# My girl had Roundworms!! yuck!!



## imdeanna (Apr 9, 2005)

I just got Molly April 7th....she started acting weird, which is originally what brought me to this site.

I posted on the Newbie's board about her being tired all the time, off balance and listless....got great advice regarding possible hypoglycemia, so I started giving her Nutrical and puppy formula...making sure she ate something every 3 hrs to keep her blood sugar level, well Thank God I was giving her a lot of extra nutrients as suggested by others here, or these worms would have devoured her! 

This last Tues. was the first day she was left at home alone, the poor thing (I’m pretty sure puked it up) passed 2 roundworms that were knotted together! It was so gross…she had diarrhea and throw up everywhere. I took her to the Vet 1st thing Wed morning, they gave her De-worm medicine, and then last night she had passed in her stool 2 more 3-4” long worms…and what looks like lots of eggs. 

The poor girl was INFESTED with these worms! I am Sooooo mad at the gal I bought her from…..WHAT is she thinking not getting this pups de-wormed? What is wrong with people? By the size and amount of what she passed…these have been infesting inside her since day one! (She’s only 8 wks old!) Sad that the money is all they see…they don’t realize that these are living creatures that THEY are choosing to bring into this world therefore THEY are responsible for making sure they have the best life possible!!!! Grrr…ok…done with my rant!! J (well not really….I think I’d like to go give her a swift kick in the butt…that may make me feel better! )  

But what a difference in Molly!! Her personality is coming through now! She is Psychotic!! Lol!! I can tell she is finally free from pain or discomfort that she has had from these nasty things!

Has anyone else had to deal with Roundworms? What happened? did they come back? 
I'm going to steam clean my carpet this weekend...and I am taking her back to the Vet next week for her 1st set of puppy shots, and another worm medicine treatment....hopefully that will take care of it for good! 

Also hoping none of us get it...I've read on the internet that they are very transmitable to humans! So I guess I better find out what to look for incase my kids start acting funny!


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## ilovesadie (Jun 1, 2004)

Hi there! To answer a few questions about roundworms, they are almost ALWAYS passed to pups through the mother's milk. Although undetected in the mother (they embed cysts in the muscle and mammary glands), they pass before birth and also during nursing of the pups. It's the number one reason why vets routinely deworm puppies regardless of their breeding situation.

Responsible breeders do deworm their puppies, but the method is not always the "right" way and since the worms are shed in a cycle, it's difficult to kill all the parasites with one simple deworming. Furthermore, the immiticide used to kill the parasites are often not safe to use in very young dogs, so if you got your pup before 8 weeks, it might be likely the dewormer wasn't used, or a less effective immiticide was given. 

In any case, you were probably given something like Strongid or Drontal for your puppy, and instructed to give another dose 2 weeks later, and recheck a fecal sample at the end of treatment to ensure the roundworms are all gone. The problem is easily taken care of which is the great news, and the biggest concern about it is dehydration due to diarrhea and possible vommitting. 

Good luck! I'd be happy to answer any questions about the life cycle, or how they are transmitted, etc... Also if you are wondering, you can get roundworms from your dog, and especially children are susceptible since they are prone to bad-hygeine behavior (licking hands, etc...). But, if you clean up after your pup immediately if it poops inside with diluted bleach solution, and keep it's butt clean, you should have no problems. The bleach will not kill the eggs since they are very resillient, but it will make clean up easy, and make the eggs less likely to infect your household. I work with puppies all day long and none of my coworkers or I have gotten roundworms, which are the most common intestinal parasite we see. 

Transmission is fecal-oral, so tell your kids to especially careful about touching poop, and washing their hands very well after playing with the dog until the final fecal is cleared negative for roundworms. If you have other dogs, try and monitor for "butt licking" behavior, or suggest to your doctor that you deworm the other one as well due to contact with a contaminated environment. 

In terms of preventing future infection, most heartworm meds also help prevent infection, but won't kill current live adult roundworms, so after treatment, consider using Revolution as an "all-around" preventitive. 

-Nate


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## imdeanna (Apr 9, 2005)

*Roundworm not passed to humans...*

That is great to know! The site I read even mentioned that if a child gets a dead egg on his finger and then rubs his eye..it can make him go blind!

maybe it was referring to roundworm from another human?

by the way...Thanks for the GREAT information!


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## ilovesadie (Jun 1, 2004)

*Re: Roundworm not passed to humans...*



imdeanna said:


> That is great to know! The site I read even mentioned that if a child gets a dead egg on his finger and then rubs his eye..it can make him go blind!
> 
> maybe it was referring to roundworm from another human?
> 
> by the way...Thanks for the GREAT information!


I suppose the chance of rubbing a dead edd directly on to your eye is lower than your child rubbing soap, or sand, or a toy in their eye that could potentially blind them, so I would take that statement with a grain of salt. You could "possibly" blind yourself with just about anything nowadays. If a live egg was rubbed into the eye, it COULD (very big COULD maybe...eh...mayyyyybe embed into the facial muscle, that is if the eye's own mechanisms didn't get rid of it first, the eyelashes, tears, blinking, histamine response) and develop into a roundworm) but again...highly unlikely, and I'd talk to a human doctor about that. =)

Your welcome, we are always here to help! -Nate


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## luv4mygirls (Feb 20, 2005)

glad everything is being taken care of! chiwi had coccidea when i first got her, she had to have 2 rounds of treatment so it was a stubborn case but she is parasite free


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## jlcase (Feb 8, 2005)

My turtles got round worms, most likely from some live fish I fed them (oops). I was really worried about getting them but I was always careful with handling the turtles because they can carry salmonella so it ended up ok. I had to give them an oral liquid medication...can you imagine giving a turtle an oral medication. It took us about an hour to get it into one of them then it came out his nose and then he wouldn't come out of his shell for almost a week and always went in his shell when we picked him up after that...it traumatized the poor guy. The other one would eat anything so it wasn't hard to get her to open her mouth. Luckily they never came back, and I stuck to frozed shrimp, veggies and store bought turtle food.

Anyway that's my round worm story...glad to hear that you got to the bottom of her illness and that she's feeling better, poor baby!


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## Rachael Polachek (Feb 19, 2005)

I'm just so glad to hear that Molly is doing well and acting psychotic (i.e., like a normal chi puppy :lol: ). Great news!


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## blossom (Mar 8, 2005)

Hey, I'm so glad your baby is doing better! :wave:


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## nabi (Nov 25, 2004)

Glad to hear your little one is feeling so much better !


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## NoahFL (May 14, 2004)

Hey Nate... I just wanted to say thank you for all your advice you give this forum. You put a lot of time into helping others on this site and I just wanted to say it's very much appreciated. You seem to really love your job.


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## ilovesadie (Jun 1, 2004)

I do love my job, and I also love sharing what I know with those who are in need of information. =) I also love chihuahuas, but that is obvious!

I forgot to mention, a way that humans CAN go blind from roundworms is if the larvae (not the eggs) are directly in contact with the eye, they can cause major damange.


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## sjc (Jan 14, 2005)

I absolutely agree! I learn so much from reading your posts Nate! Thanks so much for all the helpfull info! It is really appreciated.  

sandra


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## BeamerFritzyKosmo (Mar 17, 2004)

I had a rescue boston terrier once who was infested with both roundworms and hookworms. He was given multiple doses of meds over the span of a couple of weeks and he litterally expelled nasty worms of every shape and size everywhere. I felt so bad for the poor guy, because it had to have been uncomfortable and his bum was all sore and red from the diarrehea. I spent about a month following him around the yard with a bucket of water and bleach mix covering every mess he made in the yard and scrubbing my floors with bleach. If finally cleared up and he was a very happy active boy after that. Our chi boys caught a case of coccidea also which put them on 2 weeks of antibiotics and the constant runs. Trust me, I've had my fair share of poop messes :shock:


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## Gadget's Mom (Jan 14, 2005)

I am glad that Molly is better now and it was a simple problem that could be treated rather easily even tho the poo mess isn't always fun to deal with... 

Glad you are feeling better Molly...


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## Frasier's Mommy (Jan 30, 2005)

We used Drontal. It's like the Schwarzenegger of worm pills I think.  

Frasier had round worms. We got him from a breeder when he was 17 weeks old. I don't know if she was out-right lying or is just this stupid, but she looked me dead in the eye when I asked if he'd been wormed and said, "He's not old enough to be have been wormed yet."


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