My border collie mix; Nigel kills and eats 10-15 rabbits per year and a couple of weeks ago he was infected with tapeworms.
I assumed that Nigel got the parasites from eating rabbit meat. But after researching information about the infection, I discovered that tapeworms are almost always transmitted by fleas. Though, the fleas probably came from the rabbit that he killed.
I live in Minnesota and the temperature never was above 0 degrees Fahrenheit during the week when Nigel was infected with the fleas. Nigel was constantly scratching his ears, but I assumed that he couldn’t get fleas in the winter. However I was wrong.
There is some information from the CDC at: “How did my pet get the Dipylidium tapeworm? By swallowing a flea infected with a tapeworm larvae. A dog or cat may swallow a flea while self-grooming. Once the flea is digested inside the dog or cat, the larval tapeworm is free to develop into an adult tapeworm.”
The adult tapeworm is made up of many small segments, called proglottids (pro-GLOT-ids), each about the size of a grain of rice; adult tapeworms may measure 4-28 inches in length. As the tapeworm matures inside the intestines, these segments (proglottids) break off and pass into the stool.
So make sure that you treat your dog with flea killer all year round regardless of the weather.
I am amused that the ‘related post’ is tied to Senator Ben Nelson…
That IS interesting; I never saw that until you pointed it out. The “Related Posts” widget is just an automatic software program that’s plugged in to my blog.
For those who care, it was created by YARPP (to whom I haven’t yet given a donatation). Any faults with its sensitivity are completely mine. But think about it; Ben Nelson and tapeworms, maybe YARPP is smarter than you think.