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Posted in Dog Worms

Are Worms that Smell Bad Dangerous?

We recently received a question from a reader about the “horrible stinking odor” her dogs bring into the house after digging around in dirt that contains a worm, caterpillar, or millipede. (The reader technically wrote that she found a “worm/caterpillar/millipede,” so we went ahead and assumed this means that she found one of these creatures, as opposed to a chimerical hybrid of all three creatures.) Even after the reader washes her dogs, the bad smell of the worm (or caterpillar or millipede) doesn’t go away. However, after two hours, regardless of whether the dogs have been washed, the unpleasant odor is gone. The reader wasn’t really concerned about the smell, however; she only wanted to know if her dogs were in danger. So, the rather specific question before us is this: are foul-smelling worms, millipedes, or caterpillars harmful to dogs?