Hookworms
The hookworm is one of the most common intestinal parasites especially in puppies. Hookworms live by sucking the blood from their hosts and can be transmitted to puppies while still in their mother’s womb. Also, hookworms can be transmitted to humans although they tend to effect us differently than our pets. The adult hookworm lives in the small intestine of its host where it hangs on to the intestinal wall using its sharp hook like teeth. Adult worms live and mate in the host’s intestine and the female than produces eggs. These eggs are then passed in the stool where it can infect other animals. Once this eggs is in the environment it hatches and goes through three larval stages before it can infect a new host. This larvae can infect the host is many way. The first option of the hookworm is to penetrate the hosts skin directly through the feet, belly, or whatever part of skin is touching the ground. The larvae can also make its way into the host by being ingested when the animal cleans the infected dirt off during grooming. The final way of transmission is by pets eating a bird or rodent that is infected with hookworms.
Once the larvae are inside their new host they travel to the intestine. Many of the larvae will stop here however some can migrate on into the lung tissue here they mature to the final larval stage until making their way back to the intestines to become adults and begin to reproduce.
Hookworms cause problems especially in young animals this is due to the face that not only do hookworms sometimes cause diarrhea but they also feed off the blood of the animal. Puppies and kittens have a hard time with this because they need an exceptional amount of blood supply just to live and grow. This places an extra strain on the bone marrow to produce red blood cells and sometimes it can not keep up. Often they may become anemic and can even die due to these little intestinal vampires. Young animals that are infected can often become pale and weak and can become dehydrated from diarrhea if it is present.
Puppies can get these worms directly from their mother even if the mother appears to be clean from hookworms. This is because hookworm larvae can become dormant on its way to the intestine. Unfortunately, the hormones released during pregnancy seen to awaken these migrants and they then make there way to the unborn puppies. They can also travel to the mammary glands of the mother and infect the puppies during nursing. Some litters will be born infected and others will not become infected until they drink the mother’s milk. This is why it is recommended that all puppies and kittens be dewormed for hookworms multiple times beginning at 2-4 weeks of age.
Hookworms can infect human beings. Contaminated soil is the most common way people contract hookworms this disease is called Cutaneous Larva Migrans. This happens when bare skin comes in contact with contaminated soil. If you mother ever told you not to run around outside barefoot or you would get worms, these are the worms she was talking about. When skin comes in contact with the soil the eager larvae can penetrate your skin. A hookworm infection of the skin is incredibly itchy but is usually very treatable. Eating improperly washed vegetables that may harbor contaminated soil is another way humans can become infected. There have been reports of humans with an actual hookworm infection in the intestinal tract similar to our pets. It is a difficult diagnosis to make but very treatable once discovered. For these reasons it is important to remove contaminated stool from the yard as quickly as possible. Wear gloves when removing the stool and wash hands thoroughly after handling any contaminated stool or after handling dirt that could possibly be contaminated.
Treatment of hookworms is automatically given at all vaccine appointments for puppies and kittens due to the abundance of this particular parasite. A dewormer called Pyrantel Pamoate is given that deworms for both hookworms and roundworms. If an adult animal becomes infected Pyrantel can be used if these two types of worms are the only ones present. This is why checking a stool sample is so important in the treating of worms. Pyrantel needs to be repeated about 3 weeks apart to kill the lifecycle of the hookworm. If other worms are present a product can be used that kills many of the other forms of intestinal parasites. For dogs Panacur or Drontal plus can be used. In cats Prefender is the dewormer of choice due to its ability to be applied topically.
The use of monthly heartworm prevention is the best way to prevent hookworms in both dogs and cats. Along with preventing heartworm the preventions currently on the market deworm for hookworms monthly when applied. These come in a variety of forms so please talk to your veterinarian to find out which one may work best in your situation. For dogs there is Advantage Multi a topical product that also treats for fleas, hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms. Interceptor a monthly tablet that deworms for hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms. Iverhart Max treats for hookworms and roundworms but trades the whipworm protection out for tapeworms. Although cats can take Interceptor it can be very costly so the most commonly recommended heartworm prevention for cats is the Advantage Multi. This product prevents heartworm, roundworm, hookworm, fleas, and ear mites in cats.