Tapeworm

The most common dog tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum, is picked up when a dog swallows an infected flea, often while grooming or chewing at an itch. The worm lives in the intestine and sheds small, moving, rice-grain-like segments that stick to hair near the tail, on bedding or in stool.

Tapeworms rarely make a dog very ill. Some dogs scoot or lick the area. Because the eggs are packaged inside the segments, an ordinary fecal test often misses them, and owners usually find them by sight.

Finding segments means the dog has had fleas, so flea control is part of the answer. Other tapeworm species come from hunting, rodents or raw meat. People can very rarely be infected through fleas, mainly small children. Ask a vet for the right deworming product, since roundworm treatments often do not work on tapeworm.