Can guinea pigs get tapeworms??

[Onihrapiggy]

When I came back from Jamaica I brought a puppy home with me. Of course he immediately went to the vet here in Canada and got a check up. We had tackled the flea issue in Jamaica before he even got back to Canada, but it seems that even after being wormed three times now he has tapeworms. The vet here also put those Revolution drops on him just to be sure all the fleas were gone.

I was just doing some research online and read that for a dog to get tapeworms they have to injest an infected flea. Now we don't have fleas here where I live, but it said the cycle of the worm after injestion is about three weeks. Well it has been three weeks since we brought him home. So he would have injested the flea before we came home and even though he doesn't have fleas now he has the tapeworm still. I noticed the "rice-like" segments in his bedding today. Of course it seems that there is no over-the-counter medicine to treat the tapeworm so he will have to go back to the vet for the medicine.

He has been confined to the main floor of our house (away from any carpeted areas) and is always crated if not being supervised (for house training purposes). I have not let him near my pigs (they are in the basement) except once when I brought a pig upstairs to sniff noses just to see what he'd do. I also have been very vigilant about picking up the dog poo in the yard because I know that things can be passed to our other dogs through feces.

Is there any way my pigs can get tapeworms from the dog?? And once it becomes summer here should I not let my pigs out on our lawn to eat the grass?? I should have fenced off a small area so the dogs could not go the bathroom there, but it is too late now for that!

[Lynx]

I don't know how much of a risk this is. There are several different kinds of tapeworms -- some are even highly zoonotic (we can get them). Where are you seeing the eggs? Do you think you could get an entomologist to identify them? The book I was looking at doesn't mention treatment so I don't know if it is different from treating one tapeworm to another. Maybe your vet can give you something stronger.

[Mum]

I can't put my pigs on my lawn because I have dogs who use it as their bathroom.

I do have one tiny grassed area where the dogs don't go, though.

I don't know about the tapeworm issue, but I wouldn't put the pigs on the lawn where the dogs go.

[rpaws]

Yes, it's very unusual but guinea pigs can get tapeworms. The Critter Connection Rescue in CT took in some guinea pigs abandoned in an empty apartment. The female looked pregnant but wasn't. The rescue head said it took the vet about 1 week to figure out the proper medicine dosage for the guinea pigs to get rid of the tapeworms.

[Onihrapiggy]

I was reading up a bit more about it on the internet and it said that with the common tapeworm (which I am pretty sure it is) can really only be passed once the eggs from the tapeworm have been eaten by fleas and then the dog has to eat the fleas. Well, considering I had the flea issue under control BEFORE the dog even came home really lessens the chances of our dogs even getting tapeworms. It takes three weeks from the time the dog has eaten the infected flea to the stage where the segments coming off of the tapeworm in the dog can be seen in the feces or where the dog sleeps. These segments that come off of the end of the tapeworm contain the eggs which have to be ingested by the fleas in order for the cycle to begin again.

SOOO, once I get rid of the tapeworm in the puppy then it should be done. I am a little miffed that the vet we took him to here in Canada didn't prescribe the specific medicine dogs need to get rid of the tapeworms. He put those Revolution drops on him which he said also act as a dewormer AND gave us a pill to give him two weeks following our appointment (which we did), but he never mentioned anything about treating tapeworms. I am not used to having to deal with fleas and the other things dogs can get from fleas because I have never lived anywhere where I had to worry about my dog getting them. Well back to vet we go!!!

Between my piggies and my dogs I could have put a good down payment on a new car for the amount I have spent in recent months. Instead I drive an older vehicle because I didn't want car payments!!! Oh well...can't help it... I love them too much.

[NancyO]

Your pup needs praziquantel to get rid of the tape worm. My dog who is 8 years old actually had one back in Septemeber. He took 5 pills of droncit (praziquantel) and it was gone. Here in the US you can buy it over the counter - it's called D-Worm. If you can't get it your vet should prescibe it to you.

Sorry don't know much about guinea pigs getting tapeworms. I know mites and lice are species specific, but don't know about tapeworms.

I know exactly what you mean about finding the rice like pieces in the dog's bedding. Gross isn't it? Blech.

Nancy