Snails aren’t as innocent as they may seem
They’re slimy and anything but cute, but apart from that snails are pretty harmless, right? Unfortunately, it turns out that this isn’t entirely true. These slimy creatures can be harmful to the health of your beloved dog. Apparently, snails are quite often infected with the larvae of the lungworm. This lungworm can be fatal for your dog.
Take good care of your pets and look out for lungworms.
Lungworms
A serious problem has been identified: dogs have become infected with lungworm disease. A study conducted by the University of Liège has shown that 1 in 20 dogs in Belgium has been contaminated by a disease that is transferred by snails. We don’t know much more about where this disease comes from and in what other places it can be found. What we do know, though, is that lungworms were first found in France but are now being found in more and more countries like England, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
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Many dog owners (and even vets!) are unfamiliar with lungworm. Yet your dog can get very ill if it drinks water in which these lungworms live. But snails can also be the culprits. Some snails carry the larvae of these lungworms and some dogs, in turn, eat snails. If this happens, there’s a risk of infection.
Go to the next page to read about the symptoms of this disease so you can recognise them!
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