So they're a little more common than what you would think. And that's why we always recommend that our puppies be dewormed and have fecal exam testing done. And then whenever dogs come in for their annual exams, we also recommend they have fecal testing done, especially if they're not on heartworm prevention and can get them from the ground. If you’re in your yard and you potentially stepped in some dog poop from somewhere else and tracked that into your yard, you could have brought some warm eggs in there with you.

So, yes and no. Some worms are going to be pretty easily visible. They will look like long pieces, and we always use terms in food, so they'll look like spaghetti. And so that's going to be pretty easily visible. Others will sometimes be in their stool or hang around their back end and their fur, and will look like tiny grains of rice. Those are going to be kind of the more common ones that you'll see in their stool if you'll see anything.

So they can certainly be upsetting to their stomach. Many of them live in the dog’s intestinal tract and can feed on their intestinal lining. As you can imagine, that doesn't feel the greatest.

Much of the time, dogs will get it from their environment. So that's generally going to be the ground, whether at your home or if you're around the neighborhood or in the dog park. Sometimes puppies can be born with certain types of worms.

They can. Certain ones can be caught by humans. And often, that's going to be due to exposure from either not being necessarily hygienic, so perhaps not washing your hands well after cleaning up from your dog's poop and ingesting some eggs. Or you can get exposed by being out in the yard and stepping in dog poop while barefoot. So, children are certainly ones that are a little more prone to getting these. But if they step on the eggs themselves, then they can have worms that can be brought up through their skin as well.

Parasite prevention is a great thing to do for everybody. But also, if you know your dog has intestinal worms and you're working on getting that treated, you want to make sure you're picking up the stool. Either wear a glove or use a baggy, turn it inside out, and pick up that poop because that will sit in there and allow some of those eggs to come out into the stool, and your other animals could inadvertently get exposed.