Pomeranian Puppy Pukes Parasites
Samantha at about 5 months old
An 8-week old red Pomeranian puppy vomited blood and white spaghetti-worms on my examination table and then collapsed.
Samantha had never seen a veterinarian, so she had not been given puppy deworming medicine. Almost all puppies are born with roundworm intestinal infection because the worms hibernate in the mother’s muscles out of the reach of any dewormers. Then, when the mom dog is pregnant, the worms travel to her womb and infect the puppies!
Then, to add to the danger, puppies ingest hookworm eggs from their mom’s skin which is contaminated with fecal material (after all, dogs don’t take showers every day.) Hookworms look like they have swords for tongues when you magnify them under the microscope. Hookworms make a tiny slice in the intestinal lining and lap up the blood that comes out. Then they let the site continue to bleed while they move to another spot and make a new slice.
Samantha weighed only 2 pounds, and she was bleeding internally. She vomited blood and passed out because she felt weak.
I scooped her up, placed an intravenous line and gave her a transfusion of universal donor canine whole blood. After 10 minutes, she sat up and blinked at me! Samantha was going to be just fine!
P.S. Worms can cause illness in puppies as young as 4 weeks old. Take your adopted pup to your veterinarian as soon as you adopt him or her. If your dog has puppies, your vet should check them at one to two days old to make sure they are formed properly and set up their preventative medicine schedule.
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