Lung worm, my neighbour's dog died last week.

[SkyeSue]

I did a search on here and see that there's been a few threads about it, but just wanted to highlight it again. I just heard this awful news this morning and have been doing a bit of researchin on the internet. Apparently slugs and snails are the culprits; which is a bit of a worry, as I regularly have slugs crawling around my house  I'm not sure that Chloe would eat them, but she does tend to have a go at any creepy crawlies  Apparantly, the vets here are so concerned about the increase in cases here, that they're sending out info to all their clients about the dangers and what to look out for in terms of symptoms.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Oh gosh, that's a worry for you  I use Advocate on my two which I know does heartworm, but I'm not sure about lungworm?

Hope there is something you can give her just to be sure 

Hannah xxx

[SkyeSue]

I'm not sure either Hannah...looking at previous posts, some folk have said that normal wormers don't work for lung worm, but others have said they do, and that treatment actually consists of several days of taking panacur. Chloe is going to the vet for her op next week, so I shall ask him what he thinks. Meanwhile, I shall be watching her like a hawk 

[joanne_v]

Oh gosh, that's a worry for you  I use Advocate on my two which I know does heartworm, but I'm not sure about lungworm?

Hope there is something you can give her just to be sure 

Hannah xxx

Advocate and Panacur are the only ones I know of that DO treat lungworm. I used advocate on my lurcher foster pup who came riddled with lungworm. Wont be long before every dog in the UK needs preventative treatment for it 

[SkyeSue]

Oh gosh, that's a worry for you  I use Advocate on my two which I know does heartworm, but I'm not sure about lungworm?

Hope there is something you can give her just to be sure 

Hannah xxx

Advocate and Panacur are the only ones I know of that DO treat lungworm. I used advocate on my lurcher foster pup who came riddled with lungworm. Wont be long before every dog in the UK needs preventative treatment for it 

Jo, does that mean Advocate and Panacur act as a prevention, or just as a cure iyswim?

[bajoleth]

When Belle had her 2nd vacs the vet gave me advocate and before I could ask him he told me it would protect her from lungworm, as we live in wales apparantly there is a high incidence here, I was going to ask him about it as it worries me to death especially as the lovely Belle will eat anything . So as far as I am aware Advocate is a preventative so they shouldn't become infested should they eat a slug or snail

[Nicola]

Advocate and Panacur both work against lungworm, they can be used as a preventative - it doesn't stop the dog actually getting the lungworm but should kill them off if present - and as a treatment if a dog is diagnosed as having an infestation (most cases I've heard of are given Panacur but this may vary depending on the vet). I think that the case may often be that the regular monthly dose is sometimes not enough to prevent an infestation which is why if a dog is diagnosed they are given higher doses of the preventative over a longer period - usually every day for a week - in order to get rid of it.

The 'lungworm' ingredient you're looking for is called fenbendazole, or ivermectin also works. Milbemax can be used to treat lungworm and as a preventative but vets don't usually prescribe it as such as I don't think it's officially licensed for use against lungworm. If you do use Advocate you need to use a separate wormer for tapeworm as it doesn't work against that.

[LizH]

It is quite worrying - Pebble had this (or so the vet said ) when she was about 7/8 months old. It started with a cough which they initially treated as kennel cough but then they said oh it maybe lungworm and she had Panacur for a couple of weeks. She still struggled though and eventually had to have X-rays and a swab which revealed a bacterial infection (which they believed was as a result of the worm which had by then gone as a result of the Panacur). Eventually due to the swabs they could isolate the nature of the bacteria and importantly the antibiotics to treat it with. As you can imagine I was glad I had insurance 

She is fine now and as a result of all the visits so early in her life absolutely loves the vets and tries to pull me in there everytime we walk past - she also gives snails and slugs a wide berth - which I do realise is because she doesn't like the taste of them as opposed to knowing they are bad for her!! 

[JohnW]

here is an informative site in what to look for if you suspect lungworm i.e script and pictures and recommendation on treatments.

http://www.lungworm.co.uk/scripts/pages/en/home.php

[johndoran]

I agree it is a worry especially in warm and damp conditions. Evening time when i open my back door there are often quite a few slugs and snails on the slabs and last night there was the biggest snail halfway up my door which Bonnie Boo was very interested in.Managed to get it off and into the bin but am going to more aware now.

[Helen_Marsden]

Yes we use milbemax on ours dogs, a friend of mine dogs died the other year from lung worm, she is an equine vet and was beside her self, she recommended we use it to prevent it happening to ours.

[Spanielsmum]

Is this all over the country or just specific areas? we have loads of slugs and snails in our garden, but fortunately Norris leaves them alone. He is a monkey for drinking from muddy mucky puddles though....

[lindseyp]

So very sorry to hear this skyesue. I'm reading this thread with great interest as this could turn out to be what Purdeys suffering from.
Does anyone know how long they can have lungworm before it proves fatal? Hopefully, if Purds has it, it's been caught in time!

Yes we use milbemax on ours dogs, a friend of mine dogs died the other year from lung worm, she is an equine vet and was beside her self, she recommended we use it to prevent it happening to ours.

Did your friend loose more than one dog to lungwarm? How tragic  

[SkyeSue]

The problem is, that it can be caught from the snail trail, the dog doesn't just have to eat or be in contact with the snail to be infected. Scary stuff. 

Yes, I read that on one of the websites...I can wake up in the morning to at least two or three of these in various places in the house. Not noticed Chloe being particularly interested in them so far though.....says she with all fingers crossed 

[joanne_v]

So very sorry to hear this skyesue. I'm reading this thread with great interest as this could turn out to be what Purdeys suffering from.
Does anyone know how long they can have lungworm before it proves fatal? Hopefully, if Purds has it, it's been caught in time!

Yes we use milbemax on ours dogs, a friend of mine dogs died the other year from lung worm, she is an equine vet and was beside her self, she recommended we use it to prevent it happening to ours.

Did your friend loose more than one dog to lungwarm? How tragic  

A normal adult dog in good health is very unlikely to die from lungworm. Its older frail dogs or young pups that are mainly at risk. The runt of a litter of lurchers (I fostered his brother) nearly died from it but he was only 7 weeks old and had been kept in terrible conditions and he pulled through and is fine now.