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My dog has white worms. Are they safe for pregnant people and pets?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Male | unneutered | 6 months and 21 days old | 65 lbs

I have 2 questions. I am housing my daughters dog for a week. She is 4 months pregnant and her dog has those tiny white worms in his feces. She has treated him twice and he still has them. 1st is it safe for her to be taking care of him and second how do I keep my dogs from getting them?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 22nd, 2017

I am guessing that these worms might be tapeworms. If this is the case the types of tapeworms dogs get are not contagious to people. There are some other types of worms (like roundworms or hookworms) that could potentially be transmitted to people although they do not cause intestinal infections like they do in dogs. I would recommend having her dog examined by a veterinarian to determine the type of worm, and then having your daughter contact her OB. Tapeworms are usually transmitted either through fleas or ingesting animal tissue containing the worm cysts so they would not be directly contagious to your dog. You should make sure all pets are on a good flea preventative. Hookworms or roundworms would be contagious through feces in the yard but your dog would be covered if he is on a good heartworm and parasites preventative.

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    Answered By Amy Poole, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    I would be suspicious that Winston has tapeworms, which are small rice sized worms that we see in dogs' stool/around the rectum. Dogs get tape worms from eating fleas. Generally one treatment of appropriate de-worming medication clears the tapeworms, however if Winston ingested another flea, he can get reinfected. Your dogs can get tapeworms the same way, by eating a flea, not directly from Winston. I would check all the animals in the house for fleas, and make sure they are all on appropriate flea treatment. Often if there is one animal in the house with tapeworms, I will treat every animal in the house with an appropriate de-wormer as it doesn't not hurt. I also make sure we have good flea control on all of the animals and that we do not have an infestation in the house. Your daughter cannot get a tapeworm directly from a dog, so I would not be concerned about that. If you are still having a problem, I would recommend taking a stool sample to the vet to have it evaluated. It is possible these are not tapeworms and some other type of intestinal parasite that needs a different de-wormer. Not all de-worming medication will work on all parasites, so identification of the worm is important. I hope this helps. Good luck!

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