Lungworm

[milo'n'molly]

Just curious really, one of he pop up ads at the side of my screen is for dog workers etc and I was wondering how people on here are dealing with th possible threat of lungworms in the uk?
Do your dogs get preventative treatments? Mine so far hasn't. Have you known any infected dogs? My dog does not eat snails but will drink from outside puddles and pick up sticks and so one so really just wondering what the general consensus was.

 

[djedgley]

Hello, my yorky (who is a hunter) has had it twice. My vet has never seen a dog twice infected before & told me I was lucky not to lose him. He is on Advocat now to be on the safe side. I've never seen him eat snails but they can even pick it up from the snail trail. He does roll regularly in fox & badger poop :-( so I have no idea where he got it from.

 

[Umbongo]

I have seen lungworm twice.

The first was a 6 month old cockerpoo.He displayed a strange pain in his neck, he then started to develop some paralysis of his limbs and his legs would knuckle underneath him, his eyes started to hemorrhage. Although he was saved, 6 months on he is having regular heart scans due to the damage the lungworm caused, his latest heart scan shows some deterioration. He does have odd seizures, though to be due to brain damage caused by the lungworm.

I have seen another one, 9 month old JRT who unfortunately got to us a little too late and did unfortunately die. His only symptoms were coughing and lethargy, so something that a lot of people would postpone a vet visit for...to see if it clears. Went downhill very rapidly, not something I would like to witness again.

My dog is on advocate, he is 11 years old now and has never eaten slugs/snails etc. However just because they haven't doesn't mean they wont, some dogs can get a bit confused as they get older, or some may eat slugs/snails on accident?

 

[Echo24]

My dog is on advocate. I've heard of two cases of dogs that have been diagnosed with lungworm, one died. Speaking to vets they are noticing an increasing number of cases. It's expensive but worth it given the risk.