Lungworm

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Please excuse any spelling mistakes, am on my phone. My 10 month puppy has had a intermittant cough since November. Went to vets and diagnosed as Kennel cough, antibiotics and Milbemax prescribed. Imporoved for about a week then coughing returned. Altogether mow she's had 4 lots of antibiotics, 2 lots of 7 day panacur and one lot of 14 day panacur. Twice she responded to antibiotics but only when in conjunction with Milbemax or Pancur. Vet has taken a stool sample for lungworm but came back clear.

Went back yesterday having had the 14 day course of panacur six weeks ago. Didn't seem particularly effective but she's had her first s eason since and didn't do a lot so coughing seemed reduced but not sure it would have been if her usual self.

The vet decided yesterday to restart 14 day Panacur and has booked her into be spayed 8th June and he'll have a look at Trachea at that point. She coughed when he palpated her throat yesterday and said that obviosky something still going on and if she presented for the first time he would have diagnosed Kennel Cough.

She's generally eating OKish and is pretty full of life, though calmed down massively during her season. She's waking early as well.

DH is down with her atm as she seems to reacting to the Panacur again. The first lot she was given she was generally much bouncier and if given at night she had a strange reaction where she barked and whined and panted until about 1am. Feeding her dose in the morning seemed to prevent the night reaction but not today, though at the moment it isn't as bad as when we gave it at night.

DH has been reading and come across info that suggests the Panacur should be given in conjunction with something else. We were wondering if any of the
vets on here would mind giving some input on any of this as it is getting very worrying now it's going on so long. Any input would be very gratefully received.

[Joolyjoolyjoo]

Hi- my experience with kennel cough is that it can cause coughing for up to 6 weeks, but I would probably have investigated your pup before now, tbh, if she has had 4 lots of ABs. I would think it is unlikely to be lungworm, given the worming regime she has had, and the negative stool sample.

It could be developing into a chronic tracheitis- the initial bacterial infection of kennel cough can cause the little hairs lining the trachea to become oversensitive, an inflammatory response, so they cough whe there is any slight stimulation (eg when pulling on the lead/ excited/ going in from cold etc etc) But you would want to rule out other possibilities (eg foriegn body- I've seen blades of grass stick around a fair while!) My usual protocol for an unresolving cough is to sedate and examine the throat/ larynx, xray throat/ larynx/ chest and take a swab. It is quite possible to find nothing doing this, but it means you can rule out a few things. More specialised practices/ referral centres can also do a scope and bronchioalveolar lavage (where they use a small scope to look into the bronchi etc and put a small amount of fluid into the airway then draw it back out again, to look for cell types/ larvae etc.

Is there a particular time when she coughs more (at exercise/ at night/ when excited)? Does she (to your knowledge!) eat slugs or snails (ie could she be reinfecting herself with lungworm?)

How long is she out of season? Is it possible your vet could bring her spey forward and do a full investigation of her cough at the same time? I would definitely go back and speak to your vet again. I doubt it's anything serious, but better to check it out thoroughly!

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Thanks Jooly, that is a huge help. She generally coughs when she's excited but not always the case. Sometimes she's lying down or just littering round the kitchen.

There has definitely been an improvement to the extent that the cough vanishes for a few weeks, when she has taken Milbemax (improvement for one week only) or the 7 day courses of Panacur. She didn't respond as much to the 2 week course. We found on one of the 7 day ones she coughed a lot more before it improved, the vet did say if it was lungworm she might be coughing up the eggs. Before she had the first lot of antibiotics/mibemax she had become quite lethargic for a 5 month pup as she was then and her coat was very dull. The 2 times she had antibiotics on their own earlier on before lungworm was suspected, there was no improvement in coughing. The vet did say that the negative stool sample didn't rule lungworm as it depended where it was in their life cycle or something like that.

So for now we've got another 13 days of Panacur which unfortunately definitely can make her go a bit weird at night. She started her season 1st April and rather unfortunately we are going away 29th May, which is how we ended up with 8 June for op. There was some discussion about doing it two weeks before we go and I wonder if we should look at that again as I really would feel better ruling out a foreign body, do you think that is too soon after her season ?

She is a terrible scavenger and has a bad habit of eating dead mice the cats leave and has become quite adept at hiding what she's up to. I haven't actually seen her eat a snail or slug but our garden is full of them, especially at night.

Sorry this is so long and thank you hugely for your help. It's not nice seeing her so out of sorts as she was last night with the whining and panting and I just want her completely well.

[rainbowinthesky]

One of ours had lung worm and it was one of the most horrific things I've seen in an animal. It was fairly complex to treat it and we knew he had it before the sample came back as he was so ill e.g. massive internal bleeding, paralysed with pain, swollen blood shot eye. He could not be given any pain killers as it contradicts the treatment , he had panacur and advocate given although we were told there is no cure as such. He was also hospitalised for several days with plasma given etc.

We were told it is very difficult to treat and not many vets know much about it.

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Oh my goodness Rainbow, I hope he's alright now. Keep reading how awful it can be and my worry is that she has it, the Panacur does have an effect and reduces the amount of them but never completely knocks them on the head and they start to reproduce again until the next time she gets Panacur when the cycle starts all over again. I really hope I'm wrong. DH has been reading somewhere that Panacur can sometimes have to be given in conjuction with something else to completely shift them.

[rainbowinthesky]

Advocate is what we were given along with panacur.

It was amazing he survived. The vets called him teh miracle dog. They said if he did survive it was likely there would be long term effects due to brain damage and possibly scarring of the eyes causing blindness.
One year later and apart from an occasional stumble he is absolutely fine.

[beautifulgirls]

Advocate is an alternative treatment for lungworm to panacur and very simple to use. You can also use milbemax, but it has to be given in different doses to the standard worming dose to be effective (as does panacur).

In my experience kennel cough recovery can take six weeks+ in some cases. I would ask your vet for some metacam to try as an anti-inflammatory to see if that helps - this is often more useful in my opinion than the antibiotics that are given out.

Hope she is better soon.

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

Thank goodness he's OK Rainbow, that really sounds horrific.

Beautifulgirls, thank you, that is very helpful. The first lot of coughing was November, does that still sound possible for it to be kennel cough ? It does vanish for a week or two with Panacur but then comes back. I think we'll see how she is after this lot of Panacur but I'm armed with a bit more info now and will discuss Metacam with vet. She had her weird reaction again last night which only ever happens when she's taking Panacur but luckily it didn't go on so long and we were able to go to bed at the usual time. Also she slept in until 7am for the first time in a month so feeling a bit better this morning. Not heard a cough as yet this morning but it happens so frequently half the time I don't think I notice.