Think The Hooks Are Back. Anything Other Than Panacur?

[Guest psdirector]

Poor Hutch. When we got our boys in early March, we were told that Hutch had been treated for hookworms. Three weeks after that, they were back with a vengeance. The vet prescribed three more rounds of Panacur. We finished the last round a couple of weeks ago. Hutch woke up this morning with a rumbly tummy and has vomited, mostly grass, but it almost looked like it was blood-tinged. He also had the runs. Uh-oh. Sure sounds like the hookworms are back - again. We will take a stool sample to the vet in the morning.

 

So my question - if you have dealt with hooks, how long did it take to get rid of them? Is it possible that Panacur doesn't work in some cases? What are the alternatives?

 

Hutch and Tibbs are sleeping paw-to-paw right now, something Hutch never allows (and usually growls at his brother when he gets too close), so he must be feeling badly to want his brother so close. Poor baby.

[OwnedBySummer]

Summer had hooks and we treated with Drontal Plus. I don't remember the dosage/spacing but there were a couple of pills given a bunch of days apart (sorry, that's not incredibly helpful -- maybe a week or two apart? -- I just don't remember). Never had them come back. Hugs to your poor baby!

[tbhounds]

Strongid--once a week for 6 weeks

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1862

Edited to add link

Edited May 27, 2013 by tbhounds

[Tallgreydogmom]

You can purchase Pyrantel Pamoate (Strongid T, Nemex) from your farm store or online. Split the purchase with your greyhounds friends.

[Guest Vers]

Panacur works, but treat with five doses at a stretch three weeks apart two or three times. Wash beddings and clean the yard. Dust any poop remnants remaining with food-grade diatomaceous earth. (You can get Panacur at EntirelyPets.com, we tried Strongid when Stella had a really stubborn hook infection and it was no more or less effective than Panacur.) Hooks are far more intractable than most vets admit -- find a safe dewormer and ramp up.

[sobesmom]

Clean the yard - a lot. Like immediately upon poopage. And do it with a shovel and take the grass and dirt under the poo. I learned this the hard way. Those buggers burrow into the ground and can come back and reinfest a year later. We fought them for months - thought we had it licked - they came back the next spring - and the dogs hadn't left the house. Reinfestation from the lawn. A YEAR later!!!! I HATE HOOKS.

 

Does Interceptor (a pill) prevent hook? I can't remember. If so - once you get it cleared up - put the dogs on that to avoid reinfestation.

[tbhounds]

Interceptor is no longer available. A good hard cold winter should destroy hookworm ova in the ground-whipworms not so much.

[sobesmom]

Interceptor is no longer available. A good hard cold winter should destroy hookworm ova in the ground-whipworms not so much.

 

Really? No more Interceptor? I didn't know that. Why? When we had the parade of fosters several years ago I kept my greys on interceptor all the time to keep them from picking up whatever the fosters brought in. I dropped it after we quit fostering.

 

A good hard winter SHOULD destroy hooks in the ground - I agree - but in my case we had an amazingly mild winter for this area. The buggers lived! LOL! I still mainain my advice that hyper-vigilant poop scooping is a really good idea if you have hooks. And if you live in a warmer climate they can easily hang out for months underground.

[a_daerr]

Drontal Plus. It's a little more expensive, but it's easier to dose (one pill instead of a three-day series). Then it's given again in three weeks. Some vets recommend giving it a final time at the three month mark.

[cleptogrey]

hookworms can be an uphill battle. i remember my salukis being wormed for over a year! and they were leash walked. yes, the meds have changed since then, but it was NOT fun. positive stool samples after posititve samples! yes, it's a shame that interceptor is no longer in production. since the used of interceptor- starting a good 18+ years ago w/ my welsh terrier i never encountered a postive fecal sample.

 

do mention the drontal plus to your vet and ask questions. i've had dogs for ever and never self medicate w/o a consult, even if it's just a phone call.

[Batmom]

You don't need the most expensive meds for hooks, just diligence in cleanup and many repeat rounds of worming.

[brianamac]

We are dealing with a hard hookworm battle right now so I don't have much advise, just sending good luck.

 

Strangely, our vet just prescribed us a year worth of Interceptor so I guess it is still available here? Strange. He advised that we alternate that with heartguard every two weeks in addition to the de-worming rounds.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Another vote for the Drontal Plus.

[Guest psdirector]

We got the results from the stool sample we brought to the vet. Hutch is parasite free. That's the first time since we got him. The vet does, however, think his repeated tummy upsets might be his food, so we'll be trying some Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and see how he does on that. I'm not foolish enough to think that just because his sample didn't come back positive - this time - that the little buggers might not be hiding somewhere in his gut or in the ground. After a 3 month fight against the hookworms and four doses of Panacur that he had since February (the first was in his prison program where he got pretty sick), I would hope that they are gone, but will remain vigilant. Tibbs has never been affected by them. Fortunately, neither of the dogs are poop eaters.

 

The vet seemed to think that an adult dog had to be pretty run down to get hookworms and Hutch obviously came from the track in Florida with them. I'm not sure if the vets see a lot of hookworms in Ohio or not. We've taken all of our animals to this veterinary practice for many years and we've always been happy with them, but I don't think they see a lot of greyhounds. On the other hand, the first time I took Hutch and Tibbs in to our vet, she had an intern from OSU who was part of the Buckeyes 4 Greyhounds program. One of the vet techs there has two greyhounds that she adopted through the OSU veterinary program. Still doesn't mean that the vets are familiar with greys. So we'll see!

[riverbosun]

Droncit and clean up well are my recommendations. My vet said that the top 6 inches of soil should be removed, like that's possible. Interceptor has been off the market (here in MA anyway) for about 1-2 years. Keep hearing it's coming back but I've had to rely on Heartguard Plus.

[RaineysMom]

we battled hooks too with Zeke -- also from FL.. The hooks down there are MUCH worse then the ones commonly found up here. We did a round of Pancur, then Drontal Plus, then another Panacur. We also switched him to the red Iam's bag (lamb & rice) and finally we got his poops under control and the hooks are gone (hopefully for good, but they can migrate to their muscles and remain dormant too). He's on Kirkland lamb and rice now, doing ok. Good luck! It sucks, I know.

[tbhounds]

You don't need the most expensive meds for hooks, just diligence in cleanup and many repeat rounds of worming.

Extractly-no need to spend extra $ on a de-wormer. Strongid works just fine.

[djsgreys]

Hookworms can be notoriously hard to clear up. Drontal + does an excellent job with the adult worms when used correctly. However, you still have to deal with those in the larvae or egg stage still to come. Drontal + is one of the strongest wormers and not necessarily what I would want to see a dog taking month after month. We suggest 2 course of Drontal + 2 weeks apart and then monthly Panacur or Interceptor to our adopters.

 

Interceptor just became avaialble again up here.