Worms

The larvae, which are passed out in faeces, are also impossible to see as they are microscopic.

Dogs can become infected with this life-threatening parasite by swallowing infected slugs and snails. Slugs and snails can be very small, and even if dogs don’t eat slugs and snails on purpose, they may do accidentally when eating grass, drinking from outdoor water bowls, rummaging in undergrowth or playing with a toy outdoors.

Symptoms can be varied, but can include, coughing, tiring easily, weight loss, poor appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, excessive bleeding from minor wounds and seizures. A dog may show one or any combination of these. Angiostrongylus vasorum (lungworm) resides in the heart and pulmonary arteries and can be fatal to dogs.

If treatment is initiated early enough, dogs can go on to make a full recovery. Even after successful treatment, re-infection is possible so on-going preventative treatment should be considered. If left untreated, this parasite can be fatal to dogs.

Angiostrongylus vasorum reports are spreading with cases now being found beyond the traditional areas in Southern England and Wales; it has also now been confirmed in the Midlands, Northern England, Scotland and Ireland.

Click here to check if lungworm is a problem in your area.

Please contact the surgery to find out how to protect your Dog against Lungworm.

Tips to prevent infection

When the weather becomes wetter and slugs and snails become more prevalent, watch out for symptoms in your dog.

Multi-dog households
If you own a number of dogs and one becomes infected, make your veterinary surgeon aware as they may want to examine other dogs who share its environment.

Regularly clean water bowls
Studies showed, slugs thrive in damp conditions and will seek out any source of moisture they can. This makes a dog’s water bowl left outside an ideal target for slugs and snails. Make sure you change your dog’s water regularly, especially if the bowl sits outdoors.

Pick up toys from the garden
Toys left in the garden overnight are exposed to slugs and snails, who are most active when the sun goes down. Smaller snails can reside in the crevices of toys or burrow underneath them and can be accidentally swallowed by dogs when playing with the toy. Be sure to pick up your dog’s toys at the end of each day and store them in a snail tight container.

Pick up the poo
The poo of a dog infected with lungworm will help spread the parasite to other slugs and snails, where it will develop. If two or more dogs share the same environment and one is found to be infected, the others may be at high risk due to exposure to the same surroundings. Foxes can also become infected with lungworm, and their increasing numbers have been implicated in the spread.

Watch the lifecycle video or visit www.lungworm.co.uk