Toxocariasis is the most frequent parasitosis in dogs and cats. If we want to keep both ourselves and our pets safe, regular deworming is necessary. Do you know what’s behind this disease and how it’s transmitted?
The cause of toxocariasis are parasites, mainly two kinds of round worms from the Toxocara family: the dog roundworm and the cat roundworm. As an apparent disease, toxocariasis appears mostly in young animals. In extreme cases, a massive infection with roundworms can even kill.
Human may get infected as well. The larvae of the roundworms do not finish their development in their body, but they might migrate into various internal organs or into an eye and damage them. That’s the reason why you shouldn’t neglect regular deworming or your pets even for your own health.
Life of a roundworm
Dog roundworm is a 9 to 18 cm long worm. Adult individuals live in the small intestine of dogs, where the females lay a great amount of eggs. These are so small, that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. They mature in external environment and they become infectious after two to four weeks. The eggs are highly resilient and they remain infectious even for several years, they’re not even destroyed by normal disinfection products. But they die by drying or freezing – that’s the reason why the eggs generally don’t survive in cat’s toilets where they dry fast.
These infectious eggs are a source of infection not only for other dogs, but also, for instance, for the human. In a human, a larva hatches from the egg, which travels from the intestine into various organs where it encapsulates. This process is the basis of larval toxocariasis.
In case the egg is consumed by a dog, the larvae released in the intestine can, in the same way as in a human, get with blood into various organs where they encapsulate, or they travel to the liver and then to the lungs and mature on the way. From the lungs, they infiltrate the wind pipe, they let themselves be coughed up and then swallowed, and this way, they get back into the small intestine, where they shed their skin for the last time and they grow into sexually mature roundworms that are capable of producing more eggs. This process lasts about ten days. Therefore, it is important to repeat every deworming after two weeks, since it works only in adult animals.
In the case of dogs, roundworms mature mainly in puppies within three months of their age, in older animals, they rather encapsulate. However, it’s not a rule.
Cat roundworm is a bit smaller, it grows up to 10 cm. Otherwise, it doesn’t differ from the dog roundworm much, except for the fact that it doesn’t make any difference in the age of the cat and it matures in all animals. Here, the risk of another infection is greater.
Transmission
Thanks to their resilience, the eggs of the roundworm accumulate in the earth and they spread through water or mechanically, for example, on the legs of the animals, by licking, by consuming the transmitter, which can be an earthworm or a rodent. You can carry them into your home even on your soles, so even people who have no animals can get infected. Another way of transmission from one host to another is direct infection of puppies and kittens already before birth or through mother’s milk.
Deworming
A simple, basic prevention, especially in young animals. Puppies and kittens are dewormed for the first time when they are two weeks old and this repeats every 14 days until they reach three months. This way, not as many larvae accumulate in the intestine for the apparent symptoms of toxocariasis to manifest themselves. Don’t forget to consult the veterinary about the deworming method in such young animals. It is enough to deworm adult dogs twice a year, the same applies to cats living in an apartment. For cats that go outside, it is necessary to repeat the deworming every three months.
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