Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Boston Terrier | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 4 days old | 4 lbs
My puppy has no worms in her poop but pretty good size white worm crawled out of rectum twice last night, what scenario am I likely dealing with as far as kind of worm and transmission
4 Answers
Published on October 1st, 2017
Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. These are tapeworms and they come from your pet ingesting a flea or eating another pets poop that has live tapeworms in it. It is contagious to other pets and people via ingestion of a live worm. You will need tapeworm specific dewormer such as Drontal or Praziquantel to rid this worm and a good flea preventative (Bravecto, Nexgard, Firstshield) is recommended. Usually tapeworms are gone after the first treatment as long as puppy doesn't get reinfected. I hope this is helpful! Take care now.
4Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Published on November 6th, 2017
Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Not sure what type of worm you saw without a picture of it. Small, whitish worms that resemble grains of white rice are tapeworms and longer worms would probably be roundworms, hookworms, or other types of worms. Tapeworms are treated with a drug called praziquantal which is available over the counter. The most common tapeworm is caused by fleas and that medicine will treat it. Follow the instructions on the product. You also want to make sure that you are using an effective flea/tick medicine recommended by your veterinarian. Round, hook, and whipworms are treated with various dewormers. You want to use something that will kill all of them. I would advise getting fenbendazole (Safeguard) and following the directions. Mix the powder with food for 3 days. If the problem still exists, contact your vet for further instruction. Good luck
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Published on November 25th, 2016
The worms you describe sound like Tapeworms and these come from fleas. These worms are not treated by the product you have been giving him. Instead he needs Praziquantel (Drontal) to successfully treat these worms or a similar product that is labeled for tapeworms. You may be able to find something similar to this at your local pet store, but you vet definitely carries this int he clinic. You should also treat Thor with a monthly flea preventative to avoid re-infection, because pets get tapeworms by ingesting an infected flea.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Published on July 23rd, 2017
It sounds as though you've done everything correctly by starting a dewormer after finding worms in George's stool. Some worms only shed intermittently, so it is not uncommon to only find worms once in a while. Remember that not every dewormer treats every type of worm. If the worms you found were long and flat or spaghetti-like, they may have been either roundworms or hookworms. Tapeworms tend to resemble grains of rice. Roundworms and hookworms are treated with most over the counter dewormers, including those containing pyrantel pamoate or fenbendazole. Tapeworms can be a bit trickier to kill, and are best treated with praziquantel-containing dewormers. I typically deworm twice, three weeks apart. If you notice any other issues, it may be worth taking a stool sample to George's vet to confirm that no microscopic parasites are also present. I hope that all goes well!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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