I Think He Has Worms Again...

[Guest Lygracilux]

The past couple of weeks because of the snow melt, then being cold, then melting again-its been hard to pick up every single poo the dogs do. Unfortunately this isnt good, as Fusion likes to eat the other dogs poo when he gets the chance. We now muzzle with a stool guard when we let him out, but I think we caught it too late. About a week ago, Fusions poos started getting soft-and every morning he would have these super loud tummy gurgles.

Well, the night before last he woke me up to go out, and holy pudding poo's. He has now had the runs for 2 days, I feel so bad

He still drinks water and has an appetite which is good, but even with just dry food, no treats or snacks, the poo's haven't hardened at all.

 

I just ordered more Panacur, and should be getting it by Friday-but is there anything I should/could give him to help with the poos?

Maybe switching over to hamburger and rice would be easier on his tummy?

 

What do you think? I hate these worms.

 

 

 

 

[Time4ANap]

Bland diet will help ease the stomach, and I would also talk to your vet about getting a couple weeks of Flagyl (Metronidazole).

 

When we do a bland diet, I use a mixture of way over cooked rice or pasta with lots of extra water added, scrambled eggs, and Evanger's Organic Canned Chicken Dog Food instead of boiled chicken. I also switch to 4 smaller feedings a day so that that I'm not putting as much food at one time in to tummy. It works well for Rocket when we have stomach issues.

 

Worms are one of those things where you can do everything right, and they can still come back if you didn't get them treated at exactly the right time in their hatching cycle. Don't beat yourself up too much, they can be a battle, but you will get them eventually.

 

If you want the Panacur faster, it is sold at most farm supply stores and many pet stores under the brand name Safe-Guard Canine Wormer. It's the exact same drug, made in the same factory, just packaged for retail sales under that name. The "Panacue" brand is sold by vets, Safe-Guard" is sold at retail stores. Make sure you purchase the right strength and dosage for your hound's weight. Also, do not use the product that's marked for livestock, it is a much higher dose and not safe for your hound in the supplied dosage for livestock.

[Guest Lygracilux]

Bland diet will help ease the stomach, and I would also talk to your vet about getting a couple weeks of Flagyl (Metronidazole).

 

When we do a bland diet, I use a mixture of way over cooked rice or pasta with lots of extra water added, scrambled eggs, and Evanger's Organic Canned Chicken Dog Food instead of boiled chicken. I also switch to 4 smaller feedings a day so that that I'm not putting as much food at one time in to tummy. It works well for Rocket when we have stomach issues.

 

Worms are one of those things where you can do everything right, and they can still come back if you didn't get them treated at exactly the right time in their hatching cycle. Don't beat yourself up too much, they can be a battle, but you will get them eventually.

 

If you want the Panacur faster, it is sold at most farm supply stores and many pet stores under the brand name Safe-Guard Canine Wormer. It's the exact same drug, made in the same factory, just packaged for retail sales under that name. The "Panacue" brand is sold by vets, Safe-Guard" is sold at retail stores. Make sure you purchase the right strength and dosage for your hound's weight. Also, do not use the product that's marked for livestock, it is a much higher dose and not safe for your hound in the supplied dosage for livestock.

 

Thank you for all of the info, I will switch him to a bland diet for a week or so. He cant do chicken, so would hamburger be okay?

 

I didn't realize that about the Panacur though, if I dont get it by its expected delivery date on Friday, I will run out and try and find some "Safe-Guard" to give to him over the weekend. Thats really good to know though!

 

Ugh its just so frustrating- He has the poo's, Im not getting sleep because of it, the backyard is mess, though it was with just mud but now with pudding poo's in the mud. Im at a loss, lol

Edited March 24, 2015 by Lygracilux

[Dawnnziggy]

My vet sells me a pill that works like a charm! My female grey loves cat poo and hasn't had worms in a long time.

 

I feed mine rice with chicken and about half the amount of kibble. I still only feed it twice a day but it really seems to work.

[NeylasMom]

I don't know the whole history here, but why are you assuming it's worms? It might be a good idea to have a fecal run before you start him on the Panacur. You can always start him regardless, even if it's negative to be safe if you feel worms are likely involved, but better to run the fecal and possibly know.

 

Beef isn't ideal for a bland diet. Can he do fish? If so, a basic white fish with a mix of white and sweet potato is my favorite. Otherwise, boil and rinse the beef to get the fat out if you want to use the ground beef.

[Guest Lygracilux]

I don't know the whole history here, but why are you assuming it's worms? It might be a good idea to have a fecal run before you start him on the Panacur. You can always start him regardless, even if it's negative to be safe if you feel worms are likely involved, but better to run the fecal and possibly know.

 

Beef isn't ideal for a bland diet. Can he do fish? If so, a basic white fish with a mix of white and sweet potato is my favorite. Otherwise, boil and rinse the beef to get the fat out if you want to use the ground beef.

 

We have been fighting hookworms since we got him. He had them right when the adoption agency got him & was treated. But a month after us adopting him, his poo's never got better. So we sent a stool sample to the vet and he tested positive for hooks again. After treating with Panacur he had perfect poo's up until a week or so ago after getting into the other dogs poo and the litter box here and there.

About a month ago we ran a fecal cause he had blood in his poo-but everything came back fine, vet suggested it was just because he ate something. He hadnt had blood in it since.

 

He has the same symptoms as before when he had worms. If the Panacur doesn't work this time, I will contact the vet.

[NeylasMom]

 

After treating with Panacur he had perfect poo's up until a week or so ago after getting into the other dogs poo and the litter box here and there.

After treating with Panacur once, or with multiple rounds?

[Guest Lygracilux]

After treating with Panacur once, or with multiple rounds?

 

We only did it once, a month before that the adoption group treated him. So all in all hes been treated with Panacur twice.

 

His poops have been great up until a week ago (so about 4 months of good poos)

 

Should I do multiple rounds?

[tbhounds]

He wouldn't be having diarrhea from a worm burden this fast. He could potentially have picked up giardia but, in all likely hood he has soft stool/diarrhea from eating fecal matter.

[Guest Lygracilux]

He wouldn't be having diarrhea from a worm burden this fast. He could potentially have picked up giardia but, in all likely hood he has soft stool/diarrhea from eating fecal matter.

 

So keep him away from the poo's, give him a bland diet for a few days, and if it doesn't get better in a week or so should I still deworm?

[Time4ANap]

 

So keep him away from the poo's, give him a bland diet for a few days, and if it doesn't get better in a week or so should I still deworm?

 

Are you seeing blood or mucous in the stool? If not, then it may well just be the ingestion of feces that is causing the diarrhea. I would go with the bland diet followed by some metronidazole if diarrhea persists. Hookworms usually present a bloody mucous stool. (Other things can as well, so that's not a 100% indication)

 

Fecal tests are sort of hit or miss because finding eggs or worms in them depends on the timing of the cycle, so those tests are often negative. I have given Panacur in the past when we had a negative fecal just as a preventative, but since you have been dealing with them already, it may be time to go to something stronger like Drontal Plus if your vet thinks that hooks are still the problem. Drontal Plus is more expensive than Panacur, but it works well for persistent worms.

 

Here's some info that explains the hookworm cycle etc in it's simplest form. http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/hookworm-in-dogs

[Guest Lygracilux]

 

Are you seeing blood or mucous in the stool? If not, then it may well just be the ingestion of feces that is causing the diarrhea. I would go with the bland diet followed by some metronidazole if diarrhea persists. Hookworms usually present a bloody mucous stool. (Other things can as well, so that's not a 100% indication)

 

Fecal tests are sort of hit or miss because finding eggs or worms in them depends on the timing of the cycle, so those tests are often negative. I have given Panacur in the past when we had a negative fecal just as a preventative, but since you have been dealing with them already, it may be time to go to something stronger like Drontal Plus if your vet thinks that hooks are still the problem. Drontal Plus is more expensive than Panacur, but it works well for persistent worms.

 

Here's some info that explains the hookworm cycle etc in it's simplest form. http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/hookworm-in-dogs

 

 

Well about a month ago he had blood in his stool, so we sampled it-but the vet said there was nothing to be concerned about that he may have just eaten something. Since then hes had one mucousy stool, and at this point its just mush so idk.

 

Thanks for that info. Ill just bland out his diet and keep him away from the poo outside, then if hes not showing any signs of improvement I will do the Panacur. I think it worked once before-but he just got it again from eating nasty crap outside lol

[Dawnnziggy]

That was the pill they gave me, Drontal! It did the trick with just one treatment but it is expensive.

[Diane4114]

When our group started getting GH's from Florida, we had a probelm with resistant hook worms.

Normally we do treat them with drontal plus when they first arrive.

NH has a health certificate requirements.

When they arrive they have to spend 48 hours in quarantine and need to have a negative fecal test. If negative, they are issued a health certificate which is good for 14 days.

If a positive test, then they have to be treated and retested. Treatment conitunes until we get a negative result.

If they are adopted after the 14 days, they need another fecal. If negative, they are issued another health certificate.

 

Even though they may pass the first fecal, they may test positive on later ones, depending on the worms cycle and when they are tested.

Panacur is the usual choice. They package will say a dose for 3 consecutive days.

That wasn't working for us.

So we went to dosing 3 days... wait 21 days... then 3 more doses.

Even that wasn't always successful.

 

Somehwere they found a study/article written by the track vet at Dairyland. He/she suggested increasing form 3 days to 5 days, wait 21 days and then 5 more doses.

After they are released from quarantine, we now do this as a matter of course with all our GH's and it has worked well for us.

[NeylasMom]

 

Somehwere they found a study/article written by the track vet at Dairyland. He/she suggested increasing form 3 days to 5 days, wait 21 days and then 5 more doses.

After they are released from quarantine, we now do this as a matter of course with all our GH's and it has worked well for us.

Yep. If I knew my dog had hookworms, that's what I would do. I'd probably do a third course in another 21 days to be safe.

 

And do make sure once the treatment is done that the Heartworm preventative he's on also has the low dose of dewormer (Heartguard Plus versus regular Heartguard for instance).

[Padfootx13]

Your experience sounds really similar to ours (minus the poop-eating), so I would say it's likely that the one round here and there didn't get the hookworms completely out.

 

When we adopted our boy he had been treated for hookworm with one 3 day dose of panacur. He never really had good solid poops until about 3 months later, when we switched him to a lower fat content food with beef. Since he had several negative fecals despite runny poops the vet thought it could be related to diet or poultry protein. His poops were always hit-or-miss and would be solid for a while then every so often it would be soft. And always negative fecals.

 

Fast forward to about 8 months after we adopted him. We moved, switched vets, and one day he had a little bit of blood in one stool and it was mucous-y, so we sent in another fecal and it was positive for hookworm AND whipworm. We treated him one 3 day dose of panacur, then again 21 days later for 3 days, then again 3 months later for 3 days. That finally knocked it out and he has had solid poops since. Our new vet thinks that they were there the whole time but because we never caught the fecal at the right time with shed eggs in the poop, they weren't detected.

 

Good luck! Worms are a pain to deal with, but hopefully with rigorous treatment Fusion (and you) will get some relief!

[Guest Lygracilux]

Your experience sounds really similar to ours (minus the poop-eating), so I would say it's likely that the one round here and there didn't get the hookworms completely out.

 

When we adopted our boy he had been treated for hookworm with one 3 day dose of panacur. He never really had good solid poops until about 3 months later, when we switched him to a lower fat content food with beef. Since he had several negative fecals despite runny poops the vet thought it could be related to diet or poultry protein. His poops were always hit-or-miss and would be solid for a while then every so often it would be soft. And always negative fecals.

 

Fast forward to about 8 months after we adopted him. We moved, switched vets, and one day he had a little bit of blood in one stool and it was mucous-y, so we sent in another fecal and it was positive for hookworm AND whipworm. We treated him one 3 day dose of panacur, then again 21 days later for 3 days, then again 3 months later for 3 days. That finally knocked it out and he has had solid poops since. Our new vet thinks that they were there the whole time but because we never caught the fecal at the right time with shed eggs in the poop, they weren't detected.

 

Good luck! Worms are a pain to deal with, but hopefully with rigorous treatment Fusion (and you) will get some relief!

 

 

 

Yes! This is exactly what we're going through. Like never really having perfect bouncy poo's, always soft to an extent-and then random runs, and mucous.

I'm going to save this and do your plan with the re-dosing after 21 days, then again after 3 months.

Thank you for this! I'm happy you guys finally got relief.

Yep. If I knew my dog had hookworms, that's what I would do. I'd probably do a third course in another 21 days to be safe.

 

And do make sure once the treatment is done that the Heartworm preventative he's on also has the low dose of dewormer (Heartguard Plus versus regular Heartguard for instance).

 

Perfect. I will!

 

I use sentinel. Not sure if thats appropriate?

[NeylasMom]

 

 

I use sentinel. Not sure if thats appropriate?

Yep. Sentinel protects against worms.

 

FWIW, it is probably not possible to eradicate the hooks at this point. The idea is to get rid of any heavy parasite load in her gut and then prevent that from reoccurring. A couple of types of worms, including hooks encyst in other organs of the body and dewormers aren't capable of eliminating those cysts. For hooks a common location is the lungs. So the larvae emerge from the cyst, the dog coughs it up and then swallows it and the larvae then develops into the adult worm and attaches to the intestine, which is what causes the GI symptoms you see. The deworming medication added to certain heartworm preventatives is intended to kill those adult worms before they can cause illness. But again, they're not getting at the existing cysts or the larvae as they migrate.

 

My personal feeling (and this has changed over time because I generally like to avoid giving my dogs chemicals unnecessarily) is that dogs that have had a positive result for hooks or other worms that work this way, especially when the hooks weren't eradicated easily or the dog came off of the track with them (meaning they probably had the infestation for a long period of time) should remain on a Heartworm preventative with additional dewormer (like Sentinel) year round regardless of winter months where the risk of heartworm disease is low simply because it will hopefully be effective at keeping the worms at bay if there are cysts in other organs and hopefully preventing needing multiple rounds of dewormer like Panacur in the future. Like I said, FWIW.

[Padfootx13]

Yes! This is exactly what we're going through. Like never really having perfect bouncy poo's, always soft to an extent-and then random runs, and mucous.

I'm going to save this and do your plan with the re-dosing after 21 days, then again after 3 months.

Thank you for this! I'm happy you guys finally got relief.

 

I thought it sounded really similar! It's so frustrating, but eventually you will find what works. I hope that our regiment works for you! FWIW, we go to a vet in Holliston that is really familiar with former racing greyhounds and their deworming needs after the track.

 

 

Yep. Sentinel protects against worms.

 

FWIW, it is probably not possible to eradicate the hooks at this point. The idea is to get rid of any heavy parasite load in her gut and then prevent that from reoccurring. A couple of types of worms, including hooks encyst in other organs of the body and dewormers aren't capable of eliminating those cysts. For hooks a common location is the lungs. So the larvae emerge from the cyst, the dog coughs it up and then swallows it and the larvae then develops into the adult worm and attaches to the intestine, which is what causes the GI symptoms you see. The deworming medication added to certain heartworm preventatives is intended to kill those adult worms before they can cause illness. But again, they're not getting at the existing cysts or the larvae as they migrate.

 

My personal feeling (and this has changed over time because I generally like to avoid giving my dogs chemicals unnecessarily) is that dogs that have had a positive result for hooks or other worms that work this way, especially when the hooks weren't eradicated easily or the dog came off of the track with them (meaning they probably had the infestation for a long period of time) should remain on a Heartworm preventative with additional dewormer (like Sentinel) year round regardless of winter months where the risk of heartworm disease is low simply because it will hopefully be effective at keeping the worms at bay if there are cysts in other organs and hopefully preventing needing multiple rounds of dewormer like Panacur in the future. Like I said, FWIW.

 

I didn't realize this! It sounds like great advice. Your method sounds like a great idea, we will definitely look into Sentinel if Padfoot has another recurrence.

[NeylasMom]

 

I thought it sounded really similar! It's so frustrating, but eventually you will find what works. I hope that our regiment works for you! FWIW, we go to a vet in Holliston that is really familiar with former racing greyhounds and their deworming needs after the track.

 

 

 

I didn't realize this! It sounds like great advice. Your method sounds like a great idea, we will definitely look into Sentinel if Padfoot has another recurrence.

Doesn't have to be Sentinel. Lots of heartworm preventatives also include the deworming medication, Interceptor and Heartguard Plus are probably the most common.

[KF_in_Georgia]

If he's chronically producing poop you can't pick up, try following him around with poop bags and cheap paper plates. Just scoot a paper plate under his butt at the right moment, then bag the plate and its contents. (You can use newspaper, too, but plates are just stiff enough not to collapse when you're trying to curl them a bit to bag them. And I generally work with a clean poop bag over my hand--like a glove--in case one of us has bad aim. Just hold the plate with the "gloved" hand, then roll the bag down your hand and over the plate in one motion. Happily, it's been more than a year since I had to do this.)

 

The paper plate method also is good when you need a sample for the vet. But if you follow Fusion around with the plate, you can prevent him from snacking on his own poop and you can keep the yard clean at the same time.