What is a Roundworm?
To fully understand what causes infestations of roundworm, it is important to look at the life cycle of the actual worm. Female roundworms can produce up to 100,000 eggs in a single day! The larvae are then passed in the stool and the embryonic worm develops within this larva in the outside environment. In good conditions, it takes approximately 1 month for the egg to become infective and once at this stage they can remain infective for as long as a year! The infective egg is then picked up by your pet, usually in the course of normal grooming, and ingested. The second stage larvae is now in the intestine of your pet, from where it can migrate to other tissue areas of the body such as the lungs and liver where it can develop into a third stage larvae. Once ready, the developed larvae burrow into the airway and up towards the throat where they are coughed up and swallowed and once again find themselves back in the intestine where they can hatch into worms. Note that in serious infestati
