Bubble Gut

[RandalSan]

Hello-

I am posting this on a Sunday.  I tried to call several places and  nobody is open for routine services.  So before taking my Emma for an Emergency visit.  I figured I would post my situation here and maybe someone can office advice or information.

 

I have been feeding my Emma, a 2 1/2 year old female retired racer, the same food for sensitive stomach and skin(Hills).  She is normally fine and really does not fart up the house or anything.  Usually we budget in two cookies and a greenie in her daily diet.

We did not stray from this...but last night she went to bed fine...even was playful a bit before settling down for the night.

This morning I woke up and prepared her morning meal...same as normal.  She did not want to eat..nor did she drink any water.  She has a real noisy stomach/abdomen area...loud enough to be heard across a room!   We have taken her for some walks this morning and she made normal pee and small poops...poops are small quantity and on the soft side...the poop does not hold shape...but is not soupy...they are like tapioca pudding.   Thus far today...even after her walks...she has taken no water nor food.  

Any ideas?  Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Fostr_Mom]

Has she been tested for hookworm?  The noisy tummy and pudding poop sounds like hookworm- just my experience, I'm not a vet.   I ordered Pyrantel from Amazon and dose every foster the day I bring them into my home as well as my own dogs. Then again 10-14 days later. Their tummies do get very upset so they don't eat or drink like normal.  I make ground turkey with either well cooked rice, oatmeal, or pasta. (whatever I have on hand) and try small portions throughout the day. 

[RandalSan]

Yes.  She was adopted by us about 5 weeks ago.  She has had her checks and shots and hookworm treatment.  We do have her last dose of the series to give her, a syringe of oral med and two ampules of topical.

Thus far this morning, she won't touch some yummy chicken and rice premium can food I went to get her...and no water yet.  She is laying down now...still hear her intestines working.   I gave her some Kaolin for dogs..just two teaspoons to help her with the nausea. 

Can't help but worry...keeping an eye on her and will take her to the vet tomorrow if she does not clear up.

 

Thanks for replying!

[macoduck]

Is she having any difficulty lying down? Doing lots of stretches?  I keep some X-gas handy just in case of bloat, making sure there no Xylitol in it. Make sure that Kaolin doesn't contain Xylitol either.

[RandalSan]

HI!

This morning when she first woke up she was pacing....we took her out and she peed and did small poop.  I heard her bubble gut and gave her the Kaolin...it is a doggie specific brand so no harmful stuff in there...used it before for her diarrhea.

Dunno if it was the Kaolin..but now she is still noisy with the bubble gut..but she lays down...she seems fairly alert..growling when she hears dogs barking etc.

She still has not eaten...not sure if she even drank much water....just took her out again to potty area...she is not interested.  But she keeps trying to eat grass.

 

Thanks for the response! 

[greysmom]

Even if she's been treated before it's highly likely she still has hooks, and these are kind of classic hookworm symptoms.  You can search here and find numerous recent threads on how to treat them as they are resistant to most usual treatments.

Missing a meal or two won't hurt her overly much, but try and see if she will drink some for you to keep hydrated - either water or broth, one of mine even liked apple juice (just make sure of the no-xylitol rule!).  And get her in to your vet with a stool sample as soon as you can.

[RandalSan]

Will do that...in fact I will go to the same vet the adoption group initially took her to....will see to that on Monday...hopefully she gives me a nice stool to take in.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[tbhounds]

Might try famotidine 

[GreytMom]

I’ve got a girl with chronic hook and this does *not* sound like what I have experienced. I don’t want to panic you but I’m pretty concerned so hope you can get her examined by vet asap. Not eating or drinking is concerning. When you say bubble gut do you mean sound or look? I’m thinking you may mean she looks bloated - thus my concern. Please read about bloat and make sure you can rule this out. It is an emergency. But, when mine eat grass, yes, they will gurgle loudly for a short period of time. Hope she is ok. 

[RandalSan]

HI!

Thanks for your response and concerns!

The term "bubble gut" is one I use to express how I feel when my stomach area feels like it's bubbling.  For my Emma(grey), I am expressing that I hear her stomach/intestines bubbling....no she does not seem to be bloated...I am always on the lookout for that one!

She was not eating or drinking...because she was nauseated I think.  So I gave her about 10cc of Kaolin Pectin.  4 hours later I still could hear her stomach area bubbling, so I gave her another 10cc of Kaolin Pectin.  I am very restricted in using that stuff because I know it can cause constipation.   Anyway, after that second dose...about two hours later, she took a treat..so I prepared a full meal for her and she ate it all.   We let her rest and then we took her for a nice walk.  She came home and rested some more before she had a little playtime and went to bed.  I think she is low energy from not eating or drinking all day.  But all seems fine for now.  Tomorrow I will call and see about getting her to the vet with a poop sample.  OH and she did have a nice LONG drink of water after her walk!

I have done some reading...I guess Florida retired racers are known to have serious and stubborn hookworm infestations...I will take her in ASAP and hope I can get her on a good deworming program and also on some sort of preventative regimen for hooks, heart etc.  I hear Advantage is good..also looking at Heartgard.    

Thank you so much for checking in on me and my Emma!

[GreytMom]

Whew. So glad to hear.  My rescue recommends Bayer Advantage Multi for the hooks as well as Panacur. But I hate the Bayer product because of the smell. I’m a year and a half in and still dealing with hooks - but my girl was a good racer so then had a litter of pups and I read that causes it to get in the mammary glands... and the deworming process continues. Good luck with yours. 

[GreytMom]

Just to add... I have her on olewo carrots - just about a teaspoon with every meal - to help her stool. 

[RandalSan]

HI!

Thanks for the tip on the carrots...I will take note of that...NORMALLY we find that Science Diet Sensitive Stomach and Skin works good for our Emma.

Also, Purina Pro Plan Skin and Stomach Salmon works too...but...she don't like the Purina and I hear its got some corn in there...so we are not gonna give her too much more of that.

I found this article online about hooks in Greys...here: http://makepeacewithanimals.org/suggestions-for-eradicating-ho/     I myself am gonna ask the Vet about that protocol.

Anyway, so, Emma was a racer...good? I dunno...but I was impressed by what I saw.  She is my pet now...will try my best to give her the chance to do what she loves...but only if she wants to and at the speed she chooses.   I am sorry, but I am selfish...what ever gives her the longest life to provide me and my wife lots of cold noses, opportunity to pet and look at her pretty eyes...is what it's all about now!

 

LOL...ok...thanks for checking in!

 

 

[fitzrockies]

Hi All,

We adopted Dax (20months old now) on March 15. All of his ribs were showing and both FORG and our Vet said he needed to gain weight.  Within 2 weeks his GI issues started: diarrhea, vomiting(dark and mucousy), bloody stools, and the gurgling tummy.  Our Vet suspected hookworm and sure enough it came back positive. We treated with Advantage multi-but they came back within 2 weeks. Treated with Panacur(5 days) and we had a negative fecal float the following week(Yay). But then the gurgling started again and he had a positive float within the following week. So we treated last Friday with Advantage-Multi and today Tuesday, the gurgling has started(like clockwork). So we will do another fecal float tomorrow but don't plan to treat with Advantage-Multi again until June 1.

My understanding from our Vet is that there are a few different species of hookworm and many have grown resistant to the traditional dewormers.  Especially in farm/kennel greys where they often go untreated and therefore these hookworms invade the organs and can lie dormant.  The de-wormers only kill the adult worms(and I think some larvae-but not the eggs).  So we have resolved that we are in for the long run to try to get rid of these parasites.  I feel so badly for our boy as he can't seem to get a break. We live in CO so it is dry here but we've gotten a lot of snow and rain so far this spring-ideal conditions for those nasty critters.  We've treated the yard with Wondercide(they say it kills hookworm but it's really just cedar oil). We decided to dry everything out and not put the sprinklers on in the backyard, and treat the poop areas with a bleach mixture(yes sacrificing the lawn).

 

Here's the article re: the Panacur protocol. https://www.greyhoundfriends.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Hookworms.pdf

If the fecal float comes back positive tomorrow, I will ask the vet if we can do the 5 day Panacur again. That seemed to be pretty effective even though it's a nasty dosage(big viles of a chalky mixture they need to drink).

 

If anyone else has had this experience, please comment.

Thanks.

[RandalSan]

HEY!

Sorry to hear about the stubborn Hookworm problem.

I myself am going to ask my vet about a protocol that a breeder has suggested.  We have an appointment for next week and I will ask him then.

Here is a paste of what I want to try...maybe you can ask your vet about it also:

" To start, make sure that, apart from Hookworms, your Greyhound is healthy. Ask your veterinarian to administer a subcutaneous injection of liquid Ivermectin between the shoulder blades. If your vet doesn’t carry it, they can certainly order it. Dosage: 1/10^th cc per 10 pounds of body weight, or 1 1/4cc for most males, ¾ cc for most females. Ten days later, begin a five-day course of Panacur, 1cc per 5 pounds of body weight. After that, have the stool examined."

[BatterseaBrindl]

I hope that you have been told that the hookworm larva will live in your grass/soil and that you need to be diligent about picking up all feces from your yard, otherwise it ll be a viscous circle of reinfection.

[RandalSan]

We do pick up...not only healthy..but it's the right thing to do...we don't have a fence up yet...so we are right there when she poops.  When we do fence the yard we will supervise.

Also I want to get her on a preventative program...if she tolerates it.

 

Thanks for the response!