− | The lungworm is acquired when dogs eat slugs and snails infected the the L3 larvae. It is therefore crucial to establish whether the dog does eat slugs or snails. As foxes are also able to act as definitive hosts, areas with a dense population of '''foxes''' are likely to have a high lungworm prevalence. ''A. vasorum'' was traditionally considered to be a disease acquired by animals that had travelled to Europe but it is now being diagnosed in untravelled animals as far north in the UK as Scotland<ref>Helm J, Gilleard JS, Jackson M, Redman E, Bell R. '''A case of canine Angiostrongylus vasorum in Scotland confirmed by PCR and sequence analysis.''' ''J Small Anim Pract. 2009 May;50(5):255-9.''</ref>. | + | The lungworm is acquired when dogs eat slugs and snails infected with the L3 larvae. It is therefore crucial to establish whether the dog does eat slugs or snails. As foxes are also able to act as definitive hosts, areas with a dense population of '''foxes''' are likely to have a high lungworm prevalence. ''A. vasorum'' was traditionally considered to be a disease acquired by animals that had travelled to Europe but it is now being diagnosed in untravelled animals as far north in the UK as Scotland<ref>Helm J, Gilleard JS, Jackson M, Redman E, Bell R. '''A case of canine Angiostrongylus vasorum in Scotland confirmed by PCR and sequence analysis.''' ''J Small Anim Pract. 2009 May;50(5):255-9.''</ref>. |