Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / March 2008

I have a male, neutered, mixed-breed dog that's about a
year old. When I first got him, last October/November,
he was diagnosed with hookworm. I treated him with the
medicine the vet gave me. I didn't clean up the poop in
the yard like I should have because my back yard is not
easily scooped. Other than the hookworm, he was fine.

Several days ago he quit eating and became less active than
normal. A couple of days went by and I noticed he'd started
drooling and had trouble walking. It was as if the back half
of him was a little "drunk." He'd sway a little, especially
when he first stood up.

I thought he'd probably eaten something bad. He chews, so I
thought he might have swallowed something that was hurting
him or blocking his digestive system.

Wednesday I took him to the Vet. The Vet did an external
exam and took a fecal sample. Looked in his mouth, too.
Based on finding hookworm
eggs in the stool, he said it was most likely the hookworms
that were causing the trouble. He gave me hookworm meds
(Strongid) for Butch and my other dogs. I gave the first
dose Wednesday evening. He also gave me Metronidazole 500mg
(antibiotics?). I gave Butch the first dose with no problem
but have not been completely successful at giving him
successive doses. He won't let me near him if he thinks I'm
going to give him a pill. First I tried a pill pusher thing -
like a syringe that holds the pill so you can push it into
the dog's throat. Then I tried crushing the pill in water and
giving it to him with a regular medicine syringe. That didn't
work so well.

Questions:

-Should I accept the hookworm diagnosis or take it
a little further with a blood test and or x-ray?

-How do I get Butch to take this pill? I don't have help, so it's
just me and him. He won't eat. I've tried putting it in a hot
dog. No luck. He's not interested. Could the vet give him an
injection? Or a liquid form of the medication?

-He's not eating anything and drinking very little if anything
at all. (I haven't seen him drink, but I'm not home during the
day.) How serious is this? Should I take him to get an injection
of fluids?

-If you agree with the hookworm diagnosis and treatment, how
long before I see results? Today (48 hours later) he's still
drooling and wobbling.

I'm obviously concerned. I don't want to come home from work and
find him "gone." Please let me know what you think.

BTW, I did call the Vet this afternoon to ask these questions,
but was put on hold for a long time. I figured they were very
busy. I eventually hung up and, since it was almost closing
time, I didn't call back.

Thanks for any advice you can give.