We can usually see some GI issues—vomiting, diarrhea, inappetence, things like that—that tell you that your dog has an upset stomach. If left untreated, especially in smaller dogs with hookworms, we can see what's called hookworm anemia. And that is something that can end up being fatal, so you always want to make sure that if your dog does have diarrhea or you see worms, you're getting to your vet pretty quickly.

Worms inside your dog can last for quite some time, especially without showing any symptoms. They can live for several weeks to months because they continue to reproduce.

So they're a little more common than what you would think. And that's why we always recommend that our puppies be dewormed and have fecal exam testing done. And then whenever dogs come in for their annual exams, we also recommend they have fecal testing done, especially if they're not on heartworm prevention and can get them from the ground. If you’re in your yard and you potentially stepped in some dog poop from somewhere else and tracked that into your yard, you could have brought some warm eggs in there with you.

So, yes and no. Some worms are going to be pretty easily visible. They will look like long pieces, and we always use terms in food, so they'll look like spaghetti. And so that's going to be pretty easily visible. Others will sometimes be in their stool or hang around their back end and their fur, and will look like tiny grains of rice. Those are going to be kind of the more common ones that you'll see in their stool if you'll see anything.

So they can certainly be upsetting to their stomach. Many of them live in the dog’s intestinal tract and can feed on their intestinal lining. As you can imagine, that doesn't feel the greatest.