Why do worms cause dogs to be skinny?

Question

I have a St. Bernard who used to have worms. She was so skinny until we got he dewormed and then she gained some weight. She has never been a BIG dog, but to me she still looks thinner then any other St. Bernard I've ever seen. And she eats a lot. So I'm starting to wonder if she may have worms again. It's been almost a year since she was last dewormed. I'm just wondering why having worms causes them to be thinner, and how dangerous is it really? I understand the dangers behind heart worms, but as far as the other types go.

Answer 1

Intestinal parasites (or worms) live in a dog's intestines where they absorb the nutrients and water from their food. The worms get the nutrients from the partially digested food, thus preventing the dog from absorbing the nutrients. It's like if you ate a meal, but had a tube from your stomach that emptied out into someone else's plate (I know gross, but you get the idea). You did the work to digest the food, but you didn't get the benefits of the food because someone else took it before you could absorb the nutrients. That's why dogs get skinny when they have worms. If your dog is continually exposed to worms, she should be dewormed on a regular basis. If you use a good heartworm preventive like Interceptor every month, it will also prevent intestinal parasites.

Answer 2

Dogs have to be dewormed ever so often. The can get worms from just swallowing fleas.
Your dog could have a tapeworm. This as I said is due from swallowing fleas. They look like rice and they are found in your dogs feces.
Some worms can live in your dog's intestines causing the dog to want to eat more but does not gain weight. The worms are living off the dog which causes the dog not to gain weight no matter how much it eats.
Go to the Vet. see if you can get a stool specimen from your dog and take it with you so the Vet, can test it.

Answer 3

The worms eat the food that was meant for the dog in the intestines. Hopefully you are getting your medicine from the vet. Unfortunately there are pinworms, hookworms, roundworms, whipworms, and tapeworms. Most of them won't react to the OTC stuff from the pet store and are a waste of money. The vet will also do a fecal and find out what kind of worms the dog has. The dog can pick up worms again, so you're correct that it probably needs to be done again.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

worm live in the animals gut, that is intestines, and basically lives off the nutrients inthe food that the animal eats. so if there are many worms, the worms will take all the nutrients out of the food, and none will get absorbed into the animals bloodstream. basically he will starve.
deworming needs to take place every three months, since the worm's eggs can live in the soil, and the animal cat get re-contaminated that way, or even with contact with other infected animals.

Answer 5

Dogs get skinny either because a heavy worm burden is stealing all their nutrients, or because their organs are infected and suffering from certain types of worms causing them to be generally debilitated.

ALL types of worms are harmful. By the time a dog has become skinny from having worms it already has a heavy burden. Please worm your dog regularly! For one thing, being underweight for long periods puts as much strain on the heart as being OVERWEIGHT - every time your dog catches worms and gets like this her health becomes more and more jeopardized. St Bernards have one of the shortest life spans of all dog breeds anyway, so she needs all the assistance she can get.

It's not especially impressive that you didn't learn your lesson from the dog getting worms the first time. This should've taught you to worm regularly - every 3 months that is.

Chalice

Chalice

Answer 6

When your dog is difesting what she has eaten, the worms absorb all the nutrients leaving little to none for the host. Since she isn't getting any nutrition from what she is eating, the body will start to digest it's fat stores and then muscle tissue. I know that we de-worm our dog every 3 months. Hope it helps :-)

Answer 7

These worms absorb all of the vital nutrients (proteins, fats, vitamins etc.) that contribute to building a healthy body. These worms are dangerous because they can eventually lead to malnutrition which would essentially "starve" your dog to death even though it ate regularly.

Answer 8

Worms eat the nutrients in the food, same for humans who get worms. It is not healthy and inhumane not to treat them. It makes them feel really horrible even though they may not show it on the outside

Answer 9

All parisites rob their host of essential nutrients that are needed for good health. The worms were eating your dog's food before your dog could.

Answer 10

the worms are the ones eating all the food