My dog has whipworms. How contagious are they to my other dog?

I would recommend deworming him tomorrow and as a precaution, deworming all other pets and humans in the household is rcommended following the introduction of a new pup. Worm eggs need to be ingested in order to be transmitted so hands should be washed after handling the pup (at all times) and especially before eating. I would never recommend allowing a dog to lick people on the face as there is a small risk they may have worm eggs (or bacteria) in and around their mouth which they could transmit to people

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question and for providing a picture, it's very helpful. This looks like it could be a roundworm, they look like strands of spaghetti. This is contagious to other animals in the house, and if he has worms, it's safe to assume the others animals do as well. It also means the Safeguard is working to kill the worms in his system. I would make sure they are all up to date on their deworming treatments. I would give another deworming treatment two weeks after completing the first to ensure all the worms are killed. I hope this helps!

roundworms are contagious to other dogs but they cannot be passed from dog to dog just by being int he same room. However, if the dogs have defecated in the room and there are traces of the stool on the floor there is a chance that the worms can be passed from dog to dog. Roundworms are passed when the eggs of the worms are ingested by another dog, or in certain cases, absorbed through the skin. You must be careful to keep dogs that you suspect have worms away from healthy dogs for this reason, until they are treated.

Worms can be transmitted from dog to dog, although generally the eggs have to be present in the stool for a couple of days before they can infect another dog. I would recommend taking the puppy to your veterinarian so they can determine what type of worm it is. If Shaka is on heartworm prevention there might not be any other treatment required, but your vet might want to check a stool sample or start a dewormer for Shaka if there are eggs in his stool as well. Not all dogs will pass recognizable worms in their stool, but if there are worms in the intestinal tract there should be eggs on a stool analysis.

Most intestinal parasites in dogs are transmitted by fecal-oral transmission. This means that your other dog would have to ingest infected stool from Lenny. I would recommend making sure you are picking up Lenny's stool in the yard and making sure you are washing your hands afterwards. There are a few intestinal parasites that can be transmitted to people so good hygiene, like hand washing, is important. You can always ask your vet to deworm your other dog when they are deworming Lenny just as precaution. If your other dog is already on monthly heart worm prevention (which is important for both dogs' overall health) you may already be covered as many of the heart worm preventions are also dewormers and treat common intestinal parasites. I would talk to your vet about heart worm prevention for Lenny and your other dog if they are not already on it. We generally start puppies on heart worm prevention monthly when they come in for their first set of vaccines.

I recommend worming Jefferson every 2 weeks for 2 treatments then monthly until 6months. I would also recommend worming the two older dogs twice, 1 month apart and also to obtain a human worm dose for all people in the house from your pharmacist or drug store as some worms are potentially contagious. Be sure to collect all stools as soon as possible and dispose of carefully to limit potential contamination of the yard etc

The only way you (or your cat or other dog) could get tapeworms is if you ingested the fleas that transmitted the tapeworms to Dakota in the first place. Your vet may recommend deworming the other pets too, just to be safe, since if Dakota had fleas (and thus tapeworms) the other pets could too. But the chances of you getting tapeworms is almost 0.