cgs
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Posts posted by cgs
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Aww, so great to hear! Percy still doesn't really play much. He'll play every now and then for about 20 seconds. Sometimes in the morning he runs up and down the all (at around 6am, which is too early!) and then settle back to bed until I get up. Every now and then he'll toss a toy around, but it's very short-lived.
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Welcome to our unfortunate club DaintyDutchess. I'm glad your girl is doing better. I've been lucky that Percy doesn't seem to show any outward signs of hooks aside from messy poop, which may or may not be related. On that note, we do seem to be having some luck with the IAMS, though I don't want to jinx it and it's still too early to get too excited. But he's had 2.5 pretty good days in a row now with firmer poop. I've been giving him Advantage Multi every 2 weeks, even though the vet said I could just do monthly. Yesterday would be 2 weeks, but I'm going to hold off. I don't want anything messing up his poop. Then again, just re-read the Ohio State greyhound program pdf and maybe I will dose him today after all. Or I'll do it tomorrow after I see how his afternoon poop is. If we have 3 good days in a row, I'll be hopeful the IAMS is helping. On the kirkland, I got 2 good days in a row once, but then it got drippy again.
http://prisongreyhounds.org/Hookworm2-2018.pdf
Putting this here because it's just good to post it every now and then as this thread gets long. They recommend Drontal Plus every 2 weeks also, which I haven't been doing. One interesting thing is that the drontal kills the adult worms, and the fact that the adult worms have died off is the trigger for the larva to hatch. So I wonder what happens if you don't effectively kill off the adults. I think Advantage Multi is supposed to kill off the adults too, but if it isn't, does that mean the larva don't hatch and is that good or bad? I'm wondering if the Advantage Multi builds up to a steady state where the larva can't live, as described in the document above, maybe at that point just doing one round of drontal would finish them off.
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Lol PaddysDad.
Percy definitely doesn't like the IAMS as much as the Kirkland, poor boy. He's eating much more slowly, trying to pick out the Kirkland first. I gave him almost all IAMS for dinner. I can't blame him. The IAMS doesn't smell good-smells like cardboard. The Kirkland smells like food.
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What's wrong with ACE? We've used it on our horses. Our little dog Lulu is terrified of thunder and fireworks. I think she's actually maybe getting a little better. We have a thundershirt which helps slightly. Percy, thank goodness, is completely unfazed by thunder. We haven't dealt with fireworks yet, so we'll see.
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Great.
Sometimes I wonder if the Advantage Multi is stopping the larval leak, but not actually killing the adult worms, even though it's supposed to. I wonder if another couple rounds of panacur or drontal would help. At the same time, I don't want to keep pouring medicine into him if the worms are going to stick around because of the larval leak, so I want to get that sorted out first and I guess that can take a while.
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After 1/2 IAMS and half old food (Kirkland) this morning and messy morning poop, his stomach is gurgling mid-afternoon. When I switched him back to back to Kirkland chicken from Kirkland lamb, I didn't hear gurgling--not that I recall anyway. Now it's gurgling again on the IAMS. I'll give it a few days, but will probably end up back on Kirkland chicken.
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Have you considered feeding raw? My greyhound came with hookworm which caused vomiting and bloody diarrhea. We switched her over to raw and honestly the next day thing improved drastically. She hasn't vomited since and her poop is firm and finally with no blood. She is also on advantage multi + Dolpac. We will be doing a fecal soon as she's now been on the protocol for 3 months. I'm crossing my fingers for a negative test.
Nah. My philosophy of life is to try the easiest (and cheapest) things first. I don't think I'd ever do raw. He doesn't have diahrrhea or bloody stools or vomiting. So it's not that bad.
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Wish I could find the magic bullet. I added some Iams to his food tinight--just a little--and he ate around it and then sucked on a kibble and spit it out and then finally ate them. I'll give him more tomorrow and we'll see. It would be hard for my husband to stop giving treats because our other dog loves them. And the neighbor gives him treats too. It would seriously break her heart if she couldn't. She buys different treat for all the neighborhood dogs depending on what they like. But I'll have to start tracking when he gets a treat from her and how his poop looks afterwards.
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I think it's probably worth it for me to try the IAMS again since I already have it and it's similar to the Eukanuba and cheaper. Maybe I'll try adding a little to his food and see if he tries to eat around it. What did you switch your dogs to--was it eukanuba or something else?
I've also been using diatomaceous earth, but unfortunately no immediate results like some here had. It's been 3 weeks and no noticeable change. Every now and then when he has a good day or two in a row, I think it's working, but then his poop gets mushy again.
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Yeah maybe I'll try that--the small bag idea. The ingredients in the Kirkland just look so much better that I hate to switch. Plus kirkland is so much cheaper. Hmmm, lots to think about.
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Unfortunately these large breed dog foods often don't come in small bags. I have a 15 lb bag of unused Iams. The smallest size if Eukanuba is 16lbs. And the kinds of dog food are endless. I felt Iams was with a try because if the beet pulp. And Kirkland has beet pulp too. So I'm not sure a different food with beet pulp would be any better. And while some dogs are fine with corn, if Percy is turning his nose up at Iams, could it be the corn? Is corn ever really a good thing or is it just fine for some dogs, as in not doing any harm.
If i do decide to try Eukanuba, how long should it take to see a difference. I guess for PaddysDad it was right away, but did he transition to new food or just go all at once. This is so hard!It's ridiculous how excited I get by a good solid poop.
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But it varies--that's what's confusing. It's pretty good sometimes. I do know that it's usually better first thing in the morning, and that a second poop soon after a first is going to be pretty soft. But sometimes the afternoon one is really good, sometimes it's awful. Is it food or worms? Things were worse on lamb food--consistently drippy--and better on chicken--sometimes pretty good, but lately it's been really bad at times. It makes me wonder if the worms are getting worse.
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The poop varies from day to day and he basically only eats his food and occasional treats, so I don't know why it varies so much. But more often than not, it's mushy and lately has been pretty bad again. At least the timing is pretty predictable now.
So after I posted this, I took him for a walk and he had one of the best poops I've seen--solid and dry. I was very excited. Then he had a second poop on the walk (which he does sometimes if he hasn't gone in the yard in the morning) and it was pretty much completely liquid. Ugh. And his usual poop spots are in common areas near trash cans, but since he'd already pooped, I went a different way and he pooped on someone's lawn, which I try to avoid when it's so nasty. Ugh. At least it was on the part of the lawn between the sidewalk and road. I don't let him on the main part of lawns.
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Thanks. I see that has the dried beet pulp as well. We're using Kirkland chicken (not naturals--the regular adult food) and it has dried beet pulp, but we're still having poop issues. The Kirkland doesn't have corn and the Eukanuba does. I had tried IAMS, which also has corn and Percy wouldn't touch it. I'm sure I could get him on it if it was his only choice, but he likes the Kirkland and I don't know that some other food will help. *sigh* The poop varies from day to day and he basically only eats his food and occasional treats, so I don't know why it varies so much. But more often than not, it's mushy and lately has been pretty bad again. At least the timing is pretty predictable now.
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Advantage Multi is supposed to take care of heartworms and other parasites as well as fleas, but not ticks. So he's getting Nexgard also (but we've found 2 ticks on him
) , but is not taking anything else like heartgard. -
Keep us posted jake. I did a similar protocol and it did nothing. Like your vet, mine said it can take a year and to just stick with Advantage Multi and not do anymore panacur or drontal (after 2 rounds of panacur and 3 of drontal.) I don't know if it'll eventually work or not.
Paddysdad, I've lost track. What food did you stop using and what food did you start using? We're on Kirkland chicken with mixed results. I got really excited when he had 2 days in a row of good poop, but ti seems pretty random. Today has been bad so far--extremely drippy on the morning walk.
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For what it's worth, I wasn't aghast that he didn't have run of the house
. When Percy gets up before I do, I either ignore him, or I tell him go night-night. He settles down quickly most of the time, but he's pretty easy. He gets his meals around 7:30 am and 6pm with no bedtime snack. -
Advantage Multi doesn't seem to affect my guy's appetite at all. I'm not sure it's doing anything for the worms. :/ The vet said to just keep giving it and retest in 6-12 months.
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I hear ya. I don't add up how much we spend on our two horses. (Not medically, just everything--lessons, tack, shows, boarding, vet, farrier, etc.) We could handle an emergency, but I wouldn't be happy about it. We have the horses insured with $1000 deductible.
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Yes, I am doing the math. I'm looking at much cheaper plans--$1000 deductible and about $22/month. With $1000 deductible, it really wouldn't be used for most accidents and injuries, but would be for something serious like cancer. But I'm also thinking cancer is less likely in a younger dog, and the insurance gets a lot more expensive once they're 10.
Insurance is never "worth it" if things go well. But you're glad to have it when things go wrong. I'm just trying to figure out what kinds of things most often go wrong, how much they cost, and as you said, how much we would treat.
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Costs are going to vary wildly depending on where you are located. Larger, metro areas on the East coast are much more expensive than mid west or west coast costs. So when you are looking at these prices, keep that in mind.
We do not have pet insurance. I deposit money every month in a separate savings account for medical treatment of our animals.
By far the most expensive was treating one of ours for osteo. When it was all over and done with, I added up all the bills - e-vet and hospitalization for about a week (following him breaking his leg in the yard running late on a Friday afternoon), amputation surgery and two follow up surgeries to clean up infections (very common), lab work before every chemo, chemo administration and monitoriing by an oncologist, pills and supplements, weekly massage therapy, and lots of little things I'm forgetting - the total was around $15,000. We fortunately had inherited a large bunch of money just when we needed it. Otherwise this would have all gone on credit cards.
But of our nine greyhounds, all of them have ended up with something serious happening requiring either surgery or e-vet visits. Here's a rundown of what I remember from the last almost 20 years of owning greyhounds:
>Meds for seizure disorder - @ $100/mo (probably more now as drugs are way more expensive)
>toe amp - @ $400-500 for amp surgery and f/u
>happy tail - @ $100 for treatment and bandaging supplies add another $300 for tail amp surgery
>anxiety meds - @ $50-75/mo depending on the drug used (also might be much more now)
>regular vet visit for various skin tears and play bites - @ $300 for minor repair surgery and f/u (triple that for e vet visit)
>specialty hospitilization for seizure and heart attack - admitted through e vet - @ $300/day
>e vet for stroke, loss of mobility - @ $800, plus $200 for euthanasia
>anaphalactic reaction to antibiotic following surgery - regular vet @ $400, e vet for 2 days @ $1100
>non emergency, regular annual vet visit - @ $100 per visit, shots add @20 each, can include a corn hulling no charge
>acupuncture for anxiety and IBS - $100 per visit once a month
>regular vet, dental, no extractions - @ $400-500, add @ $100 per tooth for extractions
>regular vet, xrays to check a limp - @ $50 per film
>in-home euthanasia, with individual cremation - @ $150 depending on size of animal, @ $200 for euth at e vet
This list is very helpful because I'm looking at getting $1000 deductible and there are only one or two things on that list that make it to $1000. So if only one of those things happened in a year, I'd never use the insurance. For $100/mo medication, it would only reimburse for the last two months. So this pretty long list really gives me something to think about. It seems like cancer is the really big thing. On the other hand, from what I'm hearing, the price goes up to where it's not really worth it once they turn 10, so we're looking at 6 years of insurance at around $250/year (which I'm sure would go up over time), so somewhere in the $2000 range total for some peace of mind.
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We're considering pet insurance and would probably get a high deductible plan. But having a small 10-yr-old healthy dog, my husband is skeptical. I've read the pet insurance threads and I see people say they're grateful for their insurance when they had big bills, but they don't always say what the medical issue was.
What I'd really like to know is how much your vet bills were and what the problem was. Why did your dog need the ER or an xray or surgery and how much did it cost? I'm trying to get an idea of things that might typically happen to a greyhound. I'm not looking for advice on Healthy Paws vs something else (though I'm sure people will talk about that, lol). I can read through other threads on that again. Whether you have insurance or not, I'm really looking to try to get a feel for what goes wrong and how much it costs. Feel free to chime in also if your dog has never had anything other than well checks at the vet.
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I think I've made some progress in switching back to chicken. I got really excited by 2 good days in a row, but then it went back to soft with drippy on top most of the time. But it's not as bad and is back to being more predictable. He still goes in the yard in the morning, then on the morning walk, then on the afternoon walk. He really doesn't ever go before bed anymore. Today, of course, he didn't go on the afternoon walk, so maybe he will go before bed. For a few days, he decided he was afraid of the yard and didn't poop there in the morning. On those days he didn't make up for it by going twice on the morning walk like he used to. He only went once. So we were down to twice a day. That was pretty exciting. Now he's ok in the yard again and goes twice in the morning--in the yard and then a few hours later on the walk. I do think the volume is less than what it used to be early on. I've also reduced his food a little. I feel like the Advantage Multi isn't doing anything for the worms, but the vet said the lab people said it could take 6-12 months to break the larval leak cycle. So I'll just stick with it.
. When Percy gets up before I do, I either ignore him, or I tell him go night-night. He settles down quickly most of the time, but he's pretty easy. He gets his meals around 7:30 am and 6pm with no bedtime snack.
Hookworm!
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
Yes, the Advantage has to build up. I haven't been using drontal because the vet said not to based on what someone at the lab said. And I also wonder if using panacur or drontal regularly would build up resistant hooks. And I can't get drontal into Percy. He hates it and will eat around anything I try to wrap it in or smear it with, so I"m not going to bother with it if I don't have to. But others have been told to use panacur every 2 or 3 weeks or drontal every 2 or 3 weeks, so no one knows I guess. I think the only thing we've all be hearing consistently is that it can take 5-6 months of treatment to get rid of the buggers.
I've been buying online also and also trying to figure out if I can somehow convert horse doses from a 1200 lb horse to a 70lb dog. But I haven't looked at that carefully yet. Panacur is much cheaper in the tack shop.