I took a stool sample from Red into work yesterday because he's been having some soft stool lately (plus it was time to check a fecal anyway), and I found one hookworm egg! Only one on the whole slide, but still... ewww!
Being the nerd that I am, I had to take a picture of it:
10X
40X
So I'm treating him with 3 days of Panacur powder. I've had him on Heartgard Plus monthly, which is supposed to cover for hooks, but apparently it's designed to control them and not prevent them? I dunno, but after making
this thread and doing the research that I posted at the end, I'm switching to Interceptor. I've read about more breakthroughs on Heartgard than on Interceptor.
The bad part is that I always walk barefoot in our yard, and hookworm is a zoonotic parasite that people can get by cutaneous larval migrans (meaning the larvae can penetrate the skin, most commonly the bottom of the foot). So needless to say, I won't be walking barefoot in the yard anymore, though I don't walk where he poops anyway. I've heard of people having to treat their yard for severe infections, but I don't think I'll worry about that yet.
Has anyone else had issues with hooks in their dogs? Can mild cases cause soft stool, or is the soft stool most likely unrelated?