Yucky Poo

[Guest linsaui]

Hey Everyone, back again with another question! A few weeks ago Buster was ill with something tummy related and wouldn't drink. We've since discovered that he is most likely sensitive to grain, and that feeding him his bland diet of rice and chicken probably made the problem worse. This idea was reinforced when his appetite, drinking habits, and energy level returned to normal when we put him on a limited ingredient diet. Well... now it's been a few weeks and we are experiencing loose (VERY loose) stools. We saw some improvement for a day or two after the switch, and now it's just short of diarrhea.

 

Long story short, I have a feeling that it's hookworms this time around. (He had them when we first got him.) We would really rather not go to the vet for the fourth time less than two months, so I was going to try ordering some Panacur online. Anyone have any advice? Do you think we should just cave and go to the vet?

[OwnedBySummer]

I would recommend Drontal Plus instead of Panacur. There's a lot of information out there about the two and Panacur isn't as well thought of. And if you think it's hookworm, I would definitely have a fecal test done. I don't like the idea of giving drugs to treat something that you're not sure of. Another thing you can do is add some human food-grade DE (diatomaceous earth) to his diet. When Summer had hooks back when I first got her, two doses of Drontal Plus and a couple of months of DE took care of the problem.

[greyhead]

Hooks can develop some resistance to Panacur, so following that with Drontal can be more effective than just repeating Panacur. However, you should know that hooks encyst themselves in the body and hatch when they feel like it, so hooks can be a recurring problem as they do. Meds don't kill the encysted critters. (I think Drontal Plus has an additional ingredient for tapeworms.)

 

Fecal tests can be iffy because they only detect eggs, not worms. If eggs aren't being shed when the test is done, the test will be falsely negative. AFAIK, treatment doesn't hurt the dog even if he doesn't have worms. Does he do anything else that might indicate hooks? For instance, does he cough up and swallow immediately? (This is not the backward sneeze but could be mistaken for it.) They do this when the hooks have migrated to the lungs, which they do pretty easily. They cough them up and swallow them back to the intestines. Biting at their sides or suddenly jumping for no apparent reason are also signs of more advanced hookworm infestation. I just mention these things as additional signs you might look for, though I really wouldn't wait for them!

 

Btw, my hookworm dog couldn't handle white rice from the beginning, though he could handle brown and other grains. Later he developed IBD and can't handle any grains.

 

Last but not least, your dog may have an intestinal infection. It could be a SIBO-type thing (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), especially if his food sensitivity got his tummy out of whack. That would require an antibiotic. Most vets will throw Flagyl at it. If that doesn't work, you need to do a culture and sensitivity on a fecal sample to see just what the bug is and what med will kill it. You don't want to let this get away from you. Our dog started with hookworm, which we had a hard time getting the vets to diagnose much less treat aggressively, followed a few years later by SIBO with an unexpected germ, intestinal malabsorption, and IBD. So consider the source, but my advice would be not to fool around with diarrhea!

Edited January 26, 2011 by greyhead

[Guest Stripeyfan]

What Greyhead said. We have an IBD dog whose problems were, we think, triggered by a massive roundworm infestation and possibly hookworm. Last January he came down with what we thought was a tummy bug, which never cleared up properly. He had been coughing and yelping unexplainedly beforehand. The vet we were with at the time took over a month to find out he had worms, then insisted he still had diarrhea and was losing weight because of a food allergy. When we eventually went to new vet it turned out Kelly had intestinal malabsorption because of the damage the worms caused. A year later he is still on medication and has to have a home cooked diet. So it's definitely something you need to get sorted out as quickly as possible!