If you look at the picture below (the inset) you will notice that the "business end" of the Hookworm is shaped like a tiny goblet with three sets of teeth. The goblet-shaped mouth is very hard and resists collapse as the worm sucks. The Hookworm grasps onto the inner surface of the small intestine with the teeth and then pierces a blood vessel. An anti-coagulant saliva-like substance is released which prevents the blood from clotting. Each hookworm can suck 0.1cc of blood per day. If they release the wound continues to bleed.

Kittens or puppies may be born with Hookworms! Hookworm larva are tiny enough to migrate through the placental blood supply to the fetal lungs. Soon after birth, the juvenile Hookworms are coughed up and swallowed. They then mature in the small intestine; attach to the intestinal wall and begin sucking blood and laying eggs.

Signs may include any or all of the following: Inapparent infestations; nonspecific diarrhea; dark black (tarry) diarrhea; bloody diarrhea; vomiting; poor or no appetite, pale mucous membranes in the mouth and generalized pallor; weakness, emaciation and poor growth. Anemia can be so severe as to cause death.

It is easy to get rid of Hookworms. Just give any effective oral wormer. My favorite is any brand with pyrantel pamoate as the active ingredient. This is generally well tolerated by the pet, safe and effective. If the animal is severely anemic, blood transfusions and supportive care may be required. It is best to worm breeding female dogs and cats before breeding and again 3, 6 and 9 weeks after whelping. Juveniles migrating through the body will not be killed by conventional wormers. This is why we like to worm puppies and kittens twice three weeks apart and then check a fecal specimen three weeks later. This allows all migrating juveniles to reach the intestine where they are easily killed. Since Hookworm eggs and larva build up in damp soil, often times the dogs tied out on dirt or in soil runs need to be moved to a non-infested area to prevent reinfection. If this is impossible and the pet keeps becoming reinfected, I suggest keeping the dog on Filaribits Plus (a daily heartworm preventative with a low level wormer included which kills Hookworms, Roundworms and Whipworms) for a year or more while the Hookworm larva and eggs die off. Concrete surfaced runs or runs with deep pebble coverings allow the surface to dry allowing sunlight to kill the larvae. Fecal Examinations: Young dogs and cats should have a fecal floatation done twice a year to detect Hookworm eggs.

You may have figured it out already. Hookworm larvae love warm, damp, sandy soil! If a Hookworm infested dog deficates on a beach the eggs soon hatch and the larvae enter the sand. When a human lies on such a spot the Hookworm larva can penetrate the intact skin just as it happens in the dog or cat. Since we are an unnatural host, the larva never make it to the intestine to become blood-sucking adults. They just move around a bit under the skin, die and cause a nasty inflammatory reaction. The result? We get itchy little red bumps on our skin which may form scabs. In the old days, when houses had crawl spaces under them, the pets would often deficate under the house. When the plumber worked on the piping under the house he soon found little itchy bites all over his skin. For this reason, human infection is sometimes called the "plumbers itch". Other names include "creeping eruption" or the more scientific name "cutaneous larva migrans". A good reason for keeping dogs off beaches and out of sand boxes and gardening areas.