Tapeworms are gastrointestinal parasites that impact your dog's small intestines.

You will notice flat, rice-sized worms clinging to the hairs around your dog’s anus or in his feces. The worms may be dry and stationary, or they may wiggle and move. These worms might also appear on your dog’s bedding or crate. Because flea infestation is the most common cause of tapeworm, you might also see fleas or flea excrement on your dog. With tapeworm, your dog will also likely have an itchy, irritated or sensitive anus, and, as the condition progresses, your dog might seem lethargic, dehydrated, reluctant to eat and may have diarrhea.

Your dog can contract tapeworm by ingesting fleas or lice that have been infected by tapeworms, or by eating the muscle meat of other animals that have been infected by tapeworms.

Your vet will examine your dog's stool sample.

First, your vet will want you to remove the source of the tapeworms. Since tapeworms are generally caused by fleas, your vet will treat your dog for fleas, instruct you to treat your dog's bedding and environment for fleas and put your dog on a flea control medication. To get rid of the tapeworms themselves, your vet will likely put your dog on multiple courses of a deworming medication.

The best prevention is to put your dog on an appropriate flea prevention medication.

Humans can get tapeworm although they most often contract a different species of tapeworm than the species that infects dog. However, it is possible for the species of tapeworm that infects your dog to be transmitted to you if you accidently ingest the worms or the fleas or lice carrying the worms. If you have been infected by your dog's tapeworms, your symptoms can be a mild stomach ache or severe due to the development of cysts in various organs of your body. Thus, if your dog has tapeworm it is extremely important that you contact your vet and your own doctor regarding safety measures to prevent transmission.