Courtesy of:  Valerie

It is 5 am on a wet and foggy morning and I am walking around our yard with our new rescue puppy Anna Belle.  Anna Belle is a black 5 month old Chinese Shar Pei who came to us not knowing a few things and housetraining is unfortunately one of them.  This is why I am standing in my yard in my PJ’s wearing my green rubber boots and a big warm coat with a pocket full of treats.

After Anna Belle “does her business” she gets rewarded with a kibble.  This time our coordination is off and she loses it in the grass.  I have two other dogs in the house with allergies (you will meet them in another post) so I bend down right away to retrieve it.  To my horror and disgust, what I thought was an innocent piece of kibble in the grass is actually a slug!  Yuck!!  The more that I look around the yard, the more slugs I see.  The worst part is realizing that when my dogs are out munching on the grass as they often do, they are likely getting some extra protein from the slimy slugs!  Ugh…it gives me the shivers just to write that down!

Not only are slugs gross, but in Atlantic Canada slugs and snails can carry Fox Lungworm (Crenosoma vulpis).   Foxes carry the lungworm and shed larvae in their feces, which the slugs eat.  When dogs then eat the slugs, they can become infected as well.  The main sign of lungworm in dogs is a persistent cough.  Thankfully the cough can be treated easily with several veterinary products.  If you are concerned about lungworm in your dog, contact Truro Vet at 893-2341 for more information.

As I make my way back to bed, I relax knowing that my dogs are on a preventative deworming schedule that works on lungworm, but I need to seriously reconsider those sluggy doggy kisses!