My puppy has worms in his poop. What should I do and are they contagious?

Oh no. This is a nuisance to deal with for sure. Tapeworms are contagious to people, but it would require ingesting (eating) a live worm to become infective. As long as you clean up the feces and use good hygiene (washing your hands and avoid putting hands in the mouth after touching your pet or any live worms), then you are less likely to infest yourself. Clean up the poop quickly and don’t let your pet around other dogs or cats to avoid transmission until you can get Coco treated. Best wishes and don’t forget to also get Coco on a good flea preventative (ie Bravecto, Nexgard, Simparica, Vectra etc) at your vet to avoid further infection with tapeworms. Take care.

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

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It sounds like Koga has roundworms. The eggs of intestinal parasites are shed in his poop not from his fur. You need to clean up the stools as soon as he goes to prevent contamination of the environment. Your son should be ok as long as he isn’t eating the poop. Just make sure to wash his hands after he plays with the puppy or before he eats. You will need to treat Koga twice (3 weeks apart) and the you should be all set. Good luck and kisses to Koga!

There are intestinal parasites that are contagious to humans. These are hookworms and roundworms. They are contagious via fecal oral contact. Cleaning with regular cleaning products should take care of the problem. And also washing your hands before you eat. I have been in the veterinary profession for 16 years and have never gotten parasites myself. More than likely as long as you're cleaning regularly and washing your hands, you should be OK. Good luck!

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.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. These are tapeworms and they come from your pet ingesting a flea or eating another pets poop that has live tapeworms in it. It is contagious to other pets and people via ingestion of a live worm. You will need tapeworm specific dewormer such as Drontal or Praziquantel to rid this worm and a good flea preventative (Bravecto, Nexgard, Firstshield) is recommended. Usually tapeworms are gone after the first treatment as long as puppy doesn't get reinfected. I hope this is helpful! Take care now.

I am guessing that these worms might be tapeworms. If this is the case the types of tapeworms dogs get are not contagious to people. There are some other types of worms (like roundworms or hookworms) that could potentially be transmitted to people although they do not cause intestinal infections like they do in dogs. I would recommend having her dog examined by a veterinarian to determine the type of worm, and then having your daughter contact her OB. Tapeworms are usually transmitted either through fleas or ingesting animal tissue containing the worm cysts so they would not be directly contagious to your dog. You should make sure all pets are on a good flea preventative. Hookworms or roundworms would be contagious through feces in the yard but your dog would be covered if he is on a good heartworm and parasites preventative.