Can I Catch A Disease Or Worms From My Puppy?
Dogs and puppies can pass germs, diseases and worms on to people, but it does not occur often. There are certain precautions that you can take to help prevent this from happening. First and foremost, make sure that the dog or puppy you are playing with looks healthy. Do not touch or contact an obviously sick dog. Make sure that your personal dog has regular check ups and is checked for worms by your veterinarian. Look for obvious signs of disease such as spots missing fur on your dog. Hot spots or places that your dog keeps chewing or biting at can be another sign of infection.
One of the best lines of defense from getting sick from contact with a dog is to wash your hands well, especially with anti-bacterial soap. After dog or puppy contact, keep your hands away from your face, especially your mouth. Do not eat finger foods after dog contact until you can wash. Do not let your dog lick you on your face. Try not to have contact with dog saliva, urine or dog feces.
Dogs and puppies can carry a fair variety of bacteria, parasites, fungus and worms. Some of these are fairly common in dogs and others are quite rare. Some people are more likely than others to catch these diseases. Some of the factors associated with catching the diseases depend upon the persons age and status of their health. People who are more likely to get diseases from dogs include infants, children younger than 5 years old, organ transplant patients, people with HIV/AIDS, and people being treated for cancer.
The following diseases may be carried by dogs:
Brucella canis Infection (brucellosis): A bacterial disease rarely associated with dogs.
Campylobacter Infection (campylobacteriosis): A bacterial disease associated with dogs, cats, and farm animals. If your dog has diarrhea, you may want to consult with your veterinarian, as this disease may be the culprit and it is passable to humans. If you develop symptoms, including diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and/or nausea, contact your physician. Be sure to inform him or her of your pet and if it is ill.
Cryptosporidium (cryptosporidiosis): A parasitic disease associated with dogs, especially puppies, cats, and farm animals. Animals can carry this parasite in their feces and pass it to people. Animals do not have to be ill to pass Cryptosporidium to humans, they may just carry the disease. This disease usually causes a mild to severe infection of the gastrointestinal system, including watery diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting.
Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm): A parasitic disease associated with dogs, cats and fleas. Fleas carry the tapeworm and the dog must swallow the flea (which may easily happen during grooming) to allow the tapeworms to hatch and grown in the dog. For a person to become infected with Dipylidium, or tapeworm, he or she must accidentally swallow an infected flea. Most reported cases involve children. The risk of infection with this tapeworm in humans is low.
Giardia Infection (giardiasis): A parasitic disease associated with various animals, including dogs and their environment (including water). The Giardia parasite lives in the intestine of infected humans or animals. Millions of germs can be released in a bowel movement from an infected human or animal. Giardia is found in soil, food, water, or surfaces that have been contaminated with the feces from infected humans or animals.
Hookworm Infection: A parasitic disease associated with dogs and cats and their environment. Puppies and kittens are especially likely to have hookworm infections. Animals that are infected pass hookworm eggs in their stools. The eggs can hatch into larvae, and both eggs and larvae may be found in dirt where animals have been. Eggs or larvae can get into your body when you accidentally eat or have direct contact with contaminated dirt. For example, this can happen if a child is walking barefoot or playing in an area where dogs or cats have been.
Leishmania Infection (leishaniasis): A parasitic disease associated with dogs and sand flies outside the United States.
Leptospira Infection (leptospirosis): A bacterial disease associated with wild and domestic animals, including dogs. In people, the symptoms are often like the flu, but sometimes leptospirosis can develop into a more severe, life-threatening illness with infections in the kidney, liver, brain, lung, and heart.
Lyme Disease: A bacterial disease that can affect dogs and ticks. People get Lyme disease when they are bitten by ticks carrying B. burgdorferi, and this is in certain parts of the country.
Q Fever (Coxiella burnettii): A bacterial disease occasionally associated with dogs, but more often associated with sheep, cattle and goats, especially their birth products.
Rabies: A viral disease associated with various animals, including dogs. This is fairly rare in the US.
Ringworm: A fungal disease associated with dogs. Ringworm is transmitted from direct contact with an infected animal’s skin or hair. Dogs and cats, especially kittens or puppies, can have ringworm that can be passed to people.
About Author: Mitch Endick is a short article writer, editor and website developer for the popular pet site petpages.com. www.petpages.com is a pet information site with free pet ads, dog classifieds, and puppy for sale info Petpages.com also offeres information on cats, fish, reptiles, birds, ferrets, rabbits, mice and even pet bugs.
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November 28th, 2008 at 12:37 am
I have noticed that my 3 month old puppy has been biting at her hind left hip a lot since I got her on Tuesday, what could this mean? Should I be sending her to the vet, as I live in a community where everything and everyone flies in and out?
HELP.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Hello Christabelle,
It could be flies, or maybe a tick. Check that area thoroughly.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
sir,
i have purchesed GSD one month old, he is not eating food, what should we give to him,he is doing losemotions,he is now very weak.
i did give him zentamicen injection and parasotamool injection. 1 ml.
he is not eating dog food.
what i do.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Raviender,
Immediately take him to your nearest vet -- like now!
February 5th, 2009 at 7:04 am
This was a good page, but I need to know what happens to GSD when they have worms. My dog has worms, we just found out yesterday. She’s about 9 and a half. Will she die? Or is the treatment simple and fast?
February 6th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Brooke, you simply can buy an over the counter de-wormer, or take your dog to the vet. There is no real alarm. Worms are actually “typical” for canines -- thought to kill them with meds is the best thing for our dogs
April 14th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
My 8 week year old German shepard was diagnosed with round worms by our vet a week ago. They gave him 3 syringes of mess for me to give him before he ate once a day for three days. But his stomach is still pretty swollen and he is still pooping them out like crazy… I am going back to the vet tomorrow but they dnt seem like they are going away….Are they ever gonna go away? Thank you
April 16th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Hello Destinie,
Your vet’s meds should be doing their job, and you should see results within the next week. Your dog having worms sucks (I know, been there -- done that!), just give it some time, and he should be worm free soon!
Best Regards,
Martin
April 16th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Thank you for the answers about the worms. I have a couple more questions completely off that subject. Is 8 weeks old too young to start obedience training such as come, sit, stay, etc. And my next question is I also have a 8 year old male yorkiepoo whose a big mammas boy. He has been the only dog I have had his entire life till recently when I got my gsd. The problem is is my gsd puppy likes to pick on my yorkiepoo and doesn’t give up. Even wen the yorkiepoo snaps at him. The mammas boy doesn’t like that pup..wat do I do to help them get along??? Theyre both my babies n I want them to get along..help me please. Thanks for ur time
Destinie
April 17th, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Hi Destinie,
8 weeks is fine to begin training your puppy. Just remember that he is only 8 weeks old, so make all of your training sessions short, with no physical corrections. Everything is a game/toy to our puppies, so it’s great to start training them early. I would spend most of my time with the puppy as “bonding sessions”, so what you will be training most into your pup is “Engagement”, or “being engaged with his handler” (that’s you!). So training sessions at this age should be “play sessions” -- The Most Fun out of your pups day; something he looks forward to greatly. Make sure your food reward is enticing enough to keep his focus on you -- and only you…this means time away from your other dog. You want to make sure your puppies bond with you is greater than the dog-bond he’s gonna have with your older dog (eventually).
What I suggest -- and in my opinion is the fairest for both dogs, is to keep your pup separated from your older dog until your puppy is more interested in you than he. Kinda hard to do (keeping them separate), I know, but it is not very fair to your older dog that he has to put up with 8 week old excitement when he is obviously not enjoying it. Kennel training is perfect for this (kennel training is also a GREAT way to teach your pup to be house-broken).
I know it’s a lot of info, but primarily, just remember that the energy levels are going to be what YOU need to control with your dogs. And only until your pup’s energy is directed at you (or can be directed at you on command), and not spent on picking on your yorkiepoo (give it a few weeks of SOLID engagement between you and your pup), is when I would allow them to be kept together.
Hope this helps,
Martin
PS: submit their photos! We want to see your doggies!
July 23rd, 2012 at 1:03 pm
My 12 week old pup has roundworms. Should I be worried about my son, my husband, me, or my cat catching them from the pup.
July 23rd, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Hello Andrea,
Yes, people can catch roundworms. It is passed by ingesting dirt and poop that has the worm eggs. Please make sure to have your family -- especially your young child -- wash their hands with soap and warm water. Hygiene is very important in a case of our dogs with worms.
Many of the over-the-counter dog meds are, in My Opinion, NOT adequate enough as far as promptly removing the worms, so I suggest a trip to the vet.
Once the worms can be seen in the poop, they are already in their adult stage and not able to pass on their eggs, but he dogs poop DOES contain the eggs, so I recommend that you or your husband clean up the poop as soon as possible. The eggs, once in the dirt, can survive up to 7 years, so I’d shovel up that piece of dirt as well.
So, if you keep your family away from the poop area, there is nothing to worry about.
Let me know how it goes!
Best Regards,
Martin
February 14th, 2013 at 4:44 am
hi, my pup has worms and he had an accident all over my room. I saw the worms for the first time in the poop today. Can my daughter get them? Will the eggs be in my carpet? What should I do to kill them in my house so that my daughter doesn’t get 5
them? She has walked barefoot where he pooped but i had cleaned it thoroughly but im afraid she will be infected. Please help
February 14th, 2013 at 4:50 am
he also licked ny daughter in her mouth will that hurt her ?
April 8th, 2013 at 5:31 pm
If your puppy is sick and wont eat dry food, i suggest you moisen it. Thats what I did and worked well. OR buy wet foods.