WHIPWORMS
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Whipworms can go unnoticed for a while, until enough of them cause a bloody and mucousy diarrhea, dehydration and possibly electrolyte imbalances. The caveat though, is by the time the diarrhea shows up, your dog has been spreading more whipworm around the environment at home. This means any soil where they have gone to the bathroom can harbor new whipworms waiting for a host to come by. These can stay viable in the soil for years!
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Hookworms
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These worms are almost never seen outside the intestine however they are quite important to treat if your pet has them! They are blood-feeding worms that can make your pet, especially if he/she is a young pup or kitten, anemic. This worm can also affect people. Even though it cannot reside in human intestines, being exposed to hookworms hatched from your pet’s poop can cause skin lesions.
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Roundworms (toxacara)
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Roundworms are one of the adult worms you might see occasionally if your pet has a heavy infestation. They are often described as spaghetti. Most of the time, though, their presence is best detected on a fecal float test. Dogs and cats can get roundworms by ingesting them from mammal hosts like mice, from ingestion (accidentally or on purpose) of infected animal's stool, and puppies and kittens can even get them from an infected mother’s milk. These worms take nutrition away. They also cause swollen intestines, which leak fluid into the abdomen. Occasionally they can infect people too and that is good reason to regularly deworm our pets, and have good hygiene around them. You can learn more at the Center for Disease Control website about roundworms.
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Raccoon roundworms (Baylascaris)
tapeworms
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Tapeworms are one of the more visible internal parasites you can find, as little segments of the worm can be found dried up caught in the hair around the rear end of an infected pet. These segments look like a little grain of rice. Tapeworms are also a red flag to check for fleas as the most common species of tapeworm is transmitted by a pet swallowing a flea.
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Giardia
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Giardia infections have the nickname "beaver fever" because beavers do carry a strain of this organism. But your dog or cat is much more likely to get this infection from other infected dogs, coyotes, foxes, and cats than any beavers. Giardia is a single celled organism called a protist. Dogs and cats can get infected with this organism by being exposed to infected feces, contaminated ground, or contaminated water. There are many strains or "assemblages" of Giardia, each one specializes at infecting certain species. It is more difficult for the assemblages that commonly infect beavers, humans, or cows, to infect a dog or cat, however, that kind of crossover can sometimes occur.
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Many parasites that infect our pets have a small but present risk of infecting people. That is why we have provided links about these diseases from the Center for Disease Control. If you want more information, click the links below for two great sites to learn about zoonotic diseases.
