Worms

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

It seems like we have been battling Hendrix's digestive issues for a long time. Finally, about 2-3 weeks ago, sh*t hit the fan. He had a major case of dire rear in a rainbow of colors. I knew something was up but couldn't figure out what was going on. Many restrictions and a few courses of chicken and rice later and I thought we had a handle on it. The vet deals with my frequent calls and tells me it's all fine. The problem, which they didn't seem to be seeing at the time, was Hendrix was as skinny as a rail in my opinion. So I continued on, playing with food ratios, bland diets, and more simplified diets. His food had already been switched once before, and I could only wonder if maybe he really was super sensitive to Orijen, which his breeder swore wasn't the case. I was at a loss - I upped his kibble and he got the runs again. I reduced it and he was fine-ish. I fed him more and more chicken and beef as snacks to try to get his weight up, hit a high calorie ratio that didn't seem to give him dire rear, but nothing was working. He still remained skinny. Multiple fece analysis I had the vet run showed nothing. Then, just a few days ago, the multi-colored poo tour returned with some new additions - green junk coming out of his sheath and foamy poo.

Finally the vet agreed he needed to come in. We go in earlier this week and they start at how skinny he is. At 5.5 months he's 36.8 lbs, a whopping two pounds since I had brought him in 3 weeks ago. Not a bad weight but he's tall and you can count his ribs, his hip bones are sticking out... I know they're giving me the evil eye as they interrogate me on his meal plan and how much he eats. I can see they're stunned by the sheer amount of food he eats daily. Some of the vet techs knew my stories and calls about his GI problems. So they take him back and I hear them running expanded cytology panels on him… vet comes back and says, besides a bit of bark in his poo, really all they found was a minor bacteria overgrowth in his stool. So they hand me the antibiotics and give me the chance at a dewormer - which I took - and say if that doesn't help then maybe we're looking at Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency.

So out of chance I start him on the dewormer first… and within twenty four hours his stool is normal (still a bit off color) and there's these tiny tiny TINY white things in it… Of course we loose the beautiful normal-ish stool to the poo fest dewormers are associated with. We're now on day four and the minor redness on the sides of his eyes, which I have become accustomed too, and thought were perhaps due to our dusty climate, have disappeared. This is on the dewormer alone. I can see him putting on weight every day - even people comment that the difference is visually significant from last week to this week.

I don't think I've seen any big worms, mainly small white ones, and they're very very very tiny. Whatever he had was apparently so illusive tests were missing it and it makes me wonder how long he's had worms, if not a bacterial infection that went unchecked because the vet wouldn't listen to me. I supposed the tests did support their theory of "it's just what puppies do" but at the same time… There's a reason I'm calling multiple times in the past 3 weeks.

Now, he is on a heart worm preventative, Heartguard Plus. I'm wondering if anyone else has had something weird happen with their pups on this? Maybe he caught the infection in between doses? Should I be considering switching? I should have taken in one of his worm-y poos and had his vet analyze it to see what worm it was… but I didn't think of it until now.

[johninny]

if you can see white worm bits like rice, then it is probably tapeworm, tho roundworms are also white and can be seen. the heartgard plus only deals with heart-, hook-, and roundworm, but not tapeworm, which tends to suggest this is roundworm.

i indicated in the frontline plus thread a pharmacy in AZ that can custom make whatever anti-worm mix that you want for a dog in a certain region. i had them cover all worms, but remove the anti-flea ingredient they usually include. heartgard plus does omit coverage of tape and whip worms (all the good meds omit something), but i have not run across any negative info on heartgard plus and used it for awhile when interceptor went off-market until i went custom-made.

i have said before but worth repeating that any vet that says that diarrhea is normal/ok for a puppy or any dog should probably be replaced by one that knows it is an indication of something wrong - usually an infection of some sort.

great to hear Hendrix is better and is gaining weight.

EDIT: maybe i did not get the post fully 1st time around. if Hendrix was on heartgard plus ALL ALONG [not just starting on it now], and has now been treated with a de-wormer that is producing the white bits in his stool and is improving his health, then that reinforces very strongly my 1st impression that this is tapeworm because heartgard plus would not have protected against tapeworms. suggest a thorough washing of his bedding to prevent spread or re-infection.

[Stacy_R]

I dunno....if you saw that many worms in his stool after they said they couldn't find any...I'd find a new vet. Something just doesn't add up.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

I thought it was tapeworms too but they told me the dewormer doesn't work on tapeworms... So then maybe it's round worms? He has been on Heartguard plus for 2 months, Triflexis for a month before that. It shouldn't be roundworms and yet... I just can't make sense of it. I'll look into the info you posted in the other topic Johnny - you know some awesome info! Yeah sadly these guys are probably the best vets we've found, Stacey, but I'll keep looking around. I'm going to do some research into how the meds work - someone once told me they basically kill worms once the dose is administered and that's how it's a preventative. If that's true then it is possible he got infected after the dose... It was before this month's dose too... I just don't know.

[Selena]

Cant help you about the worms but i tell you one thing: I would change vets immediatly...

[Karin]

My pup had very inconsistent usually loose stools from the time I got him at 8 weeks old. He had his wormer as a puppy and he had a full fecal with nothing. I put him on heart guard at 5 months old. Then at 7 months had a blood test and was slightly anemic. I believe I gave him 3 days of panacur (?) wormer and voila... great stools and subsequent blood panel and he is good to go. Done with that problem. I have no idea what it was though.

Good luck... and on a GSD forum, I have noticed that many report the Orejian can be too rich for some individuals.

[Stacy_R]

[quote="Karin"Good luck... and on a GSD forum, I have noticed that many report the Orejian can be too rich for some individuals.[/quote]

Maybe, but this wouldn't account for the extreme dire rear poor Hendrix is experiencing.

Kira -
I just re-read your initial post. When you say "bacteria overgrowth," did they give you any further details? Are you dealing with giardia or coccidia? Both can cause the green color in the stool... What antibiotic did they give you?

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Stacy - no they didn't mention the type of bacteria, just stressed minor. He's on Flagyl.

Karin - I thought so too. But then he would have good stools being on Orijen only for a few days... Then dire rear... Then more good stools... It's so confusing. I was seriously going to swith him to a raw diet if this didn't clear up.

I'll have the vet so a follow up with blood work... While trying to find a new one...