Oral infection of cats and dogs is common with this hookworm. The ingested juveniles pass to the small intestine where they may penetrate the intestinal wall and proceed as in cutaneous infection, or they may enter the intestinal mucosa and then return to the lumen and develop to adults. A. braziliense - is common in dogs and cats in the tropics. Infection is usually cutaneous and the migration through the body is as in human hookworm. It also causes creeping eruption in humans.
Prenatal infections are common in dogs.
If pregnant females are exposed to infection some of the juveniles pass through the placenta and infect the fetus. The worms in the fetus do not mature until the pups are born. Death may occur in prenatally infected pups. There is evidence indicating that older dogs are less susceptible to hookworm infection than young dogs. Also older dogs may develop immunity due to earlier infections.