MDBeland

Sorry to hear this. I will retest Marty in about 3-6 months sooner if I notice a difference in stools or gets sick. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we are in the clear, but I know there could be another fair up at any time.

Adopted Marty 8 months ago. At the 2 month mark he was diagnosed with Hookworms and was given meds. At 4 months Hookworms again additional meds. At 5 months another flare up of Hookworms this time our vet prescribed a double dose of Panacur/Drontal to try and knock out the infestation. I also did some research on Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth and started 1 tbl spoon a day. Over the last 3 months Marty's BMs became firm and consistently normal looking. Last week he came back negative for Hookworms. I'm sold on the DE and will continue to add it to his food every day for the next 6 months. At that point I will get another fecal check to make sure he is clear and then back off to 1 tbl spoon of DE every 3 days.

The diagnosed is allergies caused by ragweed. She prescribed Singulair, Claritin to be taken together once a day. Marty will be getting a bath once a week and getting paws rinsed after every walk.

Marty's feet look exactly like that. Our vet diagnosed it as allergies caused by ragweed. She prescribed Singulair, Claritin to be taken together once a day until he stops licking. I think he has pretty much stop licking, but his feet are still red/pink. Hopefully once we get through this season they will return to normal color. See my original post here: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/323625-allergies/

Marty has been licking his feet and they are becoming dry with some hair loss and dry skin around the paws. Our vet started him on Claritin she also mentioned an anti-itch spray or cream. Zymox with 0.5% hydrocortisone? I looked this up and is rather pricey for my taste. Is there a "human" equivalent OTC that can be used in place of the pricey "pet store" version? What treatments do others usually use for greyhounds with seasonal allergies and paw licking?

Marty is 74 lbs and was administered 1.5 pills - just slabbbed the pill with peanut butter and it was sucked down immediately....lol.

I started Marty's facebook page today - here is what I have so far: https://www.facebook.com/kiowasafemarty.beland.3

I forgot to add... Walking - stay away from long grass/wood line. On a couple of occasions I found a tick or two on Marty. Ever since finding those ticks I made it a point on our walks to stay away from the wood line/long grassy areas. We stick to the cut grass and neighborhood. Since doing so I have not found one tick on Marty.

As far as the yard is concerned we do not have a fenced in yard so Marty is always on leash and we go for walks - he never defecates in our yard. On our walks I always carry a pooper scooper with me and the stools never hit the ground. I discard the poop into the woods across the street away from other houses/yards.

We adopted Marty December 2017. He came home December 17th, 2017 and celebrated his 3rd birthday with us on Jan 3rd. 1. Our adoption center feeds Diamond High Energy grain free food. 2. We kept Marty on this food for 3 weeks and he had terrible greyhound gas. 3. At 3 weeks we transitioned to Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Sensitive Skin and Stomach. This helped with the gas a lot. 4. At around the 3rd month we transitioned to the Taste of the Wild Pacific Salmon which is grain free. This food got rid of all the gas. 5. He had his wellness checkup with our vet and he checked out just fine. So I learned if there is gas - change the food to a better quality. Medical Issues 4 months in: 1. This past April in a rapid 3 day period things changed: I noticed a tiny bit of blood and mucus in Marty's stool, he also threw up, and then I noticed visible worms in his stools - immediately called the vet and went to pick him up a dose of Drontal. Things cleared up immediately and everything was ok. Eating habits never changed very food driven, rushed through meals, and he is keeping weight - healthy 74 lbs. Medical issues reappear 2 months later: 1. This past June Marty threw up again. This time instead of just calling I immediately took him to the vet for eval and was diagnosed with hookworms. He was given another round of Drontal. 2. I then started doing a lot of research online about hookworms and decided to go ahead and start feeding him Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth - 1 tbsp of DE mixed with 1 Tbsp of plain yogurt once a day. I am hopeful this supplement will ward off future infections. 3. 2 weeks later I had them run a fecal check and it came back clear. I am still a bit pessimistic due to my research online stating that fecal checks for hookworms are not always correct. July - curious "looking back" at hind end behavior? 1. Mid July Marty started quickly looking back at his hind end during meals and periodically on our walks. I thought this might be a sign for an anal gland issue. His appetite also decrease and he did not rush through his meals like usual. He would nibble and walk away. I took him back to the vet for eval. 2. The doc ran a full check up, expressed the anal glands everything turned out just fine, he was not tender anywhere, and she said his glands were just fine. He had actually put on 4 pounds as well (up to 78 from 74). Then came the fecal test - he showed positive for hookworms - 100 plus eggs on one slide. She then gave him a round of Panacur and gave me 3 more dosages to give to him at home (2 for 2 consecutive days and then another for 2 weeks later.) Doc wants a re-check in a month. She attributes the possible looking back behavior to inflamed intestine due to the infection. If this behavior doesnt clear up in a month she will get an x-ray. Everything else is completely normal - gait is normal - no pain. She also checked/palpated his colon - everything perfectly fine. 3. During this time his appetite is pretty poor in the morning. I have to constantly call him back into the kitchen to finish his breakfast. His appetite for dinner is better and takes his time now without hurrying trying to eat as fast as he can - At least he doesnt woof his meal down real fast like before. I am attributing this to he is not 100% due to the meds and infection? August 1. Last week I took in another stool sample for recheck. The test came back positive, but this time the numbers greatly reduced to 15+ eggs rather than 100! Doc gave another dosage of Drontal to hopefully knock out the remaining infestation. 2. The "looking back" behavior has decreased especially at meal time. It happens every so often on our walks, but not much anymore. I am hopeful once he is totally over this hookworm issue this will completely stop. If not then I will definitely be getting him an x-ray. 3. In 2-3 weeks I will take in another stool sample for recheck. I am hopeful that with him being on DE for a complete month plus with this last dosage of Drontal we will have knocked out these resistant hookworms. If not then we will move to the Advantage Multi + Drontal regiment. All I can say is if you adopt a racing greyhound expect for them to have this resistant hookworm infestation. Being a new owner I was completely confident that the dose of deworming they gave Marty on "take home day" would have knocked out anything he would have picked up from the kennel/track. If I adopt another racing greyhound I'm having a fecal check done by my vet right from the beginning to knock out these worms and not relying on the one deworming dose from the track. Marty is the best dog ever and I just want him to be 100% as quickly as possible!!!

We walked for a mile this morning and he had two separate BMs - one normal firm and one soft; both no blood and no worms! I assume with the medication is why he went twice in one walk.

Marty never goes loose in the yard - we dont have a fence. The only time he deficates is on our walks and I always carry a pooper scooper with me to catch it before it even hits the ground. Now we do have a lot of dogs in our neighborhood whose owners are walking them as well. I will now be staying clear of our wooded area in the neighborhood where owners do not always pick up after their pet. I am sure that is where Marty picked up this parasite.

Update..... Yesterday I noticed a little bit of blood at the end of Marty’s stool. He has well formed stools and he has been his normal self this entire time. I figured it might be colitis and would start feeding him a little plain yogurt with his meals but if it became worse or didn’t clear up by the weekend I would take him in to our vet first thing Monday morning. Well this afternoon he had another BM and this time I looked a LOT closer and I saw a super tiny thin white almost translucent round worm. I immediately called my vet and she was going to prescribe me some meds over the phone just from my description of what I saw + she knows we live about 20 miles from her. I was appreciative but I told her I really didn’t mind going on in + we could get him weighed. When we got to the vet Marty greeted everyone with wags and received plenty of scratches behind the ears. He went right to the scale and weighed in at a very healthy 74 lbs. His racing weight was between 71-75 lbs. In Jan at his wellness visit he weighed 70 lbs. I was so relieved that he gained and hasn’t lost weight due to these worms! Our vet prescribed 2.5 Drontal tablets which I fed him with his dinner. So far so good knock on wood. Now I know why he had tummy troubles. Now a few questions..., 1. Why did he get worms? He recevieved a dose of dewormer when I picked him up from the adoption center and also he checked out ok at his wellness visit back in January. He has been taking Sentinel since then to prevent heart worms, round worms, as well as other types of worms. 2. If he is taking his monthly medication to prevent worms what else can I do to keep this from happening again?

@clepogrey - good advise. Do you have to leave those collars on all the time in order for them to be effective or can you put it on/take it off when leaving/entering the house?

I'm trying to stay out of the long grass and sticking to the neighborhood on our walks. Last month we would walk along the tree line/wooded area along my street. I found a tick crawling on my leg and found one embedded in Marty's leg. So far so good for the month of May - no ticks just walking just the neighborhood and staying clear of the long grass.