Hookworms are considered to be the most pathogenic of all canine and feline parasites including roundworms and dog tapeworm.

Hookworms are excessively greedy blood suckers and cause extensive loss of blood. They ‘hook’ on to the walls of the intestines and draw out blood and ingest it directly. Some can bite and cause lacerations which result in blood leaking. To add to the miseries, the esophageal glands of the hookworm secrete an enzyme that inhibits blood coagulation.

Hookworms can penetrate skin and infect humans as well. Barefoot humans and children who play in areas where dogs defecate are at a high risk of infection. A study of the lifecycle of hookworms can go along way in achieving the goal of treating hookworm infection and eradication of hookworms from the environment.

Depending upon the species, an adult hookworm can lay up to thirty thousand eggs in a day. A moist loamy soil and warm temperatures are most conducive to hookworm survival. But these hardy parasites have been known to survive in tougher climatic conditions also. Unlike other worms in dogs hookworms develop in feces only when the feces are broken up naturally by earthworms or rain. Larvae in their infective stage move out from the feces and wait in the soil or vegetation for a host to pass by.

Anything that irritates the air passages causes sneezing and coughs. The cause can be anything from a foreign substance to an infection or even a medical condition like tuberculosis.

Coughing by itself is self-perpetuating and causes dryness in the throat, which in turn causes more coughing. Coughs may occur in spells and abruptly or may even be chronic. Coughs are also classified as dry, moist, wheezy, choking and weak.

Dog coughing is a problem that pet owners face every now and then. However, since there are various causes of canine cough it becomes difficult to pin point the exact reason for the coughing bouts that your dog might be experiencing. Sometimes, it helps to keep a note of how and when the dog coughs to establish the real cause behind the condition.

Coughing when the dog is resting may indicate problems with heart function, trachea and lungs. On the other hand coughing when excited or while drinking water indicates irritation in the trachea. A problem with the voice box (larynx) or esophagus usually leads the dog to cough during or after meals. An overweight small dog whose cough sounds like a goose is a symptom of tracheal collapse.