Whipworms ( Update With What Copper & Lucky Have )

Humans can get it through the soles of your feet, hands, etc...

Clean, clean, clean inside, bleach for the area where the accident was. You'll have to dig out any soil that was exposed to the dogs/cats/etc. because nothing will kill it in the ground, literally nothing... not freezing or heat from the sun ....  if it's in your ground, you are better off switching to interceptor that will treat it monthly otherwise you'd be battling this again and again. There is limited documentation that pure bleach on the ground or lime or burning will help, but the only proven ground treatment is to remove any exposed soil.

Good luck!

Absolutely everything Karen said !!!

 Whipworm (and also hookworm) are highly contagious to humans, dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs -- virtually  any species with blood!!

All you have to do is step somewhere they have been left -- so clean the area SUPER well with bleach, but also realize your days of walking barefoot outside should be over!!  Because they are in the soil now (particularly they will have been spread with all the rain we've had this week *sigh*). 

You can *not* get them out of your soil -- seriously.  I've battled this since I took a dog during a hurricane who wound up having whips and hooks (and the rescue *promised* me he'd been vetted *sigh*).

What kind of dog is Copper?  If he's part Corgi you may not be able to use Ivermectin.  Particularly not the larger doses you will need to use to kill whips/hooks.

It's honestly a good thing you guys caught this -- a dog can have whipworm and it can be INVISIBLE and you can simply have them die, not knowing they are that anemic.  Particularly with summer coming on -- it's way too easy down here to mistake summer heat laziness for the lethargy that comes with anemia.  I lost a dog to this once.

Interceptor IS the easiest thing  if you want just a pill.  If you need something cheap, if your animals all tolerate it, you can use liquid Ivermectin (Ivomec) which is a fraction of the cost of everything else. 

Well i bought Trifexis just for Daisy so far the other two go to the vets on monday to check them out. He has Daisy on Flagyl and then Panacur and gave me Panacur for Lucky and Copper as well. Lucky is half chow and Copper is half corgi.

I wish the first time seen that poop i would of brought all 3 in this is only the second time it ever looking like that. I believe the last time was a month or two ago  feel like a bad pet owner.

Should i have bought Interceptor instead?

Interceptor is primarily for heartworm prevention BUT it also prevents against  hookworm and whipworm.  You ***WILL*** need to use something month after month after this.

You could do the Interceptor for Copper -- and give the others Ivomec.

Trifexis is fine if it's a monthly preventative. They all will need to be on somethign monthly now even if they are not yet testing positive since if the positive dog has pooped on soil the others will walk on, they will all get it at some point or another unless you clean the whole environment (by removing soil). At this point, you need to be uber-vigilant at picking up poop (you may already be, I'm just putting it out there) the longer it sits on the ground, the more parasites get in the ground. 

If you or anyone else reading this plans on using Ivomec and dosing it yourself, please be VERY careful and get vet assistance with the amounts needed. I know a person that read they could use it online, misunderstood the dosing/dilution and overdosed their dog by 100x's and wound up with bad situation. It is VERY easy to overdose and the stuff they sell by bottle is in different strengths, made for much larger animals like pigs, cows, etc... the dilution based on the percentage is challenging math (and differs based on what/where you read online) and it'd be best if you go over the amount needed to control the parasite you are dealing with with a vet. They may even be willing to dilute it for you into a bottle and then tell you dosing info, you have very small dogs, please be careful and get help if you decide to try this. There are different amounts needed to be effective on hooks/whips vs. heartworm and round worms. My vet does not recommend using Ivomec for the monthly control of whips.

Outdoorschik I absolutely agree -- I have used Interceptor (Triflec is like Sentinel -- it's milbemycin + the Program drug) for mine for that specific reason.

The ONLY reason I would suggest ivermectin (and that only on dogs that can tolerate it) the ***ONLY*** reason would be if you simply can *not* afford to keep all dogs on milbemycin.  When you have multiple dogs that becomes incredibly cost-prohibitive for some people.

But you *can't* just decide not to do anything -- I learned the hard way that whips and hooks will pass from one dog to another in a heartbeat and the declline can be rapid.

They all had their Panacur I thought they would of given me a hard time eating it but they ate it up. I'll talk to the vet monday about everything you's both told me I do appreciate it. $114 is a lot but since I already got the Trifexis for Daisy she's good for 6 months she only weighs 25-29lbs the other two are about 45-50lbs 

Oh just crossed my mind the Trifexis is probably more for the other two since their weight is more just my luck lol. I do pick their poop up. I keep reading they can get it from contaminated food or water which has me worried maybe it's their food first time this time I'm guessing it was Daisy who did it the first time my parents gave all the dogs liver when they were watching them.

So I wonder if it was the liver but I guess it could be anything it's just my luck, things go good for a few and then something else happens, I believe it's my last name lmao its cursed well I tell my father that .

Again thanks for all the help, oh should I get rid of their beds?They have no toys they don't like to play with toys. Copper and Lucky got a vet visit monday afternoon hope monday comes quick.Thanks again

Hope you don't mind me jumping in to ask for Gibby.  For all that you guys know about Hookworms....end of Oct 2009 Gibby had Hook and Round worms, he was on Panacur in 3 doses ( If I remember how we did it ) spaced apart..... he had a fecal exam after that and was clear. Then May 21 2010....he was diagnosed with them again....... back on Panacur but this time spaced in 2 doses.  He tested negative after that.   I'm thinking he got them at a day care he was going to....there was a lot of dogs and one day when we picked him up he smelled like bleach almost...thinking back wonder what was up with that. He hasn't gone back there. BUT...he hasn't had any problems since..so do you think I can depend on them being gone?  I figure in a few weeks I will take him for his HW test and take a stool sample with me. His vet has moved to a new place and this one is in my city.....she told me this clinic sends all stool samples to a lab for testing....

Well Lucky & Copper don't have whipworms they both have tapeworms. Both are also negative for heartworm. Other wise their good. 

Holy crap!!  I had no idea how serious this is.  I'm a little annoyed at my vet for not letting me know how serious.  I took Chief into the vet last month after discovering bloody diarrhea and he had hookworms.  I treated everyone just in case.  I'm thinking I'll be taking in a stool sample for all my dogs in a couple of weeks just to have them rechecked.  I only have Chief on Interceptor now, but I suppose I should have everyone on it.  I just hate to waste all of the heartguard I have.  :(

daisyprincess

do pick their poop up. I keep reading they can get it from contaminated food or water which has me worried maybe it's their food first time this time I'm guessing it was Daisy who did it the first time my parents gave all the dogs liver when they were watching them.

Unless you catch it in a bucket **before** it hits the ground **YOUR yard is contaminated**

DIANE -- READ THIS TOO  (Not yelling - just trying to emphasize because this is so important)

whips and hooks are **Incredibly** contagious

You can never, ever get rid of them in you

daisyprincess

I keep reading they can get it from contaminated food or water which has me worried maybe it's their food first time this time I'm guessing it was Daisy who did it the first time my parents gave all the dogs liver when they were watching them.

Did your folks give them *raw* liver??  If it was cooked it wouldn't have transmitted parasites.

All that has to happen is for one dog *one time* to have pooped in your parents yard or your yard on their way by -- and you can be contaminated.  Hooks and whips are very weather-conscious -- they can go into suspended state during winter and come alive in the summer -- or they can be dormant for a couple of years and then come popping back out when the weather is friendly for them.

daisyprincess

Again thanks for all the help, oh should I get rid of their beds?

Can you wash them?  it wouldn't be a bad idea if you can't bleach them. 

daisyprincess

Well Lucky & Copper don't have whipworms they both have tapeworms. Both are also negative for heartworm. Other wise their good. 

Tape worms need to be treated with a differnt wormer.  Completely different.  And honeslty?  If those two have tapes then probably the others do as well -- it just may not be showing in the other dogs.  I would ask for tapeworm wormer for all of them.

Tapes can be difficult to treat because you have no way of knowing if you have gotten the "head" of the tapeworm (it will just grow new segments otherwise)

Tapeworms simply rob nutrition from the dog - they live IN the intestines and simply suck the nutrition out of them.  They're majorly gross but honestly they are the least destructive.

hookworms are essentially a little ball shaped parasite that is ALL MOUTH.  It is literally almost entirely "teeth".   Hooks are so bad because they literally can destroy an organ just by chewing on it.  And in an older or weakened animal they can actually kill in remarkably short period of time.

whipworms are essentially a long thread-like parasite but one whole side of the parasite is like a razor blade -- literally the parasite uses it's own body to slice open part of the body so it can suck the blood. 

BOTH hooks and whips can be fatal -- quite quickly fatal.  They are nothing to mess with!!

Sorry -- not yelling but these are pretty danged serious.  I lost a dog to them once -- he was older, and we took a foster in during a hurricane.  I was *promised* by the rescue he'd just been vetted.  He hadn't ... *sigh*.  Old Mike got hooks and whips (and so did my other two) but Mike was older and weaker.  It literally only took a couple of weeks for it to make him so weak he collapsed.  It was my vet's opinion at the time that they'd likely invaded a major organ (likely the liver) and had literally destroyed the organ in the process of feeding. 

Mike collapsed one day after I came home -- he didn't get up to come and greet me -- I thot he'd just been "sleeping a lot" because it was a very hot summer.  I just didn't know what a bad sign "lethargy" was.  I got him to the vet and the vet thot he'd treated him safely but Mike passed - likely the damaged organ just failed.  It was a long time ago but I have NEVER forgotten how fast it happened. 

dyan

. BUT...he hasn't had any problems since..so do you think I can depend on them being gone?  I figure in a few weeks I will take him for his HW test and take a stool sample with me.

*Nope*   Diane, it's in your yard now, you can never depend on them being 'gone'.  You will have to test him periodically (I do it at least 3 times a year b/c I have them in MY yard) just to be sure. 

They don't "show" -- you can't know which areas of your yard have them.

This is just one of the **many** reasons I won't use Heartguard -- not ever.  Interceptor does a good job getting rid of hooks and whips once a month before they cause massive problems. 

Just use the Interceptor intermittently ... then you can use the HeartGuard up.

I didn't see the same vet that I had friday, he doesn't work until wednesday which I didn't know but this vet gave Lucky & Copper Droncit he said give them 4 pills today and the other 4 in 6 weeks. All 3 are on Trifexis. 

I wish I could wash their beds but I can't do you think if I used a rug cleaner would it help? I just can't believe this just not what I needed or what they needed. I'll call the vets on Wednesday to speak to the vet we seen friday and ask if I should have Daisy on the tapeworm meds.

When Daisy was in I had brought some of what she did at the house and they also took a stool sample that day.I would think it would or at least hoped it would of showed up as well. I didn't bring a stool sample from Lucky or Copper the vet took it.

Between Friday and today cost me $700 I'm BROKE, I told the vet with the dogs having different types of worms think I'll ask my doctor in two weeks to check me for worms lol.

Callie....your saying Gibby HAS ( as opposed to HAD ) whip worms now because he got them somewhere along the line?   And the fact that he was tested negative after meds...didn't mean that he didn't have them?   And if that is true.....then if I get him tested now again that it won't mean anything?  YIKES!  I do remember reading ( after finding Gibby had them the first time ) that the only way to REALLY know is to test the stool a few days in a row... like at least 3....unless of course they show up right away.

BUT ALSO...what does that mean for us humans?  The ones that Gibby gets into bed with in the morning for about an hour each day? Or loves to lay on our laps?