Worms Again

[Guest duckbilled]

Our Ike has hookworm again. He had it last fall but had a clear fecal in 12/09. His latest visit to the vet in 6/10 showed he had them again. He isn't around a lot of dogs and doesn't go to the dog park. Our yard is cleaned regularly by a poop collector.

 

The vet recommended putting him on a monthly work prevention in addition to his flea/heartworm prevention.

 

Any ideas on how to stop this cycle. Is the additional med the best answer?

 

Thanks.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

I have read that salt will kill them in your yard (but it will also kill your lawn), borax, and bleach. I know that when my friend had to deal with foster dogs with hook that they picked up feces immediately and sprayed the area with bleach (diluted).

 

Since we are in AZ though, we don't have to worry about grass...

 

I would try and rid the yard of any larvae. They can survive weeks without food. Nasty little buggers.

 

Even just walking around the neighborhood can expose your pets to all sorts of worms.

 

Not sure what treatment options you use for hookworm, but I'd certainly run a couple of fecals after you're pup is done with the meds. Some forms of hw preventative do prevent reinfestations of hook worm, so that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

 

Good luck!

[Zoolady]

Our pups have had good luck with Iverhart Max which is once a month. It's chewable and (from the box) "prevent heartworm disease and to treat and control roundworm, hookworm, and tapeworm infections in dogs."

[cleptogrey]

i use interceptor monthly, no worms! the stuff is great. talk to your vet about options.

[Guest elisemg]

Finally got rid of Hondo's hookworms (after 3 tries). He was originally on Interceptor. No worms. Switched to Heartguard because they were chewable. Got worms. They are a bear to get rid of. Now he is finally clear and going back to Interceptor. The vet told me they can also get hookworms by eating some animal that has them.

[Guest amethyst]

My dog is on Heartguard Plus which is suppose to kill/prevent hookworms. Fecal in May showed no hookworms present. In July there were live hookworms in her stool. I called Merial (Heartguard) and filed a claim. They contacted my vet and I anticipate a refund of $132.00 for the vet bill (lab and worm meds). Still waiting.

[Guest duckbilled]

He is on Revolution right now for Heatworm and fleas.

 

Does Interceptor cover all the above plus hookworm?

[greyhead]

He is on Revolution right now for Heatworm and fleas.

 

Does Interceptor cover all the above plus hookworm?

Yes. Well, not fleas. But you can go after fleas separately.

 

Hookworms also hang out in various body tissues, in cysts, and hatch from time to time. Nothing kills them while they are encysted. Therefore, hookworm is very, very hard to eradicate permanently. We've found we need to give Drontal or Panacur twice a year in addition to the monthly Interceptor. We give the Drontal or Panacur when we see symptoms that we recognize as hookworm (i.e., coughing and swallowing, biting at sides, loss of appetite for breakfast). Good luck.

Edited July 23, 2010 by greyhead

[gryhnd_adoptee]

i use interceptor monthly, no worms! the stuff is great. talk to your vet about options.

 

I am religious about giving Interceptor to my girlies on time each month. Kare Bear tested negative in April for worms, but this past Saturday, she tested positive for hooks yet again!! Last weeks stool was taken three days before her next dose was due, so maybe that's why they saw them this time and not the last?

 

She is now on a two month regime of Interceptor and worm med alternated every two weeks, followed by re-test. I will be sure not to test any time soon after her last dose is given.

 

Regardless, they are nasty buggers.

[inugrey]

The vet our adoption group uses recently explained the phenomenon of "larval leak" and the fact that this is something seen more frequently in the retired racing greyhound. There is no explanation for why but it does seem to occur more often in racing GHs. You may talk to your vet about this.

 

With our fosters who seem to have chronic hook we put them on a long course of panacur (8 grams of the granules at breakfast for at least 10 days) and I believe we'll do a second dose of drontal. Panacur is a pretty gentle dewormer for the dog.

[Guest duckbilled]

I guess my issue is that our vet is not very grey savvy. No adoption groups recommend a vet that is close to our home so we went with one that is convenient. Most groups are centered in other parts of the metro area and if you know Detroit, getting from one side of the metro area to the other can be a really big pain. We also chose this vet because their hours are great and they have boarding in case of an emergency.

 

Anyway, they say they don't carry Interceptor and have more success with Heartguard. Either way, he still needs to be on a fleas/tick preventative and that is where the non-grey savvy vet comes in to play.

 

What chemicals do I need to avoid with Ike? Or, are their any common brand names that I need to avoid?

 

They are giving him Strongid-T for the worms.

 

BTW, are the symptoms mentioned above for worms (coughing and swallowing, biting at sides, loss of appetite for breakfast) well known? Aside from the biting at side, Ike has displayed the other symptoms. I mentioned them to our vet but they didn't think there were an issue. They told me to watch him after exercise and look for him swallowing then - they seem to be pretty fixated on a heart murmur that they have diagnosed.

 

In short:

 

What chemical do I need to avoid?

What cocktail is the best for Ike?

Should I look for another vet? I don't want to switch but I love Ike more than my vet.

[Batmom]

The best way to get rid of hookworms is to worm at the proper intervals -- every 2-3 weeks until stool tests clean plus 1-2 more rounds of wormer -- and to keep the yard CLEAN, which means picking up as soon as the dog goes.

 

AFAIK, none of the monthly heartworm preventives can stand up to a heavy load of hookworms in the environment.

[inugrey]

Here are my thoughts on your questions:

 

In terms of your vet, if you stay with them realize you will need to do more research yourself. I go to a savvy enough vet but not a vet who stays current with the latest in greyhound care. I keep up on what is coming out of OSU or Grassmere and in general spend time in this forum. He is more than willing to listen to my thoughts and ideas on treatment options and will have an honest discussion with me. Because he is willing to work with me and is not a know it all, I still go there. If at any moment I felt he wasn't respecting my opinion I would haul butt out of that practice.

 

I buy my frontline and interceptor on the internet and again my vet is more than willing to write a script so I don't need to order through him. The benefit of interceptor is that is goes after another worm that heartguard doesn't, whipworm.

 

In terms of flea and tick treatment in general try to avoid permethrin. I believe K9 Advantix has that chemical. Cats are known to have reactions to it. The cases of problems seems to be rare but why take the chance?

 

Strongid is a good dewormer but again timing is important and please talk to them about larval leak.

[greyhead]

BTW, are the symptoms mentioned above for worms (coughing and swallowing, biting at sides, loss of appetite for breakfast) well known? Aside from the biting at side, Ike has displayed the other symptoms. I mentioned them to our vet but they didn't think there were an issue. They told me to watch him after exercise and look for him swallowing then - they seem to be pretty fixated on a heart murmur that they have diagnosed.

Sometimes symptoms point to more than one possibility. It took nine months of these symptoms before we finally got a positive hookworm fecal for Spencer. Being newbie adopters, we told the vets and some greyhound people about the symptoms; but until a positive fecal occurred, they didn't know what to make of the symptoms. (I can get pretty grumpy about medical practitioners being test-dependent!) Until then, they attributed everything to either emotional distress, sensitive greyhound stomach, too many treats, or possible IBD. Once we got the diagnosis, I did my own research and learned what these symptoms meant. In particular, the coughing comes from worms that have migrated to the lungs, which are then coughed up and swallowed back to the stomach. To the uninitiated, it might seem like the "backward sneeze." And since hookworms aren't native to WA state, our vets didn't pay that much attention to them in school, so they didn't realize the significance when I reported the biting at the sides either, or the fact that he would suddenly jump for no apparent reason. That last thing was framed to me as a behavioral issue, but I later realized he jumped because he'd been bitten by the worms.

 

So I second the opinion that when we're dealing with vets who aren't grey savvy in parts of the world where greys aren't numerous, we have to learn stuff on our own and then go tell the vets about it. And sometimes we have to be pretty insistent. It's good that you recognize that fixation on the murmur; you can insist that they not neglect the other issues.

[Guest duckbilled]

Thanks for the info/advice.

 

They do have us doing the deworming every few weeks for six weeks and then once a month there after. Once our Revolution runs out we will look at a combined monthly medication.

 

Although our vet is not grey savvy, I do like that they didn't recommend a dental for Ike. They said his teeth don't look bad and there is no reason to put him under unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

Other than the worms and the heart murmur, he has a clean bill of health so we are happy. Originally they wanted to do tests on his kidneys because of increased creatinine levels. I blew them off on that and they have not mentioned it since. The same doc was the one that diagnosed the heart murmur and she said that they wouldn't give him another dental until we had a ultrasound done on him ($500). We have switched to a different doc at the same practice; she hasn't mentioned the kidney issue and she is not pushing for an ultrasound.

[inugrey]

While we're discussing doing your own research, you might want to check into heart murmurs and greyhounds. Often their "athletic heart" is mistaken for a heart murmur. What grade did they diagnose?

 

www.greythealth.com

 

GT Link

 

the document in this thread is invaluable.

[Guest duckbilled]

Hello,

 

Update: Ike had a clean fecal in October but he was just diagnosed with hookworm again.

 

We live in Michigan so it is pretty cold right now. I am hoping that we can re deworm him and put him on interceptor. Do you think the cold will kill the worms in the environment?

 

I asked about false negatives and she did say that they are possible. Perhaps he never got rid of them in October or maybe they were still in the environment so he got reinfected immediately?

 

As for the heart murmur, she is not concerned. One of the vets in the office was really concerned about it but I don't use her anymore. The same vet that was concerned about the murmur was also concerned about raised creatine levels. I read that both issues are probably non-issues in greys.

[Guest Sweetreba]

He is on Revolution right now for Heatworm and fleas.

 

Does Interceptor cover all the above plus hookworm?

 

 

Had mine on revolution for years with my other dog. This summer both my dogs were full of whip and hook worms and my vet put them on interceptor. He said in our case we are having problems with the coyotes in Ohio and we always just had to use flea meds etc during the summer now they are suggesting all year. We have a den of coyotes near and I agree with him. He said if we need anything for fleas he will give me comfortis for that. we are also having a big tick problem now because of coyotes. This has never been a problem before now. Interceptor worked great and that is what they are on now for internal parasites.

[Guest bethjordan]

Has anyone treated their yard for hookworms? What is safe to use to kill the worms and not the grass?

[tbhounds]

Has anyone treated their yard for hookworms? What is safe to use to kill the worms and not the grass?

 

A hard freeze will kills the hooks so, if you're in an area where the ground freezes hard in the winter your yard will be naturally treated. In the meantime having your dog properly de-wormed and placed on monthly preventive should suffice.

Regarding treating your grass prior to winter--I'm sorry I can't be of help.

[Guest Sportingfields]

More on hooks & cleaning yard. Disclaimer, I've never had to deal with these nasties but I do know from other experience that you must also treat the yard & living quarters, other dogs in your home/kennel at the same as the infected pup. According to the UofF there is no product available that will not kill grass & plants, although there is product available for concrete/gravel & other hard surfaces. You may have to sacrifice some grass if you have a heavy infestation & don't have killing frosts.

 

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00001339/00001

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/261759-my-foster-has-hook-worms-how-do-i-clean-my-yard/

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/223023-hookworm/

 

recent thread

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/318245-hookwormsagain/