Help!Help!Help! I am really confused????DOG PROBLEM ASAP!!?

Question

Okay:


My dog keeps rubbing her but across the floor. It could be anal glands, worms etc.,.... i am going to take her to a vet asap but also i found worms in her food! Tapeworms, my dog ate it and i told her not too, will she have worms inside of her???? Please do not say take her to da vet because i will, i just wanna know whats wrong with her, what could be wrong???? Not something confusing either. If you have had this problem and expierenced with this, please explain!!! The questions I want you to answer....:

Does my dog have tapeworms inside of her from eating the food?

Why were there tapeworms inside her food and how did they get there?

Is the anal gland full?

When i take her to the vet, if she has worms and an anal problem, how much will this all cost?

She won't poop so i can't see if she has any worms yet???


HELP!!!!!

Answer 1

I work in rescue and deal with these types of questions a lot so i will do my best to answer. If your dog is rubbing her butt on the ground she probably does have worms.
#1 and #2 Dogs get tape worms by ingesting the eggs. this could happen many ways. they can swallow a flea that is carrying them or eat poop that has them. If the food contained eggs then your dog probably has them.
The best way to tell if your dog has a tapeworm is to take her to a vet. However sometimes as the tapeworm grows the end segments will break off and you can see them poking out of the anus or in the feses.
some people also confuse round worms and tape worms. round worms are long but look like an earth worm. Tape worms look like a piece of ribbon.
#3 I can not tell you if the anal gland is full without seeing her. Most of the time it causes swelling around the anus.
#4 All vets charge different amounts, but between tests and medication (if needed) you are probably looking at close to $100 (maybe more)
#5 With the exception of tape worms you probably won't see them in the poop. They usually do not come out until you treat your dog and the worms die. the best way to tell is to have your vet do a fecal test.
I definately would not leave this to chance. Some worms (such as hooks) can cause major problems for your pet. also, i highly recommend that you keep your dog on heart guard. This prevents heart worms (which is a horrible death) but it also will prevent your dog from getting other types as well.For about $10 a month you save yourself the hassle of vet visits and treatments.

Answer 2

Tapeworms are usually only caused by fleas or if they eat and digest rodents.

I am not too sure on how "TapeWorms" got into your dogs food. They could have been maggots.

If your dog scoots his butt across the floor, his anal gland can be full and needs to be "Expressed". Sometimes you can do that with out a vet, but i am not sure if you are the kind of person who would want to get involved. Either that or tapeworms. When or before you go to the vet, look at his poop and see if you see anything that looks like grains of rice. If you cant tell, try and take a sample with you to the vet.

The vet will probably give it a pill or a medication to treat worms. Or if he has an anal problem the vet will "Express" it and it your total will only be up to 20-35 dollars.

Good luck!

Answer 3

A stool sample will be needed to check what kinds of worms, but tapeworms can sometimes be seen in the fur on the dog's butt.

I'm not sure how tapeworms could get into food, are you sure those weren't maggots? Tapeworms live inside the digestive system, not in canned food. They can't travel very far as worm sections, so I'd think what you saw in the food could be something different. Any way to get a sample for the vet and keep it in a baggie in the refrigerator till needed?

The dog could have round worms, which is very likely. Or tape worms. Both can be treated. The anal glands can be expressed right there at the vets, they can probably show you how to do it too (it's very smelly though!)

Stay calm. Whatever it is, the vet can handle it.

Answer 4

All of these questions you have asked can ONLY be answered by your veterinarian upon Physical Exam.

As for tapeworms...how did a tape worm get in your dog's food? That is an odd place to find a tapeworm. If your dog did infact eat a tapeworm, your dog becoming infected with tapeworms depends on What kind of tapeworm it was that she ate. The most common tapeworm found in pets can only be transmitted if they eat a flea, or eat an infected rodent. NOT by ingesting a tapeworm itself. But there are other, rare, kinds of tapeworms that have a different life cycle. And your dog's anal glands may be full, your veterinarian can check for you. Your veterinarian will also check a stool sample on your dog to look for any other intestinal parasites, and they can give your dog a dewormer, one that will actually work.

You can ask your veterinarian for an estimate before you take her in, so you know about how much it will cost for an exam, anal gland expression, fecal check, dewormer, etc.

***Everything RockyDog said is Wrong! Please just ignore her entire answer!!

Answer 5

Any dragging of the anus on the floor generally means an anal disturbance. Worms can be spread through food consumption especially fresh meats if the animal butched was infected or they can be passed on or left behind by other animals
. If your dog has had the worm treatment and its up to date it is very unlikely that it would have survived.
Some dogs experience anal gland infections and also fullness. It is hard to tell wheter they a full unless you know how to perform an anul gland release. Any fullness of the gland can lead to an infection which stops your dog from pooping and once an infection starts antibiotics can be used to treat it but some times they don't work. When the infection spreads it spreads to the out side area of the dog around the anus. When an infection is untreatable the vet removes the glands altogether.
If your dog cant stop bitting the anus area or always tries to get to it there is a problem there.
Good luck with everything i hope your dog is fine. Dont worry aout the bill untill all examinations are done then you can tell them if you can or cant afford it then set up an account or something.

Answer 6

Just to reassure you, neither worms nor anal glands are an emergency.

Scooting is usually caused by itchy or full anal glands (not worms as most people think) - that's one way dogs will try to get them to express or empty them some by themselves. Sometimes anal glands can become full, impacted, or infected. In which case a quick digital exam and expression will tell your vet what else needs to be done - if anything.

For the adventerous owner: Have your vet show you how to empty your dog's anal glands yourself. But be warned, 'stinky' does not even begin do describe the smell of anal glands and you will want to wear gloves because the smell is insidious. Many people will leave it to groomers or veterinary staff to empty them whenever they become a problem.

Tapeworms usually go hand-in-hand with fleas (the cycle of the tape worm goes through two hosts - the dog and usually fleas) but have nothing to do with your dog's food. It may be coincidental that there were some tape worm segments on your dog's food but... you may have been seeing fly maggots as well and have nothing to worry about at all. Harmless maggots will usually be very active as far as moving about, tape worm segments can move but only slowly and they are not very mobile at all.

Tapeworms are not going to harm your dog in any noticable way except under very extreme circumstances. There is a single pill that can be given from your vet's office that will very simply take care of tapeworms. A good flea control product should also be used to prevent tapeworms from becoming a problem again as well.

Note, if you are adventerous enough - collect some of the worms you are seeing and save them for the vet to look at and confirm what they are.

And don't forget to relax!

Misc. Notes from reading other responses: Don't rely on a broad-spectrum over the counter dewormer (such as what you can get from 1800petmeds or Walmart). They will not kill tapeworms. Especially since you are not even sure what it is you you saw. Roundworms are also visible to the naked eye but less frequently seen outside the host's body. Most montly heartworm preventatives also act as a broad-spectrum dewormer but once again - don't rely on that as tape worms won't be killed by it.

Answer 7

Most likely there were not tapeworms in her food. They grow inside DOGS, not dog FOOD. You may be seeing some sort of larva for a beetle or something that may have gotten into her food. As long as they are not internal parasites (i.e. if they are larva), she shouldn't have any lasting ill effect...perhaps just buy a new bag of food. Her anal glands may be full as evidenced by the scooting, just take her to a vet as soon as you can. They will check her anal glands, and if you bring in a stool sample, they will check it for evidence of parasites. Just because you cannot see the worms in the stool, doesn't mean they're not there. Cost depends on the vet; usually it isn't too much (at our vet, about $40 plus $18 for the fecal test). Relax, she'll be fine!

Answer 8

first off calm down......you said you were taking her to the vet tommrow correct? until she see's teh vet there really isn;t much you can do, over the counter meds are not really effective in removing any worms. How do you know you found tapeworms in her food? the food in the bag or in her bowl? where?

As far as the scooting goes, yes it could be worms or it could be an impacted anal gland or it may be something as simple as an itch. Calm down until you can see the vet. Take a stool sample in and they will test it and treat accordingly.

Answer 9

Meal moth larvae is probably what was in the food. They will resemble tapeworms. They will be in cheap, crappy dog food that is made with a large amount of corn. Tapeworm will not be in the food unless your dog pooped in it or vomitted in it. Another possibility is that you are feeding a moist food that attracted flies, which led to maggots. Feeding a moist food will also make it difficult for your dog to naturally empty the anal sacs. You have left too many details out to say for sure what it is. No matter what it is, the dog needs to see a vet to get a proper diagnoses. As far as cost, it is nearly impossible to say, as every vet is different.

Answer 10

It doesn't seem like tapeworm. Like someone else said, they only get it from dead animals and fleas. Also, you wouldn't be able to see actual tapeworms in the food as an adult needs a host (animal's intestines.) If it were tapeworm, which I doubt, the deworming meds only cost me about $15.

The vet will sort all this out. But I would be very concerned if you saw worms in your dog's food. Perhaps you can take a sample to the vet to see if he/she can identify it.