Fleas, Ticks & Worms

YOUR GREYHOUND'S HEALTH

Fleas, Ticks, and Worms

The most common parasites found in dogs are fleas, ticks, and worms.

Fleas - During the summer and fall months, Southern California fights an ongoing battle with fleas and ticks. Your two alternatives are to use chemicals or to use a more natural approach. See the chart below for flea, tick and wormer products that have been used of greyhounds. There may be natural alternatives such as: daily flea combing, frequent baths, cedar chips and/or oil in the stuffing of bedding, and sprinkling of borax powder lightly on carpeting after vacuuming (allow to remain until next vacuuming when the process is repeated).

Although chemicals are not always the most desirable option and may be hazardous to the health of both humans and non-humans in your household, you may find they are sometimes necessary to control fleas. Make sure to read the product labels and take precautions when using any flea, tick or worm control chemicals on greyhounds. New products such as Program®, Frontline®, and Advantage® involve giving your pet a monthly pill or liquid. Before using any flea control chemicals, be sure to consult your veterinarian.

All flea treatments must be done in conjunction with flea control directed at the animal’s immediate environment. This involves treating the house, dog bed, and yard. We recommend that you also discuss this topic thoroughly with your veterinarian.

Ticks - Ticks live in shrubs and undergrowth, dropping onto animals (including humans) as they pass. They attach themselves and feed, filling their bodies with blood until they look like shiny beads. These insects may be carriers of diseases and can cause serious infections. Inspect your dog for ticks after walks and during grooming sessions. Carefully examine your dog’s head and neck area, the ears, between their toes and under the tail. Use tweezers to carefully remove any ticks; destroy them by dropping them into rubbing alcohol. In some extreme cases you might have to get a chemical tick product.

Most intestinal worms - If at any time you see worms in your dog's stool (not all types are visible) or if your dog shows signs of anemia, weight loss, lethargy, intestinal irritation, diarrhea, including bloody diarrhea or vomiting, these could be indicators of worms. You should make an appointment with your veterinarian and be sure to bring a fecal sample with you. There are many kind of parasitic worms and some are more difficult to deal with than others. If you take your greyhound to city or dog parks or walk them around grassy public areas like apartment complexes you should have your hound on some form of monthly preventative - including worm prevention.

Hook Worms - June 2019 update - Many of the hounds now coming of the farms and tracks have been coming in with resistant hook worms and GreySave has upped their caution when it comes to track, farm or Hemopet greyhounds. Here is a quick writeup. Most California vets when confronted with hookworms in a greyhound will be tempted to use Panacur as that is the text book recommended medicine BUT we have discovered and confirmed with other greyhound groups that Panacur is no longer effective on the hookworms now found in greyhounds. You may have to let your vet know that Panacur is no longer effective, at least not in our experience or of the other groups we have contacted. (Note: If they or you want references or contact information we can provide some.)

Instead of using Panacur which we believe the worms have grown immune to we are taking a two-strike approach that uses Advantage Multi applied monthly for a minimum of a year as it is one of only 2 products that kills all the stages of the hooks including eggs that shed periodically. Plus we either use Strongid Paste (pyrantel pamoate), Strongid Suspension or Drontol Plus (much more pricy) once every month on a schedule 2 weeks after the Advantage Multi. We recommend that you continue this pattern for 12 weeks and retest after the 12 weeks/3 months. If there are still hooks, even the antigens we will repeat the Strongid or Drontol regiment on top of the Advantage Multi for another 12 weeks and test again.

Heartworms - Though heart worm is not extremely common in southern California, it does exist in some parts of the state, especially where mosquitoes exist. If your greyhound gets infected with heart worm, it is difficult and, in some ways, dangerous to get rid of them. GreySave has brought in a couple heartworm dogs that raced in the southeast and we know from experience that many CA vets have not dealt with them. Our experience and research tells us that the vet must use what is referred to as the "slow kill" method. Your local veterinarian may be able to tell you if there have been cases near you. If you travel with your greyhound out of your immediate area you may want to keep them on a heartworm preventative year round. Heartworms are easier to prevent than to eradicate, as they entwine themselves around the arteries of the heart, lungs and sometimes the liver. They block the flow of blood causing jaundice, anemia, and eventually heart and lung failure and death.

Hookworms - Hook worms are another type of somewhat nasty worm and they can be easily contracted in California. These little nasties are found lurking in dog parks, city parks, apartment complex dog walking areas or any grassy or sandy areas where other dogs potty. Since hookworms have two stages in their life cycle (adult & larva) they are hard to eradicate. Hookworms are not visible to the naked eye and can be contracted by your dog by just walking on contaminated soil or by eating the contaminated soil or feces from an infected dog. Greyhounds could also come in from a track or farm that had been contaminated, though it has not historically been an issue for the hounds coming off the Caliente track. Because of this possibility, several years ago, GreySave switched to Advantage Multi which contains moxidectin for 100% of their new hounds. The reason we chose Advantage Multi was it is the only monthly product that is advertised to prevent fleas; prevents and kills worms including heartworm, hook worms (both stages) and other intestinal worms. Advantage Multi's power to kill the larva is built up over time so should be given for a least a year after your hound has been on the product however you can undo the benefits if you take your greyhound to places where hookworms live. A special note if your greyhound gets diagnosed with hookworms.

How to treat -- In 2018, GreySave did considerable research on how to kill hookworms since we had heard from various sources that the hooks seemed to be getting resistant to some of the typical wormers used at the kennels. Here is what was recommended to us and is the products and process we now use. Give Advantage Multi once a month and then also dose with Strogid paste or Pyrantal Pamoate suspension every 2 weeks for 12 weeks. Then retest to see if cleared. If not cleared redo the process until cleared. The Advantage Multi should be continued monthly for at least a year to build up a protection from the larva.

Note: Your GreySave greyhound was tested for heartworm the day they came off the track and placed on Advantage Multi which is a monthly topical product. It is vital that this preventive continue to be given monthly and we recommend to do that for a year. You can obtain Advantage Multi from your vet. If they don't sell it, get a prescription and order it on-line. You need a prescription for Advantage Multi and several other products because it contains a heartworm killer as part of its formula.

Brief comparison of flea, tick and worm control and/or preventative products for dogs – compiled by GreySave and used by some GreySave adopters. Please note: almost yearly or sometime more often a new product for fleas, ticks & worms comes on the market and not all may be safe for greyhounds. It is often best to check with other greyhound experienced individuals to confirm that the product has been used safely on greyhounds.