Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Jackson has been on his anti-parasite meds his entire life and right on schedule, every 4 weeks (ok, give or take a day or two). For the last year+ he's been on Sentinel. At his recent and routine vet appt, roundworm eggs were found in his poo. GWAH!? My vet's practice sends poo out for analysis where it is screened by highly trained folks, so the chance that the roundworm eggs were confused for pollen is nil (thanks, Heather, for the heads up on this one!). Jackson's vet was equally confused and frustrated, as we all wondered how he got this infestation when he was supposed to be protected? His vet put a tech onto it today and she made calls to Novartis and learned quite a bit about Sentinel. Here's the deal:
Sentinel does protect your dog from these worms. It basically prevents the eggs from hatching or kills "newborns" so that adults never populate your pup. Hence, why eggs were found. The worms aren't ever able to grow to levels, causing clinical signs. When you give your pup Sentinel, those first 2 weeks are when the drug is most active, and that's when the most amount of eggs would be present in poo. Now, for Jackson, eggs were found at nearly 3.5 weeks post Sentinel. Hence, why his vet recommends deworming (more on that later). Upon further consideration, it's entirely possible for there to be eggs in your pup's poo at any point while on Sentinel (my mind actually thinks that as time progresses from dosage, the likelihood of greater egg loads increase...but...I didn't make the phone calls today)! Vets and techs should know this! So long as there are no adults or juvenile worms, seeing just eggs is to be expected. Huh? Who knew! So now, my vet and the techs understand this and to pay attention to the timing of fecal exams to the last dose of Sentinel.
So why are we deworming when it seems UNsurprising that there were eggs in Jackson's poo? Well, Novartis is paying for it! They'll also pay for a follow up fecal exam. It's possible there's a new species here that doesn't respond or respond well to it. I guess his parasite (egg) load was quite high, too. He's battling cancer and we don't need an infestation to get out of control. So, his first deworming pill was tonight and another in 3 weeks. Then, 2 weeks after his next Sentinel dose, I'll bring in some new poo. Fun times!
~ Katy
ACL tear in right hind leg 12/5/12 and scheduled ACL repair surgery 12/21/12. Pre-op xrays revealed osteosarcoma. Amputation 12/28/12. Chemo (carboplatin) started Jan 10, 2013 and ended on April 5, for a total of 5 doses. He handled carbo like a champ! No side effects. We started metronomic therapy at his third chemo and have been also doing some holistic treatments. He's a lively, playful 10 year old huskie-boarder collie and a very proud member of the Winter Warriors! Our love. Our funny little guy!
Good grief! I feel like my head's swimming in poo!
Darn Katy, you must be frustrated beyond words but we ALL thank you your diligence. This is not something Jackson needs to deal with on top of everything else!
Hanks for all the info.and for going to the trouble to pass it on.
Fetch on Jackson!! You are a go get 'em boy!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Wow! Thanks so much for the follow up! Pam is actually the smarty who remembered that roundworm eggs and pollen look similar, I don't want to take credit because I totally forgot! Anyway, I am so glad that you posted this because now that Sentinel is back on the market, I have a feeling that this issue is going to be popping up from time to time. It is very important for us in the vet industry to be aware of not only what a medication does, but how it does it. I have to be honest with you though, a lot of time this knowledge is left out of training for techs and receptionists, who are often the ones promoting the products. I know how the heartworm portion of the product works, but I had no idea how the deworming side worked. I will be calling a little impromptu staff meeting tomorrow at work to talk about this! I am also going to look into our other heartworm products and see if this is the case with them too. I hope that you can take comfort in knowing that sharing the ordeal that you have been through is going to save others from experiencing the same grief (at least the clients at the practice that I work at)!
Oh poor Jackson! I'm so sorry you guys are dealing with this. Yuk! Talk about scary and what a hassle at that. Glad you caught it though.
So when you say he's been on anti-parasite meds all his life, do you just mean heartworm medication?
I'm wondering, can an animal build up tolerance to it?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Oh, geez, my apologies! Pam was the brilliant one who pointed out pollen could be confused with roundworm eggs. Sorry, Pam. Thank you for your idea!
I wrote this to inform others, especially those in the vet field, as I'm easily thinking that whenever eggs are found in poo, the knee-jerk reaction is to de-worm. But as I've now learned, that's not always the case! Until there are perhaps clinical signs of a worm problem and/or adults recovered from stool, deworming should occur (esp in the case of Sentinel patients).
By anti-parasites, yes I mean "heartworm" meds. Heartworm meds these days typically address multiple parasites. Jackson has either been on Heartgaurd, Interceptor, or Sentinel his whole life.
As for acquired immunity: I don't think the medicine's mode of action impacts our dogs at all. Meaning, it's the active ingredients in the drug that directly impacts the parasites. So rather than our pups building immunity, it's possible the parasites are building immunity. I would suspect, similar to a course of antibiotics, that someone who doesn't dose their pups regularly or on schedule, is putting their pup at risk....both b/c of simply "missing" a dose, but it may also allow the parasites inside to gain some immunity. Maybe. Again, I'm no expert on how these drugs work.
To be honest, this wasn't a scary event. We've all had to deworm our pups once, so no biggie! Plus, it's not cancer! Rather than be scary, it was annoying and majorly eye-opening to learn how Sentinel functions. So now this not only means I have to be Jackson's advocate at the onco's, but I now have to advocate for his health based on his poo?! Geez, there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all this!
~ Katy
ACL tear in right hind leg 12/5/12 and scheduled ACL repair surgery 12/21/12. Pre-op xrays revealed osteosarcoma. Amputation 12/28/12. Chemo (carboplatin) started Jan 10, 2013 and ended on April 5, for a total of 5 doses. He handled carbo like a champ! No side effects. We started metronomic therapy at his third chemo and have been also doing some holistic treatments. He's a lively, playful 10 year old huskie-boarder collie and a very proud member of the Winter Warriors! Our love. Our funny little guy!
fetchon3 said
By anti-parasites, yes I mean "heartworm" meds. Heartworm meds these days typically address multiple parasites. Jackson has either been on Heartgaurd, Interceptor, or Sentinel his whole life.As for acquired immunity: I don't think the medicine's mode of action impacts our dogs at all. Meaning, it's the active ingredients in the drug that directly impacts the parasites. So rather than our pups building immunity, it's possible the parasites are building immunity. I would suspect, similar to a course of antibiotics, that someone who doesn't dose their pups regularly or on schedule, is putting their pup at risk....both b/c of simply "missing" a dose, but it may also allow the parasites inside to gain some immunity. Maybe. Again, I'm no expert on how these drugs work.
Ah OK, gotcha. That makes sense.
I've heard and read that you can go as long as 40 days between heartworm med doses because it still remains effective to that point. I've done that before, but after hearing all this, I definitely won't!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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