cgs

I'm starting a new topic because stuff about hookworm is spread all over in threads that don't necessarily have hookworm in the title. And some are old and I think things have changed. I'm going to cut/paste/quote some stuff from other threads. I hope that's ok. I'm new here and don't know the rules and customs. If not ok, let me know. So, Percy, who we adopted 2 weeks ago, has hookworms and giardia. From NewGrey2017: From GreyTzu: From NewGrey2017: Link to document that was posted in a couple different threads: http://prisongreyhounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Hookworm.pdf Link to "Poop is a 4 letter word" thread with NewGrey2017's experience and various advice. Too much to quote, but others can feel free to repeat advice here. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/322352-poop-is-a-four-letter-word/

But HP won't cover the thyroid stuff now because it was preexisting when you started with them right? That's what I'm worried about--finding the right company to begin with.

Can anyone explain or point me to information about the 3+, 2+ etc "score." The vet said his level is 10-30. I asked about what I read here about 3+ type numbers and she didn't know how it correlates. I'm trying to google, but I'm not finding anything.

Turns out he has Giardia also. Vet initially was just going to treat with Panacur, but I mentioned what I've been reading on here. She said she would still use Panacur for the Giardia, but is also prescribing Drontal at my request. I'll get some Advantage Multi also--don't need prescription. Will the Panacur do anything to interfere with the other meds?

Thanks!

That's a good point and I remembered reading something about that in the policy, so I just went and looked. Pets Best has supplemental benefits. Their lowest plan doesn't cover exam fees, alternative treatments or rehab, or "take home" prescription meds. Not sure what that means vs "Rx meds" which are covered. I'll have to call and ask. Anyway, you can choose a higher plan that has that. If you decide to add supplemental coverage later, you are basically cancelling your policy and starting a new one, at which point preexisting conditions won't be treated. So as long as you don't do that, you're good. The key I think is to read the policy carefully. People don't, and then they're mad when it's not what they expected. What you're describing with Pet First is exactly how horse insurance works--all horse insurance. We have 2 horses.

The rescue lady responded and said he was treated with praziquantel (Biltricide) & ivermectin. I haven't heard Biltricide mentioned anywhere.

From this article on another thread, they're saying just use Drontal and Advantage multi, without the panacur. They say they think the worms are immune to panacur because the dogs are given it regularly at the kennels. http://prisongreyhounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Hookworm.pdf I'm copying it all down in a file to talk to the vet about.

Thanks. I will talk to the vet about it. I had stopped by to sign up for the wellness plan and asked for the fecal results. They told me hookworm, but the vet isn't working today so she'll call me tomorrow. And now I probably need to bring in a sample of Lulu's poo to check her. Oh and he was just dewormed 3 weeks ago, but I don't know with what. Maybe I'll call and find out. I think it was the rescue that gave the medication.

So, he has hookworms. Any chance that once that's cleared up, he'll poop less? And is my other dog going to get them now?

Regarding exam fees, I just signed up for the wellness plan for my vet, which covers 4 non-well exam fees. But I had also thought about having to go to a specialist or ER where the exam fee wouldn't be covered. I'm not sure the wellness plan is worth it, but I'll get it for this year and see how it turns out. I think what you're saying about dental care not counting as a condition makes sense, so I wonder if Pets Best would cover it. It's a treatment, not a condition and they also have language about how you have to take care of your dog. But if they did cover it, I bet it would be more of a hassle, which is probably a price I'm willing to pay for the cheaper rate. My other dog is a shih-tzu/poodle mix and I think I've only ever taken her for an ear infection in 10 years. There may have been something else, but nothing I remember, so obviously nothing serious or expensive. I read that greyhounds are one of the healthier breeds, but of course if you read the forums here, you read about a lot of problems. I'm not going to make any decision until I get his teeth cleaned. And his fecal sample came back positive for hookworks. Great. I'm hearing here how hard they are to treat. I'm assuming that once treated, that is not a preexisting condition. I guess it doesn't matter since these policies don't cover parasite treatment.

The HP policy says this under exclusions: Complications of conditions excluded or limited by this policy; Dental health care is listed as an exclusion. So it seems like they wouldn't cover it, but they did. Pets Best says this in its exclusion section: Complications of or diagnostic tests, treatments, therapies, and/ or medications related to Conditions not covered or restricted by this policy; So it's basically the same. It sounds like HP is more lenient, though. HP will cost me $49/mo for a $500 deductible and 90% coverage. Pets Best will cost me exactly the same with for $500/90% which includes exam fees for accident/illness (not covered by HP) and alternative therapies (which HP also covers). But I could also get a policy for $27/mo for $1000 and 90%, which would include exam fees (and alternative treatment). If I want to forego exam fees (which also means foregoing alternative treatments because that's only in the top plan while exam fees are in the middle plan), I could get a plan for only $22/mo or for 80% coverage I could get a plan for $18/mo. So you see my dilemma. We're pretty much of the mind that this should be catastrophic coverage and we can handle $1000 deductible. I wish HP offered that.

Thanks for the information. I wonder if Pets Best would have covered the complication from a dental cleaning. Maybe I'll call them again and ask. i do think it's easier to get claims paid with HP--more streamlined and fewer hoops. Maybe Pets Best denies more claims, but rightfully denies them and that keeps costs down. I don't know. As I said, the bad reviews were mostly complaints that they wouldn't cover something that shouldn't be covered based on the policy. They have a separate wellness plan that just covers a fixed amount and there were complaints that it didn't cover 90%. Well, that's not how that part of the plan works. Or something was a preexisting condition--I think they may be pickier about that. They go back 18 months to see if something is preexisting. I do wonder what would happen with either company if he were found to have some issue that flared up due to an old racing injury. His vet check was fine, but you never know. I do believe they've changed that. Here's what their sample policy says: You may apply to lower your pet’s deductible level and/or decrease your pet’s coinsurance amount provided that your pet has not previously filed a claim with us.

I've looked more closely into Pets Best vs Healthy Paws. On the Pets Best website, you can click on a link to another site to read reviews and responses by the company. It seems that most of the poor reviews are simply people not understanding how the insurance works or whey their policy says. So I'm less concerned. I compared a sample policy from Health Paws and Pets Best. They're very similar as to what they cover and don't cover. For example, one bad review on Pets Best (one star review) was because they didn't cover an infection that occurred after declawing their cat. But declawing is not covered, so therefore the infection was not covered. Healthy Paws policy spells out the same thing--they don't cover issues arising from non-covered procedures. It does sound like Healthy Paws is a lot easier to deal with, as far as submitting claims. But for a cheap catastrophic policy, I may go with Pets Best with $1000 deductible. I also want to point out, for anyone not aware of this, that once you sign up with any of these companies, you can't upgrade your coverage once you've submitted a claim. So if I sign up for $1000 deductible and have a claim, I can't do just a $500 deductible the next year. I'm stuck with $1000 forever. Same with coverage limit of 90%, 80% etx. If you start with 80%, you can't upgrade to 90% if a claim has ever been submitted. It's worth it to read the entire sample policy. There's a lot in there. For Pets Best to cover periodontal disease, I need to have Percy's teeth cleaned first and show there's nothing wrong. I don't think Healthy Paws covers periodontal disease at all.

I am, but also trying to get info on Pets Best, which has a high deductible plan that's way cheaper. I'd prefer something like that, just for catastrophic stuff, rather than paying $600/year with Healthy Paws. I could get one at Pets Best for $200 and could also get a wellness plan added on that would save about $150/year on services I'd definitely use. My vet's wellness plan might save me a little money, but it's hard to tell because it covers things I wouldn't use, like rabies shot (not needed this year), and exams for accident/illness, which may or may not be needed. Anyway, I posted on the pet insurance thread, so I don't want to get too much off topic here.

I'm looking into pet insurance now and will probably go with Healthy Paws due to the (mostly) good reviews here and elsewhere. But I'm curious if anyone has Pets Best. You can do $1000 deductible there and 70, 80, or 90% coverage, so it's cheaper. I could get a plan for only about $22/mo for 90% coverage and $1000 deductible, so it would really be for catastrophic coverage or a lot of stuff in one year. A Pets Best plan with same coverage as Health Paws (90% and $500 deductible) it would be $12 cheaper per month. Their reviews aren't universally great. Some people love them, but it sounds like they deny or try to deny a lot of stuff and try to claim things are preexisting conditions. But with a 3 year-old dog, not much can be preexisting. HP would be $51/month. I'm also considering the wellness plan through my vet, which would be about $600 year. I feel like I can't walk in the place without dropping $250 and that's after I turn down blood work and maybe a vaccine if I'm not boarding the dog. But Pets Best has a wellness add-on that doesn't cover a lot, but it does cover some of the vaccine and other costs. And covers a little on heartworm and flea/tick treatments. And for a few dollars more/month, they'll cover the exam for an accident or illness. So for about $60/month, I could get accident/illness coverage, including the exam for that, plus about $250 of wellness stuff that I would definitely use. But I'd still be paying a lot for well checks, vaccines, etc. It's complicated! I have a 10 year old shih-poo and we've never had any kind of insurance or wellness plan for her, but every time I go to the vet, I walk out mad. I took Percy today and it was $185 and that was with skipping flu and bordatella vaccines. If I get the vet's wellness plan by tomorrow, they'll reimburse me for that. My head is spinning.

Went to the vet today. Fecal results should be back tomorrow, but everything looks good (except his teeth--needs a cleaning). He weighs 66 lbs. His racing weight was 71 lbs. She said to put some weight on him. I saw stuff about weight on another thread, so I'll be careful not to let him get overweight. As for poop getting softer the more they go in one "session", she said her dog (non-greyhound) is like that too. Guess there's not much that can be done except to try to not have him go so much. I mentioned maybe switching to IAMS from ToTW. She said that's fine--that most dogs don't need grain-free. She seemed knowledgeable about food (knew ToTW has higher protein), and knowledgeable about greyhounds, so that's good. I've taken our 10 year old little dog to this vet her whole life. Never loved them because I feel like I'm always getting ripped off somehow (I'm looking into wellness plans and pet insurance--will search on the forums for that). But the vets seem ok. This was new vet and I liked her.

A quick google search for hookworm symptoms--he doesn't have any of that. Loose stool, yes, but helped with the carrots. As for his poo, if I could just limit how often he goes. Fine this morning, fine at 10:30 for a walk, fine at 2pm in the yard, then loose on our 4pm walk and then he went in the yard and did a little bit more that was loose. If he would have just gone at 2 and then not again until maybe 6 or bedtime, I think it would be fine. I was just reading the ingredients on some training treats I got him--the little tiny treats--and they have beet pulp. So maybe I need to give him a bunch of training treats. They look pretty healthy. Except for pecan hulls, it's all ingredients I would eat.

Ok, so not just mine that has softer stools the more he poops all at once. Why put him on something if the fecal test is negative. Did you mean positive? I think I'm going to keep things the same for a little while longer and then maybe switch food. Today he had a firm poop in the morning, then a semi-firm one on a walk around 10am, but didn't go multiple times on either outing, so that was good at least. I think the one on the walk would have picked up fine with the pooper-scooper, but it's harder to get it upwith a bag. I feel like I should keep a diary of what he eats and when and how his poops are. I'm also trying to figure out the gas. Mostly he's ok, but sometimes it's really bad. I think he's fine with just food, but if he gets treats it can be bad. So far he doesn't love treats and will often turn them down when offered.

I've read a lot of people saying stools get looser through the day. But I'm noticing something different with Percy. The more he goes in a short time, the looser it is. So he'll go in the morning, it's fine. But sometimes he'll either go, then wander around the yard and go again (and maybe even a 3rd or 4th time), or he'll often go out 10 or 15 minutes later and go again. The subsequent poops are looser and looser. Sometimes he's only squeezing out a drip--not sure why he bothers. Same later in the day. He'll go and it's fine, then go again (maybe twice on one walk, or goes just before a walk and goes again on the walk) and the second one is loose. So if I could just get him going mabye 2-3 times a day, spread out, it would be fine, but he'll go 2-3 times in a row and do that 3 times/day. It's like whatever poop is higher up in his colon and hasn't had as much time to sit around in there is loose. Anyone else have this? And will he settle into just going once each time, instead of 2-3 times in 10 minutes? We've had him less than two weeks. He's on Taste of the Wild high prairie (I think that's the one.) I use Olewo carrots (THANK YOU greytalk for telling me about this miracle supplement). I'm thinking of either switching him to TOTW Sierra, which is lamb and lower protein, or the IAMS green bag since a lot of people recommend it and it's half the price.

Percy seems to take a bath every night--licking himself all over. We've only had him a week and a half. It's loud, and takes a while, so I'm hoping it subsides.

I slept on the couch downstairs with my dog the first two nights and left him alone the 3rd night and he was fine. I don't know if sleeping with him the first two nights was key or not, or if he's just didn't care anyway. He's welcome to sleep in our room, but doesn't like doing our normal, carpeted stairs yet.

Haha! Yeah, I wouldn't want to go up those! Maybe someday a greyhound would learn them, but maybe not.

We've had our boy for just over a week. At first I didn't notice any gassiness, but now, omg. But I think the culprit might be cheese. His currency is American cheese. It's the yummiest treat and we've been using it to work on the stairs. Two days ago it was really bad and we'd gotten him upstairs with cheese. Yesterday no cheese and I didn't smell anything. Today, stairs again with cheese and he stinks. So I'm hoping that's what it is, because we can limit that or maybe try to find some other treat he'll go for. So far he's not very interested in traditional dog treats and he turned down a hot dog, which is the other thing I've heard suggested.

I love the white tip of his tail too! Thought about naming him Tip/Tippy/Tipster--something like that. Hi ozgirl2, I got Percy from Greyhound Rescue. What group did you use? I looked at Greyhound Welfare first, but in the end, I'm lazy and Greyhound Rescue had fewer hoops to jump through. Path of least resistance.