hello I'm dr. Ross Henry with the
Kimberley animal hospital recently we've
had some clients question the rationale
of annual fecal examinations checking
for internal parasites so today I'd like
to talk to you about one worm in
particular the round worm now here's
some round worms here's an adult worm
and these things get their name because
they're round they're tubular kind of
look like an earthworm they'll be four
to maybe six inches in length and these
things reside in the intestinal tract of
your pet they live on the partially
digested food as it moves through the
intestinal tract now a pregnant female
round worm can lay two hundred thousand
eggs a day that's right two hundred
thousand eggs a day so you get two or
three of these pregnant round worms in
the intestinal tract they're spilling a
lot of eggs into the stool so an
infected dog poop somewhere your pet
comes along as it is exposed either by
stepping in it and then licking their
feet or by will having forbid eating the
stuff or maybe sniffing it and getting
some other muzzle and licking their
muzzle now once ingested the round worm
has a complicated life cycle where the
immature stages migrate through the
tissues of the body and this is
especially important in a pregnant
female because as these immature stages
are migrating through the body they can
actually infect the fetuses in the
uterus and so the puppies or the kittens
are actually born with worms also these
immature stages can get into the mammary
tissue and then when the puppies or the
kittens latch on and get that first
middle that colostrum which is loaded
with protection and with energy they
also get a load of worms that way so
around worms are not good they deprive
the pet or the puppy or kitten
especially in nutrients they can cause a
and diarrhea which further exacerbates
the condition of losing nutrients
through the diarrhea so you'll get a
stunted growth you'll get a pot-bellied
appearance maybe a poor hair code now
detection and and determination is
relatively easy we just look at a sample
of the stool underneath the microscope
and you can actually see any eggs in the
stool and treatment is relatively easy
we give them some medicine that will
kill the worms in the intestinal tract
and unfortunately we don't have anything
that works against the immature stages
or the stages in the mammary tissue so
the center of Disease Control now
recommends that all pets be to wormed at
least four times a year here at the
clinic the Kimberling Animal Hospital we
recommend heartworm prevention that's
given on a monthly basis and by doing so
not only are you giving medicine that
works against heartworms but most
heartworm prevention also works against
roundworms
and some of the other internal parasites
of the intestinal tract now the main
problem we have with round worms is that
there is a zoonotic potential to us we
can actually get these worms from our
pets and this is especially a problem
with chip with kids you know they handle
the pet they don't wash their hands they
got eggs on their hands and then they do
this or they do this and not all of a
sudden our child is infected so it's
very important to clean up after your
pet remove the feces
don't let them coop in a playground area
with other kids are involved steer them
away from other pets poop and have the
stools analyzed on yearly basis to make
sure as the medicine you're using is
correct that the dosages are
administered on a routine basis and
again it's a as a form of protection and
surveillance against the zoonotic
potential to us I'm dr. Ross Henry with
the Kimberling animal hospital
you