Canine tapeworms are intestinal parasites. These parasites require an intermediate host to complete their life cycle. Tapeworms rarely cause disease in their hosts, and the available treatments are safe and effective.
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Description
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Tapeworm segments are sacs that contain eggs. A tapeworm has a head with teeth that attach to the intestinal tract of the dog; a neck; and several segmented body sections, each containing eggs. As new segments grow from the neck, old segments are shed into your dog's feces.
Life Cycle
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Flea bites will cause your dog to lick and bite itself. After the egg sacs are shed, they break open and larval fleas eat the eggs. These larval fleas develop into adult fleas, which hop onto your dog and cause irritation. In response, your dog will lick or bite at itself and consequently swallow infected fleas. The fleas are digested, and the eggs are released. The tapeworms will then hatch and attach themselves to the dog's intestinal lining. (Eating infected rodents or rabbits has the same end result).
Diagnosis
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Some dogs with tapeworm can have negative results on fecal tests. A diagnosis of tapeworms is often made by seeing little, moving, rice-like segments in your dog's stool or on the hair around its rectum. Tapeworm eggs can be hard to find in laboratory tests unless eggs sacs have broken open.
Treatment
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Left untreated, tapeworm can cause weight loss and poor hair coat. Treatment is simple and effective. Your veterinarian will likely give your dog medicine in the form of a tablet or an injection. The worm will die and be digested by your dog.
Warnings
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Tapeworms cannot be passed directly from dog to owner. To effectively treat tapeworm, not only must you treat the infection, but you must also eliminate fleas on your dog (or control rodent pests) to avoid re-infection. Humans can get canine tapeworm--but only by ingesting a contaminated flea, so the risk is very low.
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