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Ricky2
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Hiya,so i am unsure if my dog has worms and/or heartworms as she does have a few symptoms that may be a sure sign that she does D:...she has been constantly itching-she was always an itchy dog but seems to be worse,scoots her butt in the grass but she does get a bit of poo in her bottom as she has a long coat so i have to constantly clean it (urgh sorry)sometimes coughing but she does eat random stuff even when i try my best to keep it from her, like wood sticks,lack of appetite but she does eat her kibble even though not in one go,notice her more tired but still playfull but maybe not as much etc...and she drinks from the fish pound that i have when shes out in the yard,even though she has 2 places with clean fresh water and i constantly tell her and warn her to not drink from the small lake as it is still water- constantly worried as i just read that still water thats been out for a while can cause heartworms.

I just gave her a dewormer tablet 3 days ago and a spot on even though she does not have fleas or ticks and i did not seen any worms on her poop so i guess she does not have them but i am worried about heartworms and dont really know how it works to get them checked or if i give her a pill for it?

Help me please!,and thanks ahead.

 

Edited by Ricky2
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Don't worry so much that your dog is drinking from the pond...she is a dog and that's what they do.

Pond water will not cause heartworm at all.

Take her to the vet and get her anal glands checked as this may be why she is scooting

If you let us know how old she is and breed, weight and diet we will be able to help you more.

Oh...and a photo because there are never enough dog-photos :)

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@Boronia Thank you ,will do,will be a fortune as things around here are expensive but better safe than sorry-Her vet does home consultations so i never have to go to a clinic with her,should i contact the vet and will a home consultation be enough to get the glands checked or should i go to a clinic for blood sample etc?,

She's around 44/46lbs nearly 2 year old Lab x Portuguese water dog mix who's fed mainly kibble-First ingredient is hydrolised chicken,corn,rice has salmon oil,and yucca extract etc..,not the best but it's what i can afford..I do give her raw bones, boiled eggs,from time to time-think i will start avoiding them around this time as mosquitos are starting to appear with the hot weather-which is why im even more worried with heart worms- it was a nightmare today with them little nuisances.

Tried boiled organic pumpkin once but she disliked it,so yh she's quite picky.Loves our food and always tries to beg for it,bless her.

 

I'm afraid i havent got any recent pics of her at the moment on my laptop but will update more once i have my phone. This one is from a few months ago in the summer-She has grown a few inches but not much has changed.Looks nothing like a lab aha-got the looks from her dad-Sorry im a bit chatty :D
Lua.thumb.jpg.c2fc3590be7241a8f8ba4a5677c4e3a1.jpg

Edited by Ricky2
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Such a pretty girl... what is her name?

 

Home visit will be fine to check her glands, but a blood test to check for heartworm will need to be done in the clinic, unless they have portable check kits nowadays.

 

I give my dogs raw eggs... they love them, but it can be messy... hehe!

 

Kibble is fine to feed if your girl drinks enough water.... otherwise it can get a bit hard and irritate her bottom when passing out the other end. Sounds like this isn't the problem though if she guzzles from the pond, and you feed her other good stuff as well as the kibble.

 

As for poop sticking to her butt fur, you could trim it a bit to make it less able to trap the poop... if she'll let you... *grin*

 

T.

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Most heartworm meds are based on ivermectin.  If you have a very nice vet, you may be able to get them to explain how to use the livestock version for your dog.  The dog stuff is 10 times as expensive for the same stuff.  The other worms need different meds.  They can be bad, but aren't likely to kill. 

As for diet, I wouldn't worry much.  Despite all the marketing hoohah, there's bugger all evidence that dogs fed the high price stuff are any healthier or live longer.  Unless the dog has a diagnosed condition, like pancreatitis or beef allergy, plain cheap stuff like, say, Coprice, is fine.  Adding eggs, yogurt, carrots and other fruit and veg, or raw bones is fine. Looks like your girl is slim... Avoiding overfeeding is the most important dietary trick. 

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@tdierikxThank you,Luna :)

I am still a bit relunctant to give them raw because of salmonella-especially since she eats outside and she doesnt always eat her kibble in one go-same reasons why i havent tried soaking her kibble in water to be easier to digest. Whenever i do give her eggs she goes absolutely nuts and devours her food,cheeky girl hehe.

 

Thank you for tips,will do it..if she lets me xD

 

@sandgrubber Thank you- Yes i do know that the expensive stuff sometimes is all talk and advertising,although there are few differences specially from what i see with the teeth, do you have any brands in specific of yogurts to give ? What about wet food- read both good and bad stuff on it. Carrots should be organic or are the normal ones fine-boiled,steamed or raw? ..I do try to keep her slim,not that hard as she isnt too piggy with her food-with ours its another talk.

Edited by Ricky2
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11 minutes ago, Ricky2 said:

@tdierikxThank you,Luna :)

I am still a bit relunctant to give them raw because of salmonella-especially since she eats outside and she doesnt always eat her kibble in one go-same reasons why i havent tried soaking her kibble in water to be easier to digest. Whenever i do give her eggs she goes absolutely nuts and devours her food,cheeky girl hehe.

 

Thank you for tips,will do it..if she lets me xD

 

@sandgrubber Thank you- Yes i do know that the expensive stuff sometimes is all talk and advertising,although there are few differences specially from what i see with the teeth, do you have any brands in specific of yogurts to give ? What about wet food- read both good and bad stuff on it. Carrots should be organic or are the normal ones fine-boiled,steamed or raw? ..I do try to keep her slim,not that hard as she isnt too piggy with her food-with ours its another talk.

Healthy, mature dogs are unharmed by salmonella.  Very strong digestive juices and immune capabilities. 

Any carrots are fine, cooked or raw.  Dogs and people both digest cooked carrots better, but I've never bothered cooking them.  I used to buy horse carrots in a 10 kg bag when I was breeding labs.  Plain yogurt, no sugar, any brand. Wet food is mostly water, thus expensive, and some think it's bad for the teeth. But IMO adding a little to get a fussy eater to eat isn't so bad. 

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You can get big bags of carrots at Woollies for a pretty reasonable price, give them as treats.

Regarding yogurt...buy a yogurt maker (from a charity shop is the cheapest way, just make sure it has the container inside.) buy the no-sugar fat-free Easiyo sachets from the supermarket (it's around $3.50) and make it yourself. Make it up around 6pm, when you have mixed it all, put it in the thermos-like container and let it work overnight and take it out of the thermos at 6am, let it sit in the fridge for a day as it thickens up better

 

5c68ac69a79ab_Screenshotfrom2019-02-1710-35-30.thumb.png.efd4800ea90d471a050b8ac5dada83b0.png

 

5c68acf2e8cdc_Screenshotfrom2019-02-1710-37-51.png.0e651e7ea66b99604f08cd21cef77a8f.png

 

edited to add that they are on special here https://www.ausnaturalcare.com.au/easiyo-yoghurt/easiyo-yogurt-makers-starter-kits

Edited by Boronia
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Thank y'all for de advice,will get her checked soon and will try to find the yogurt maker here where i live @Boronia,thankfully i'm lucky enough to get some things organic thanks to my grandpa who farms as a hobby and believes food should be grown naturally without any hormones or pesticides.

 

@Rebanne Portugal,so i may not have available the stuff that you guys do,but stil, l love to hear what other people think as over here it is rare those that are fed for example raw,titter test(rarely talked about and vets arent really open to discuss about the vaccines as they risk loosing their licence if they dont follow vaccines protocol) which is quite upsetting.

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Guest crazydoglady99

Hi Ricky,

 

Luna is gorgeous :love:

 

The symptoms you describe- ie itchy itchy itchy -these are signs that she jas a food intolerance, rather than worms. 

 

From the ingredients you listed, is it possible to trial feeding her something that contains none of those things? If  dry kibble is the most affordable, then perhaps see if you can find one without chicken, corn or rice. Single protein source would be best. 

Please do give her bones, eggs, sardines. But again, please avoid chicken, corn & rice for at least 1 month, see if the itching subsides.

 

Chicken & corn in particular, are high on the allergy ingredient list for many dogs. 

 

I would be doing the above, rather than blood testing for worms.

 

(My opinion/suggestions are based on my own experiences, and qualifications regarding animal nutrition and food sensitivities. You most certainly don't have to follow my suggestions. I could be wrong!)

 

Good luck!

Edited by crazydoglady99
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2 year old and never been on heartworm protection is not a good sign, heartworm is just about australia wide now so she really needs to be tested and treated... although I had one that came up positive for them , she was 5 year old at the time, the vet took so long to get back to me I assumed the test must have been clear and had dosed her with half a mil of sheep ivamec, (Normal dose, is clear coloured, not low dose, its coloured green and too strong....) along with my other dogs by the time he finally called back... the danger with dosing a dog with heartworm is the blood will have microfilaria, which are what a biting mozzie picks up and passes onto other dogs.... so dosing one with them circulating will kill them all and so many dying at once could be toxic, but she was ok so kept up the treatment monthly which my vet explained would kill all circulating micrafilaria as they were released by the adult heartworms, as she had no symptioms other than the positive blood test, figured she had few adults yet... by treating her with ivomec every 4 weeks she would remain non infective to other dogs and no more adults could mature in her heart and cause the damage they do in numbers... she lived to 16

 

that was decades ago, ie 30 years ago, the reason I chose not to try and kill the adults was at that time the cure was killing half the dogs treated anyway. 

 

once enough adults have developed in the heart to begin effecting it, they begin to get a cough.  then as the damage to the heart progresses they then begin to lose weight... Jody on the other hand had no cough whatever and rather portly cattledog...

Edited by asal
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2 hours ago, crazydoglady99 said:
51 minutes ago, Rebanne said:

 

 

@crazydoglady99 Thank you,will try my best to do so,she has been on a few different brands but the best she has been on is this one she's on at the moment,all the others  had corn/maize as the first ingredient.I once bought a grain free of 8/9lbs that I could afford but again it had chicken  and white potatoes which I read wasnt good so immediately stopped,kibble with chicken is what most sell in the supermarkets nearby and the brands that have other things have maize/corn and by products which is even worse. The vets and a few other pet shops have better kibble but it is simply too expensive €40+(I know that with better kibbles you feed less so it is at the same time cheaper,but I cant afford giving that money for a bag)..I agree it can be allergies,but she has also been itchy since she was a puppy even though now as an adult it got worse.I will be looking out for other kibbles.

 

@asal I am from Portugal and there has never been a warning that I know of about heartworms, thank you for telling me about your experience,poor dog thank god she was fine until her last days x.

I will contact her vet to come check her anal glands and ask her opinion on what I should do regarding heartworms.

 

Thank y'all so much! Really appreciate it.

 

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6 hours ago, Ricky2 said:

@crazydoglady99 Thank you,will try my best to do so,she has been on a few different brands but the best she has been on is this one she's on at the moment,all the others  had corn/maize as the first ingredient.I once bought a grain free of 8/9lbs that I could afford but again it had chicken  and white potatoes which I read wasnt good so immediately stopped,kibble with chicken is what most sell in the supermarkets nearby and the brands that have other things have maize/corn and by products which is even worse. The vets and a few other pet shops have better kibble but it is simply too expensive €40+(I know that with better kibbles you feed less so it is at the same time cheaper,but I cant afford giving that money for a bag)..I agree it can be allergies,but she has also been itchy since she was a puppy even though now as an adult it got worse.I will be looking out for other kibbles.

 

@asal I am from Portugal and there has never been a warning that I know of about heartworms, thank you for telling me about your experience,poor dog thank god she was fine until her last days x.

I will contact her vet to come check her anal glands and ask her opinion on what I should do regarding heartworms.

 

Thank y'all so much! Really appreciate it.

 

Just for interest

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24534524

http://www.lagosvet.com/diseases.htm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304401714004671

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Guest crazydoglady99

Good on ya Boronia! I was just thinking to myself, "assuming my thoughts are incorrect, I wonder what sort diseases are common in Portugal?"

 

I am guilty of thinking X symptoms must be caused by Y - but that may well be because I have zero knowledge of !!

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2 hours ago, crazydoglady99 said:

Good on ya Boronia! I was just thinking to myself, "assuming my thoughts are incorrect, I wonder what sort diseases are common in Portugal?"

 

I am guilty of thinking X symptoms must be caused by Y - but that may well be because I have zero knowledge of !!

me as well!

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