HGE persisting or something else?

[texdev]

Hello everyone,

We've had Finn for about 7 months. Early May, he stopped eating and eventually had persistent diarrhea. We took him to the vet and they determined he had HGE (Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis) and his "blood was 20% thicker than normal" according to the vet. Of course, this concerned us, but we were glad we got him into the vet promptly. We never give either of our greyhounds "human food" and keep them on a very consistent diet (Kirklands Turkey and Sweet Potato). They kept him overnight for  a few days and sent us home with antibiotics and wet food (seemed to be geared toward fiber). It appeared to work, but then by early June, he was showing similar signs again so we took him back to the vet. The vet said that he's showing early stages of HGE again, and we put him back on the medicine (Amoxicillin) and wet food since they thought the last round just hadn't been enough. Now 2 weeks later, he is showing similar symptoms again (refusing to eat off and on), and I'm feeling frustrated - is this typical for HGE or have others experienced similar? Or is there something with similar symptoms you all have experienced outside of HGE? We don't live in a large city for 2nd opinions unfortunately, but could look into traveling for that if needed. Anyone have any advice or ideas? 

Thank you!

 

[MaryJane]

Did they check for worms - sometimes persistent hookworms can cause HGE.  Also, greyhounds have thicker blood than most dogs so, your vet is not knowledgeable about greyhounds so, be careful.  Did they put your dog on Probiotics and a bland diet (hamburger and rice)?  You can also get a phone consultation with Dr. Couto who is very experienced with greyhounds.

[greysmom]

Yes.  First thing is to check him for parasites.  Hookworms are *extremely* hard to clear, and bad infestations can definitely cause HGE-like symptoms.  Please search here for the many threads recently about treating this drug-resistant form of hooks.  If by some miracle he is parasite free from a fecal test, I would still treat him.

uAnd consider that these symptoms can also be caused by a food intolerance/allergy.  There's no real test for this except to do a strict food trial over several months.  But I would urge you to switch foods anyway to a food that includes whole grains.  Foods that use legumes or sweet potatoes as a carb source have been implicated in the development of severe Dilated CardioMyeopathy (DCM).  A switch to Purina Sensitive Stomach might help.

[texdev]

Thank you both for your replies! I'm grateful you all mentioned hookworms....I just got back from the vet and she said that Finn has hookworms (10-15 eggs), but she said with that amount of eggs, she wouldn't expect the hookworms to be impacting appetite or causing HGE symptoms. We are supposed to give Finn and our other grey (just in case) Drontal Plus now and then again in two weeks and get the fecal test again. On the HGE, she thinks we just need to keep giving him the same treatment since it appears to work until he runs out of medicine. So we have him on Amoxicillin, Centrine and "Prescription Diet Digestive Care i/d". That food appears to be a "prebiotic" - not sure how much that differs from "probiotic"? I went ahead and purchased Purina Sensitive Stomach as suggested for when this wet food the vet provided runs out. 

I am not a fan of this "sit and wait" approach to see if the symptoms recur, as we are becoming frequent visitors to the vet and don't feel like we are seeing much progress.... I'm hoping that the hookworms are indeed contributing to the symptoms and treating those will be our solution. Does anyone have experience with that amount of hookworm eggs causing loss of appetite and eventually diarrhea? 

If Finn stops eating again after trying all these meds/foods, I may indeed need to reach out to Dr. Couto or start researching larger cities to drive to in order to get a second opinion (although a little difficult due to the current COVID-19 situation).

[greysmom]

The problem with hooks is that they can "hide" inside other tissues and effectively become dormant for a period - such as during treatment - and then reemerge at a later date to begin their lifecycle all over again.  It's one reason why treating them is so difficult.  Plus, the strain of hooks we are seeing is *very* (extremely) difficult to clear as they appear to be resistant to most of the drugs being used.  It can take months of constant dosing to finally clear an infestation.

What your vet prescribed is the usual treatment for hookwom infestations.  It may work, but probably not.  Please search through the threads here and read through what people are using and what has worked for them.

After several months of dosing my girl every two weeks, my vet suggested we give her a ProHeart injection.  It's originally meant to be a heart worm treatment, but it also works for other parasites.  As a continuous release medication that lasts for 6 or 12 months and eliminates the issue of repeated dosings and getting the timing right for the hookworm life cycle.  It cleared her hooks finally and we haven't had any issues with it.  I put all three of my dogs on it and have been very satisfied.

[Apro]

I usually just lurk around here but decided to chime in to this.

we had a similar issue a few months ago with our girl and determined that it was due to hookworms and most likely her diet. we were giving her the chicken and rice food from Costco (pink bag) and switched to the lamb (green bag) and are also now giving her the Purina sensitive skin and stomach wet food for dinner. previously she had lots of gas and consistently loose stools and most of that has gone away, we are currently still battling the hookworms though so it seems most of the benefit came from the food.

we also tried the Purina SS&S dry food and it did not seem to irritate her digestion either.

 

hope this helps.

[MP_the4pack]

Fecal float test is not enough to test for hooks. You need to go for the antigen test. My girls float was negative,  the antigen was positive.  Which I suspected because her poo is still like pudding.