My dog has a tapeworm. Why is he itching, shedding, and head shaking?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It looks like Bruce’s feces has tapeworm proglottids (or sections) in it. These are transmitted by fleas (when dogs eat them) which are likely to be causing Bruce’s itching. I recommend starting him on a monthly flea control product such as FrontLine and a flea shampoo. He should be seen by a vet to confirm the presence of tapeworms and receive appropriate deworming. Your vet can also examine Bruce for any other underlying conditions that may be causing these symptoms. You should bring a stool sample from your puppy to speed up the diagnosis. I hope this helps and that Bruce gets better soon!

It’s possible his anal glands are full/uncomfortable. If they are bulging on either side of his anus when you palapate from the outside, then that definitely could be the case. I recommend bringing him to your vet for a rectal exam/anal gland expression and to check his ears. He likely will need and ear cleaner and a steroid/antibiotic/antifungal/antiyeast ointment such as otomax/kometamax/posatex if he has an ear infection. A few days of an allergy medication called Apoquel may help as well. Good luck!

If Bruno is scratching his ears and shaking his head it does not point to flea infestation but rather an ear infection with either mites, bacteria or a fungus. You will need to take Bruno to your veterinarian for an ear exam and then treatment for the cause of the itch and shake. Treatment will depend on the cause (acaricide for mites, antibiotic for bacterial infection, fungicide for fungal infection )

Submit a stool sample to your veterinarian to diagnose the exact intestinal parasites Juju may have. The appropriate dewormer can be dispensed afterwards and repeated in 2 weeks. You'll need to submit another stool sample to confirm resolution. Keep him away from areas with feces and pick up his stool immediately to prevent reinvention. A monthly preventative, such as HeartGard, will protect against heartworm disease as well as the 3 most common intestinal parasites of dogs (hookworm, roundworm and whipworm). For the itch, use a monthly flea preventative, such as Frontline, K9 Advantix or Revolution, for at least three consecutive months. Do this even if you don't see any fleas. In a sensitive dog, just one flea bite may cause severe itching. Vacuum everywhere and wash all bedding. Use an area treatment, such as Knockout ES or Indorex, to treat fleas that may be living in the environment. You may need to have your veterinarian perform skin scrapes to check for mites which can cause itching and hairless. Discuss allergy testing, hydrolyzed diets, antihistamine use and food elimination trials with your veterinarian in case there is an allergic component to the itching.

It is easy to catch tape worm. Even if your dogs are treated against fleas, there sometimes is a live infected flea hopping on and before it dies, your dog may eat it while grooming and so get infected. It is not a big problem for the dog but rather more for us, since it is gross when the proglottids crawl out. I suggest you worm your other dog as well (you need a wormer that has praziquantel as an ingredient). If the diarrhea does not go away within two days, feed boiled white rice and boiled white boneless chicken meat for a few days, then transition back into their regular food. If the diarrhea does not subside after the bland diet, then you should have your dogs seen by a vet.

It sounds as if your dog has a skin infection, most commonly caused by an allergy or fleas. The allergy could be a due to a protein in Molly's food or an environmental allergy like to dust, pollens, grasses, etc. The allergy causes your dog to itch and chew at the skin which breaks down the skin barrier. This then leads to infection. Molly will need antibiotics to help clear up the infection and possibly an anti-itch medication like Apoquel, Atopica, or Cytopoint to give some relief while the infection clears up. A medicated shampoo may be beneficial as well. I would also recommend she be on a good flea control too. It also sounds like Molly has an ear infection as well. She will need to go to the vet to have an ear cytology performed so they can determine what exact type of infection she has, i.e. is it bacteria, fungal or ear mites causing the issue. Your vet will probably recommend some ear medication and possibly an ear cleaner. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

I am sorry to hear about Max's heartworm diagnosis. I am glad he is receiving treatment for this. The worms you describe that have recently started appearing sound like tapeworms. Do they resemble grains or rice or sesame seeds? Most deworming medications do not contain the ingredients needed to take care of tapeworms, so I would recommend discussing this with your veterinarian so you can broaden the spectrum of Max's treatment. I would also suspect that even though you don't see any obvious fleas that Max has been exposed to some. Tapeworms can be transmitted by fleas and so management of a tapeworm issue typically needs to include a specific dewormer AND a flea preventative.