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I own a former racing Greyhound and it took forever to get rid of our boy's hookworms. Annoyingly, as soon as they were gone he got a new round of worms from th

I own a former racing Greyhound and it took forever to get rid of our boy's hookworms. Annoyingly, as soon as they were gone he got a new round of worms from the rather terrible grounds of the apartment complex we lived in at the time. The new worms were much easier to get rid of than the track worms. Dog tracks are filthy, they should all be shut down.

luma 5y ago
Any insight as to how you managed to get rid of the track worms in your grey? We're still battling that here and nothing seems to last.
- DanCarvajal 5y ago
  We did the typical recommendation from adoption groups now days is Drontal combined with AdvantageMulti. Drontal to kill the worms and AdvantageMulti to prevent reinfection during and after the killing. Lately I have heard of groups switching bovine grade dewormers, especially for dogs from Mexican tracks.
  - jmull 5y ago
    As I mentioned in another response, we had the same issue with Noodle. And similar solution. For us, it took two courses of Panacur + AdvantageMulti. (Before that we had tried two courses of just Panacur, which was our vet’s preferred tx before the “super worms” from the track.)
yellow_lead 5y ago
That's interesting that it supports the article. Seems the hookworms on the track evolved against common medication, but the ones in your apartment complex didn't.
- DanCarvajal 5y ago
  I strongly suspect that to be the case. It was frustrating to put in the work picking up after our dog's bowel movements and spraying the area with a bleach solution only for other people to not pick up enough after their dogs.
  - specialist 5y ago
    > spraying the area with a bleach solution Does that help? I'm interested in any efforts to make playgrounds, dog parks, etc. safer. Along the lines of choosing plants to reduce mosquitos. Like perhaps there's a species of ground cover that kills parasites. Or ticks avoid the needles from the crunchy pine tree (not a real thing, to avoid creating a false idea). Or maybe there are fungi that break down poop faster. Or....?
gnulinux 5y ago
Can you elaborate what is "took forever to get rid of"? My cat had hookworms too as he was a shelter cat. It took 3 rounds of medication to finally cure it (I haven't seen a worm since June 2020). My vet said that's pretty much normal, single dose may not 100% kill all parasites. I live in MA, USA.
- chongli 5y ago
  As I understand it, this problem is due to the worm’s lifecycle and rapid generations. The deworming medication is only effective against the worms themselves, not their eggs. Since the worms lay eggs constantly and hatch quickly it takes several treatments to thin out their numbers and cut off the reproductive cycle.
- DanCarvajal 5y ago
  Sure it was multiple rounds of multiple medications trying to find which ones could actually kill the dog track worms he had. It took nearly a year all told.
40four 5y ago
This is off subject of the worm issue, but my mom has owned retired racing greyhounds for years, and I’ve grown to love the breed. I get your sentiment, the tracks have been notoriously bad in many aspects of the dogs safety and health. But the issue is more complex then just ‘shutting down’ the tracks I think. They are wonderful dogs, I love them so much, great personality & demeanor. Especially for a hunting dog, they are great house companions. But after Florida banned dog racing a couple years ago, the sport is all but dead. ‘Coursing’ in the UK is all but banned as well, so my point is the future of the breed is in jeopardy. Nobody really hunts with these dogs anymore, so once the competitive outlets are gone ( coursing & track racing), the will be no reason left for breeders to invest time and money into the breed. Maybe a handful of niche breeders will keep them alive to breed for show or something, but other wise I think it’s important to remember that when we talk about eliminating track racing, we are therefore talking about eliminating the breed from existence. Sort of a catch 22 right? As distasteful as racing tracks can be, they also are the main reason the breed still exists. Personally I don’t want to see the breed go extinct. They are amazing dogs when you get to know them. It would also be ashamed to lose the bloodlines & the history, the centuries of breeding to create them. I’m not necessarily trying to support track racing, but I don’t know what a good answer is.
- r00fus 5y ago
  > when we talk about eliminating track racing, we are therefore talking about eliminating the breed from existence I am struggling with this logic. It's not like the dogs themselves will be put to death. We won't be selectively breeding them anymore other than to enjoy their company.
  - Icathian 5y ago
    It's no different than mourning the old 90's internet or music from a certain era. A thing gp loves about the world will diminish drastically because it's no longer viable, and they're going to miss it when it's gone. Makes sense to me.
    - addicted 5y ago
jmull 5y ago
Same here. We adopted Noodle last year and she had hookworms that took several rounds of treatment to get rid of. We heard all the hounds the adoption group took in from that track (one in Alabama that closed due to covid) had the same issue. Luckily someone had found a treatment regimen that worked and once our vet switched Noodle to that we finally got rid of the worms.

luma 5y ago

Any insight as to how you managed to get rid of the track worms in your grey? We're still battling that here and nothing seems to last.

DanCarvajal 5y ago
We did the typical recommendation from adoption groups now days is Drontal combined with AdvantageMulti. Drontal to kill the worms and AdvantageMulti to prevent reinfection during and after the killing. Lately I have heard of groups switching bovine grade dewormers, especially for dogs from Mexican tracks.
- jmull 5y ago
  As I mentioned in another response, we had the same issue with Noodle. And similar solution. For us, it took two courses of Panacur + AdvantageMulti. (Before that we had tried two courses of just Panacur, which was our vet’s preferred tx before the “super worms” from the track.)

yellow_lead 5y ago

That's interesting that it supports the article. Seems the hookworms on the track evolved against common medication, but the ones in your apartment complex didn't.

DanCarvajal 5y ago
I strongly suspect that to be the case. It was frustrating to put in the work picking up after our dog's bowel movements and spraying the area with a bleach solution only for other people to not pick up enough after their dogs.
- specialist 5y ago
  > spraying the area with a bleach solution Does that help? I'm interested in any efforts to make playgrounds, dog parks, etc. safer. Along the lines of choosing plants to reduce mosquitos. Like perhaps there's a species of ground cover that kills parasites. Or ticks avoid the needles from the crunchy pine tree (not a real thing, to avoid creating a false idea). Or maybe there are fungi that break down poop faster. Or....?

gnulinux 5y ago

Can you elaborate what is "took forever to get rid of"? My cat had hookworms too as he was a shelter cat. It took 3 rounds of medication to finally cure it (I haven't seen a worm since June 2020). My vet said that's pretty much normal, single dose may not 100% kill all parasites. I live in MA, USA.

chongli 5y ago
As I understand it, this problem is due to the worm’s lifecycle and rapid generations. The deworming medication is only effective against the worms themselves, not their eggs. Since the worms lay eggs constantly and hatch quickly it takes several treatments to thin out their numbers and cut off the reproductive cycle.
DanCarvajal 5y ago
Sure it was multiple rounds of multiple medications trying to find which ones could actually kill the dog track worms he had. It took nearly a year all told.

40four 5y ago

This is off subject of the worm issue, but my mom has owned retired racing greyhounds for years, and I’ve grown to love the breed. I get your sentiment, the tracks have been notoriously bad in many aspects of the dogs safety and health. But the issue is more complex then just ‘shutting down’ the tracks I think. They are wonderful dogs, I love them so much, great personality & demeanor. Especially for a hunting dog, they are great house companions. But after Florida banned dog racing a couple years ago, the sport is all but dead. ‘Coursing’ in the UK is all but banned as well, so my point is the future of the breed is in jeopardy. Nobody really hunts with these dogs anymore, so once the competitive outlets are gone ( coursing & track racing), the will be no reason left for breeders to invest time and money into the breed. Maybe a handful of niche breeders will keep them alive to breed for show or something, but other wise I think it’s important to remember that when we talk about eliminating track racing, we are therefore talking about eliminating the breed from existence. Sort of a catch 22 right? As distasteful as racing tracks can be, they also are the main reason the breed still exists. Personally I don’t want to see the breed go extinct. They are amazing dogs when you get to know them. It would also be ashamed to lose the bloodlines & the history, the centuries of breeding to create them. I’m not necessarily trying to support track racing, but I don’t know what a good answer is.

r00fus 5y ago
> when we talk about eliminating track racing, we are therefore talking about eliminating the breed from existence I am struggling with this logic. It's not like the dogs themselves will be put to death. We won't be selectively breeding them anymore other than to enjoy their company.
- Icathian 5y ago
  It's no different than mourning the old 90's internet or music from a certain era. A thing gp loves about the world will diminish drastically because it's no longer viable, and they're going to miss it when it's gone. Makes sense to me.
  - addicted 5y ago

jmull 5y ago

Same here. We adopted Noodle last year and she had hookworms that took several rounds of treatment to get rid of. We heard all the hounds the adoption group took in from that track (one in Alabama that closed due to covid) had the same issue. Luckily someone had found a treatment regimen that worked and once our vet switched Noodle to that we finally got rid of the worms.