms, heartworms, roundworms, tapeworms and hookworms, and each presents its own symptoms. Several aspects of the dog's health should be monitored to best diagnose whether she has worms and help avert more serious health conditions, or even death.
Instructions
Observe your pet during and after exercise. A dog infected with heartworms often is short of breath and coughs and tires easily. Heartworm infections can affect the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver.
Examine your dog's feces. Whipworms and hookworms can cause dogs with otherwise normal stools to have diarrhea, and in severe infections the diarrhea can be bloody. Roundworms and tapeworms can actually be seen by the naked eye in dog feces. Roundworms are white or light-brown colored, can be several inches long and appear like spaghetti. Tapeworms appear as small white worms that resemble grains of rice or cucumber seeds. Tapeworms can also cling to hair near the anus and can survive in the area where a dog sleeps.
Monitor your dog's weight. Worms often cause weight loss in an otherwise healthy dog, often as a result of nausea and vomiting.
Study your dog's vomit if she is expectorating. Roundworms can often be seen in a dog's vomit.
Make an appointment with a veterinarian for a fecal examination and collect a stool sample from your pet before going to your appointment. A fecal examination can detect the presence of microscopic eggs or larvae of the worms.
Ask your veterinarian to perform a complete blood count on your dog to test for anemia as well as the presence of heartworm antigens. Hookworms can cause severe anemia, which is the condition of having too few red blood cells.