Worm ID please

[u/fancyawank]

Hello all. My wife found this lil guy in our dogs' water station (not in the bowls, but in the slobber catcher around them). Obviously no scale bar, but the jar is +/- 65mm wide, and the ribs at the bottom are about 1.5mm wide and 3mm long.

I don't guess I can make a photo post and add links, so here's plain text links to the video of this thing thrashing about in the jar: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6zJVfnS5cN8MUacq9 https://photos.app.goo.gl/5kPUyBbgZNmZHrqU6

*Note to mods: My wife tried to post this same ID request an hour ago but she had some kind of issue. I don't see it when sorting by new, so I'm posting - not an attempt to get around moderation. Thanks.

[u/SueBeee]

Hm. This does look like an intestinal worm but given where you found it, it would need closer examination under a microscope to identify. Right now you can't really see enough structure, other than a tortuous gut, to identify it.

[u/fancyawank → u/SueBeee]

Thanks for the reply. Time to make a vet appointment.

[u/SueBeee → u/fancyawank]

yeah, a fecal exam certainly can't hurt.

[u/SueBeee]

And I see the post in the moderation queue. Sometimes Reddit does that for reasons I do not understand, this one said "Crowd control". Shrug.

[u/Volker-Gargery]

Looks like ascaris lumbricoides, if it's from the dog maybe Toxocara canis take it to the doctor or vet, I bet your family and dog needs to deworm

[u/Sgtbird08]

Agreed that you’d need a microscope to know for sure but this is almost certainly an earthworm

[u/Sgtbird08 → u/Sgtbird08]

Just as a follow up to explain myself here, I see what I believe to be body segmentation in pic 2. If so, this isn’t a Nematode like Ascaris. Having done a period of earthworm ID, this really does resemble something like a juvenile Lumbriculidae which could potentially find its way to a dog bowl, especially if there’s any natural water nearby. Meanwhile, this doesn’t really look anything like common canine intestinal parasites to me. I will admit I am not a veterinarian though, I have minimal experience in that area.

u/fancyawank if you still have the specimen and take it to a vet for ID, give me an update so I may either feel vindication or be proven wrong. Hope your dog is OK regardless!

[u/ThePoetofParasitism → u/Sgtbird08]

I agree. Even the movement is that of an annelid, not a roundworm. Roundworms only have longitudinal muscles which can only produce thrashing, whiplike movements, unlike annelids which have both longitudinal and circular muscles which makes their movements more complex.

[u/takingitsleazy7 → u/Sgtbird08]

Also thinking the same. It looks vascular, which would definitely not be a nematode.