Animal Parasites

The flatworms are morphologically and physiologically adapted to the parasitic and free living forms.

Morphological adaptations-

1. Locomotory organs are reduced except in larval forms which are free living.

2. Alimentary canal is reduced but absent in taenia. Taenia absorbs the food through general body surface.

3. Protection from digested juice if flatworms are intestinal parasites such as taenia and fluke larvae. They are provided with thick cuticle covering and thus become resistant.

4. Apparatus of attachment or adhesive: Acetabulam or sucking cups are present in all flatworms. In taenia and roundworm hooks are accessory attachment apparatus. In both rostellum is also present for attachment. Unicellular secretory glands in miracidium and cercaria larvae secrete the lytic substance to penetrate the host tissue. Cystogenous unicellular glands in termatode larvae for the formation of cyst.

5. Reproductive organs most significantly developed for the parasitic life. Internal body is mostly occupied by the gonads.

Flatworms are mostly hermaphrodite with few exceptions. Ovary is branched for the production of large number of eggs.

6. Self fertilization is common than cross.

Body of the flatworm is provided with about 900 segments. Each segment is representing an animal known as proglottid.

Physiological adaptations-

1. Respiration is anaerobic

2. Secrete anti-enzymes for the protection of their body (in case of intestinal parasites).

3. Reduction of pathogenicity and parasite tries to maintain a sort of equilibrium.

4. Roundworms have well developed water osmoregulatory system for controlling the water quantity in the body.

I have been researching this question myself. According to a local vet and every internet source I can find, it is not possible for a tick to burrow under the skin. However, I actually saw otherwise.

We found a stray 5-month-old puppy who was covered in ticks. We took her to the vet and gave her Frontline. We picked well over 100 ticks off of her, alive and dead. She had lots of ticks in her armpits, but we also found some bumps. They were fairly large raised areas with a black circle in the middle. I questioned friends and family as to whether these could be ticks. I also called the vet. One of the techs told me that ticks would not be under the skin, so we just watched the areas to see what happened.

Five days later, we had gotten most of the dead ticks off of her. However, the bumps were still there and still the same. We finally decided to check them out. We squeezed the bumps, and they began to ooze a clear pus. As we kept squeezing, the black thing started to emerge. Once we could, we grabbed it with tweezers and pulled it out. It was, in fact, a dead tick. We found two others just like this.

There are other suspect areas, but we are continuing to monitor them.

I just returned from camping with the cub scouts in Virginia Beach. My son woke up Saturday morning with a new mole on his neck. When I looked closely at it, it was a tick, but only the back 1/3 was above the skin. The rest was visible as a dark area just under the skin. A nurse we were camping with looked at it and said "emergency room". We went to the hospital where it took two PA's and two nurses over half an hour to extract the tick using tweezers and hydrogen peroxide. They said the hydrogen peroxide was to make the tick back out as it would deprive him of oxygen once it started to foam. The only problem was that the tick mouth was so deeply embedded that the hydrogen peroxide couldn't get that deep. They ended up pulling it out in pieces. This was after they shot pain killer into the wound. He ended up with a tick sized wound on his neck. This was on Halloween morning and the tick was on Joey's neck near his jugular vein so this became known as the Vampire Tick Attack of North Landing Park.

Hookworm is one of the main internal parasites of puppies, kittens, dogs and cats. The others are coccidia, roundworm, whipworm,and tapeworm.

Hookworm infection is very serious for the following reasons:

• Hookworms live on the blood of the host, thus depriving it of necessary nutrients
• Hookworms can be transmitted to unborn puppies
• Hookworm is a zoonotic parasite - they can infect humans

There are 4 hookworm species in the United States and Canada. A. braziliense, Uncinaria stenocephala, Ancylostoma caninum, and A. tubaeforme. A. tubaeforme bothers cats, A.braziliense and Uncinaria stenocephala bother both dogs and cats, and A. caninum lives in dogs. A. braziliense occurs only in the warmer temperatures of the south, while the others occur both in the south and the north. Uncinaria stenocephala causes the least problems to pets; and Ancylostoma caninum is the worst, mainly settling in the small intestine of dogs. Both A.caninum and A. tubaeforme can cause severe anemia, however, hookworm infection is not as common in cats as it is in dogs, and is usually less severe.

How does my pet get hookworm?

Hookworms are very tiny (about 1/8 inch), and have several ways of entering a new host as a larvae.

• The hookworm may penetrate the skin of the host wherever the pet touches infected ground. This may cause rashes and cysts at the point of entry.
• If your pet walks on contaminated soil, the larvae can attach itself to the feet and your pet ingests them when it is licking and cleaning itself.
• Hookworm larvae may be present in soil or on leaves, sticks, etc that a pet eats while digging or playing
• The larvae may be ingested by a pet while hunting and eating prey that is infected or has hookworm larvae on it.
• Hookworm can enter puppies through their mother
  • If the mother dog is infected, there may be larvae all around and on her. Also, pregnancy hormones cause the larvae that have formed cysts to wake up and migrate to the unborn puppies and the mammary glands.

    Some puppies will be born infected and some will become infected while drinking colostrum from their mother's teat. Some will be infected from larvae in the litter box. Puppies born infected may be shedding eggs in their stool within 2 weeks of birth.

What is the life cycle of the Hookworm and how to they eat?

The hookworm is so serious because of its life cycle and feeding method.

After arriving inside the host, the larvae develop six sharp teeth and travel to the small intestine. Some will settle there, but others burrow through and migrate to the lung tissue. Those that reach the lungs will develop into adults, burrow back out into the trachea. Then they're coughed up to be swallowed again and travel back to the intestine.

Some of the larvae go dormant while burrowing through organ walls and form cysts. Most eventually emerge to complete their migration.

The adults that live in the small intestine hang onto the wall with their teeth and drink the hosts blood. (Other species of worms simply absorb the hosts' digested food through their skin.) They spend their lives drinking the blood and mating. The active worms leave bite marks that continue to seep blood where they've been. When the female produces eggs, the eggs are released into the intestinal contents to be passed out with the stool.

The eggs hatch in the environment and develop through three larval stages before they're ready to infect a new host. The eggs and larvae will die if exposed to the sun and drying out.

The typical life cycle - from the time your pet ingests the original larvae to the adult worm shedding eggs - is three weeks. Your pet may keep reinfesting itself by licking in the eggs while it's grooming; or your child may pick up the eggs on their hands while petting the dog or cat.

How do I know if my pet is infected? Are there symptoms?

The best way to assure yourself that your pet is hookworm free is to have your veterinarian check a stool sample on an annual basis. They'll also check for any other parasites.

Some symptoms of heavy infestations are severe anemia with pale muceous membranes and gums. Some pets may become weak, suffer weight loss or have black, tarry stools. Adults get bloody diarrhea, cramping, vomiting and weight loss, in addition to anemia. The pet may or may not have diarrhea. If hookworms are common in the area, pets may show signs of skin disease from the larvae burrowing through the skin as the pet lays on the ground.

Hookworm infection is frequently fatal to young puppies who need all of their red blood cells for rapid growth and really can't spare any for the worms. Puppies may look healthy at birth, but be deadly sick within two weeks. A badly infected puppy may need a transfusion and iron supplements to keep it alive, as well as treatment to rid it of the worms.

How is it treated?

There are several products available to deworm pets. Your veterinarian is familiar with all of the deworming products and will recommend the one that he/she feels is best for your particular pet. You will probably be asked to repeat the treatment in 2 to 3 weeks, because the treatment can only kill the worms that are in the intestinal tract. Any worms that are still encysted or migrating through the pet's body won't be affected.

If the mother didn't receive treatment before pregnancy, the puppies will need repeated treatments to rid them of the infection. This should be started as early as 2 weeks after birth and may continue up to 3 months. Kittens do not get prenatal infection, so the treatment may start at three weeks old and continue up to 9 weeks. The mothers should be treated at the same time as the babies to prevent recurrence and further environmental contamination.

It cannot be stressed enough that it's important to treat the females before the pregnancy starts. Preventing the hookworm from ever infecting the puppies is easier, cheaper and safer than deworming them afterward. Many puppies don't have their first exam until they are 12 weeks old. This means that the families of these pets may already be contaminated with hookworm from handling and petting.

If your pet is on a heartworm prevention medication, it is being treated for hookworms on a monthly basis. This also serves as protection for the families of these pets. In addition, cleaning up the stools daily and having your veterinarian check for hookworm eggs every few months should prevent any infestation from becoming too severe. information and pictures from whitneysvet.com

The hookworm is not an intermediate host, but the hookworm larvae is.

An intermediate host would be like the flea carrying infected larvae for tapeworms. The infected flea would be the intermediate or secondary host because it shelters the parasite or worm larvae for a short time. In any intermediate host, "some" developmental stage is completed.

In hookworms, the intermediate host comes into play as one of five routes by which puppies and adult dogs can acquire hookworm infection.

• Migration through the placenta while the puppies are in the uterus.
• Puppies can feed on larvae through their mothers' milk.
• Puppies and adult dogs can feed on hookworm larvae in the soil.
• The larvae can directly penetrate a dog's skin, such as the pads of their feet when they are walking in a dirty pen or kennel where an infected dog has toileted.
• The puppies or adult dogs can obtain hookworm by eating an intermediate host in the soil or through grooming, which would be the hookworm larvae.

Dogs who recover from hookworm infection usually become carriers through larvae encysted in the dogs' tissues. If the dog becomes ill or is placed under serious stress, the dormant larvae are released and the worms appear in the intestines, causing bloody diarrhea.

They can be.

Related Information:

If your cat has had the tape worm for a long time, it can latch onto your cats small intestine and eat all of the nutrients out of the food without your cat getting it. But if you treat your cat early then you can easily get rid of it. It is kind of hard to get rid of a tape worm that has already latched on to your cat. Surgery might be necessary, which of course, is dangerous also. Bottom line: early detection and intervention is important.

To kill ticks do not Wash down sank. Take the tick in a napkin. Hold the napkin tight and release Tick onto a wooden surface. Take a good match and light it. Take the burning match and fry the tick until it is dead. Wait until Crackles and throw it away in a closed bag or a folded napkin.

also bleach, clorox, rubbing acohol if you have a small cup of it will kill ticks if you drown them in it, just make sure they arent movine then flush it down the toilet