Intestinal worms

Do you know the facts about the intestinal worms that can affect your cat’s or dog’s health?

Everybody is familiar with earthworms – harmless creatures that actually do a bit of good in the garden. But right there in your garden, there could be the eggs or larvae of some very different worms, far from harmless, and quite capable of doing serious damage to the health of your pet and your family!

You would rarely see these worms, of course, because they spend their whole adult lives inside your dog or cat's intestines, feeding off their blood and the food that they eat.

There are several different species of intestinal worms that can infect cats and dogs in the UK. Some are only a few millimetres long, others can grow to a staggering 5 metres in length (and if that makes you squirm, imagine how your pet must feel!) Some live off the contents of the gut (in effect, scavenging the animal's food) while others attach themselves to the gut wall and live off the animal's blood.

And worst of all, some can infect people as well as pets – which is probably the best reason of all to keep your pet worm-free.