Whipworm questions

HI Group, I need some help with Whipworms. I do foster care for dogs, and I recently got two Chi's that were in pretty bad shape. They were diagnosed with whipworms among other problems. They are being taken care of, and when they are cleared. They will be going to another foster home. But they left behind a few presents that will cause problems for me with any other foster dog I get in. I have been reading up on whipworms, but they don't really give you any idea of how to dispose of the infected poo. I let the Chi’s out to go potty in an outdoor kennel. So for the most part it is contained. But I did let them run the yard once, and they could have gone potty then. How do I disinfect a whole yard, to make certain my dogs don't get it? Both my permanent dogs are on Heartworm meds, would that stop them from catching Whipworms? The other problem is, the foster dogs I bring in. They won’t all be on heartworm meds, how do I make certain they are protected? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is all that I could find:

It is extremely difficult to eradicate due to the long incubation period of the larvae and the hardiness of the eggs – it is virtually impossible to kill whipworm eggs laying dormant in the soil, so infestation is frequent. Prevention is therefore imperative.

-- http://www.soidogrescue.org/common-health-problems.html

I DID see, in several places, that the monthly heartworm preventative will also prevent whipworm.

I wonder if any of these could give some guidance:
- your vet
- your state veterinary board
- your state master gardener program

Yup, the eggs are very hardy little buggers. Bleach won't even necessarily kill them. My vet says that after picking up the poo, the only way to kill these hardy eggs is to torch the spot!!

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Whipworm eggs are somewhat susceptible to drying, but can remain alive in moist soil for years, and are resistant to freezing. Because of this, animals should be restricted from contaminated areas. There is no effective method for killing whipworm eggs in the soil. The only alternative is to replace the soil with new soil, gravel, and pavement.

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From http://www.peteducation.com

I would suggest doing a fecal float on any and all incoming fosters. You may want to consider deworming them before arrival (regardless of fecal results) just to be safe. Dewormers are generally quite safe.

I would keep your dogs on one of the following heartworm combo meds: Interceptor (oral), Sentinel (oral) or Advantage Multi (topical). These three monthly meds kill adult whipworms. :)

Let me know if you have any further questions. :)

Sure I always have questions. LOL I know you mentioned a med that would cover the whipworms. But do you know of a heartworm med that would cover all the known worms out there? I would hate for this to happen again. Like I said I have my permanent dogs covered. But I called the vet to make certain the heartworm meds I give them would cover whipworms. And they said no it doesn’t, so now I have to give them some worming meds, and get a heartworm coverage that covers whipworms also. I thought since I am doing this, I might as well try and find one that covers them all if there is such a med.

The three meds that I mentioned (Interceptor, Sentinel, & Advantage Multi) are all heartworm (HW) meds. So you could switch your dogs to one of these after your current supply of HW meds runs out. Keep in mind that these products will be more expensive than your current HW meds. In the mean time, I would ask your vet if he can worm your dogs for whipworms since they were exposed (sounds like you are already planning to do this). However, I see no reason not to use up whatever HW meds you have since you paid good money for them, right? ;)

There isn't one drug that can cover all known worms, but Sentinel and Advantage Multi come the closest. I personally use Sentinel (oral) because I prefer oral meds to topicals since I want to feel free to love all over my doggie's fur. :D Otherwise, if you take your doggies in to the vet every 6 mos., then they should have fecals done and any parasites found can be treated.

The Pet Education website (out of Drs. Foster & Smith) is a really good site for this kind of information. Here is the heartworm page: http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=743

To summarize....
Interceptor
Oral monthly heartworm med that "controls hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms".
Sentinel
Oral monthly heartworm med that "controls hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms and prevents flea eggs from developing". By sterilizing the fleas, it also tends to reduce the chance that your dog will be infected with tapeworms.
Advantage Multi
Topical monthly heartworm med that "kills adult fleas, and treats infestations of ear mites, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, sarcoptic mange, and demodectic mange". By killing fleas, it also tends to greatly reduce the chance that your dog will be infected with tapeworms.

*None of these meds repel or kill ticks.

Hopefully this makes sense. Let me know if you have more questions. :)

I was told that since one of my dogs is a hearding breed. That those you mentioned can hurt my dog. Because hearding dogs can be sensitive to these ingredients and adverse reactions cause them to be at risk. Have you had any problems with these meds, looks like you have a Border Collie.

I just spoke to someone from bayer, the company that has the Advantage-Multi for dogs. I asked her about the adverse reactions my dog might have to the product. And she felt that because she wasn't a Collie, that it shouldn't hurt her. But I don't want to give her it unless I know for certain. Who else can I go to ask these questions? My vet said they don't have the product, so they wouldn't know anything really about it.

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Originally Posted by frawri

I was told that since one of my dogs is a hearding breed. That those you mentioned can hurt my dog. Because hearding dogs can be sensitive to these ingredients and adverse reactions cause them to be at risk. Have you had any problems with these meds, looks like you have a Border Collie.

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The sensitivity that you refer to is a known mutation commonly called MDR1. This mutation affects the blood-brain barrier and thus *numerous* otherwise safe drugs are toxic. I think it's prevalence has been exaggerated, and I don't think it has been documented (officially anyway) in *all* herding breeds by any means. (Here's an interesting article: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/101/32/11725 )

Research out of UC-Davis and other institutions has shown that the heartworm preventive dose is sufficiently low to not elicit a reaction in known sensitive (MDR1) dogs. I don't know what HW preventative you are using now, but it is more than likely also from the avermectin class of drugs, which includes Ivermectin. Personally I would only worry about the possibility of a reaction to avermectins if I had a herding breed undergoing heartworm treatment. This involves much higher doses of the drugs.

The MDR1 mutation is of concern to HW drug manufacturers and they do actively address it. Specifically they test their products on lines of Beagles (usually) that have been bred purposely to carry this mutation. Not sure how reassuring that is, as it is kind of sad, but it is the truth. :( (These animals are not abused by any means, but they also do not have what you and I would think of as the ideal life...)

Bottom line: The greater risk to your herding dog is undergoing heartworm treatment if he or she is not put on an effective preventative. I would not worry about possible reactions from any of the three HW preventatives I have mentioned here. I give my herding breed (yes, he is a border collie) Sentinel every month and I'm very confident in doing so. :)

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Originally Posted by frawri

I just spoke to someone from bayer, the company that has the Advantage-Multi for dogs. I asked her about the adverse reactions my dog might have to the product. And she felt that because she wasn't a Collie, that it shouldn't hurt her. But I don't want to give her it unless I know for certain. Who else can I go to ask these questions? My vet said they don't have the product, so they wouldn't know anything really about it.

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If you want to be 100% certain, I suppose you can test your dog for the mutation through WSU.
Here's a link about it: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vcpl/test.asp .

The heartworm meds we give our dogs has Ivermectin as the main ingredient. And they have had no adverse reaction to it. I think that the products you have mentioned will work just fine. The only problem I am having is, my vet doesn’t carry these brands. And you need a vet to buy the product in order for you to use it. Is there any other way I can get these products? I don’t wish to ask my vet hospital to buy them. They always inflate their products, by rather a large margin. I go to them because their vets are very good. And they take payment plans, which most other vets down here don’t do. So when ever possible I try and get the meds, and wormers from some other source. I like the idea of the Advantage multi, because it says it covers so many worms. But I would hate to use it and find that it wasn’t working. You mentioned you use Sentinel, does it help with killing flea adults? I know you mentioned it kills the eggs. Do you know of any other place I could check out the Advantage multi, for more testing that has been done on it? I know so many questions. Sorry. I just would like to make certain they are covered with the best stuff I can find. And because I do foster care, the more the med covers, the better off my dogs are going to be.

I think your vet should be able to write you a prescription and then you can buy the product online or from a mail-order catalog. :)

I would not suggest using 1800petmeds (even though their prices are cheap) because the manufacturers will not guarantee products sold through them. A more reputable company is Drs. Foster & Smith. I don't buy pet pharmaceuticals online, so I would suggest that you price shop a little, and maybe ask your vet for a suggestion.

Sentinel does not kill adult fleas....but it sterilizes any flea that has a blood meal on my dog. This type of method is referred to as an environmental control. It does not guarantee no fleas, but it means that the population will not get out of hand quickly. Then if I do see fleas, I address them (usually with Capstar or a topical). We have not had a lot of flea problems and so I prefer to err on the side of using less chemicals on my animals.

For more information on Advantage Multi I would suggest searching the internet. You can read stuff from Bayer as well as other third parties. I'm not sure how many vet journals are free to read online...but that might be another way to learn more. Advantage Multi is new to the U.S. (as you mentioned), and I'm sure it has been heavily covered in journals as of late.

Hope this helps. :)

I just purchased advantage multi for my cat but have not started using it yet, it was $110 for a 6 month supply.