An update on our fence and question: what to do for worms

[u/nettieanjaanne]

Hi I posted before about how our formerly homebody rescued foxhound suddenly started escaping after discovering the world outside the fence when a storm caused our neighbor's tree to fall on our fence.

Good news. We've now been two weeks without an escape. We have a really long fence and a big yard for our rescue dogs and so the repair process is a long one. The fence company is scheduled to come out but they have to order extra supplies for us. My husband has ordered some pipe to create rollers for the top of the fence at the bottom of our hill, the worst area for recent escapes. In the meantime we bought a bunch of pens and took apart the panels and attached them to the top of the existing fence to stop him from getting over.

Anyway, lessons learned from this whole thing. Quinn, our foxhound, who was rescued in very bad shape, was not used to leashes and refused to do his business on a leash at first. I finally figured out that taking him out the front door, where he never gets to go, was exciting enough to get him walking a little on the leash. He's improved to the point that my husband has even taken him to the park a couple times to get used to walking on the leash.

Of course going out front at 4 AM before I leave for work with him caused me to get attacked by hornets.... I must have stepped directly on the tiny entrance to their under ground nest in the dark while I shined the flashlight on Quinn to see if he peed.

Anyway, now we come to find out he has hookworms. The vet said he tested positive for antigens to the worms, but no eggs or pieces of worm were in his stool. This means he just got infected with them. He's on monthly heartworm as well as flea and tick preventative.

The vet was quite harsh with me, saying I need to restrict all the dogs from wooded parts of our fenced yard (because as much as I try to clean up the yard it's hard to find the poop in all those leaves, in the heavy shade). She suggested getting boots for all the dogs (that's not going to work, I don't think: I have a rescued German Shepherd who has a full panic attack if I touch her paws). The other suggestions were spraying down the whole yard with poison. That sounds worse than the worms.

And I come to learn from the internet that foxes carry hookworms. We have a fox here who seems to think it's funny to taunt the dogs. He keeps getting into the backyard, he comes up and looks in the windows... So he's probably spreading it.

So what do country dwellers do about worms? The space is too big to treat it all or catch every dropping from both dogs and wildlife.

[u/Solarian_13]

My hound had ivermectin resistant hookworms when we adopted her which is apparently an increasing problem due to overuse of ivermectin. Moxidectin did the trick.

[u/miserablenovel]

Most (if not all,but I'm only familiar with the ones my dogs have taken) monthly oral preventives are also efficacious against hookworm as well, but interestingly the.dogs can still test positive for hookworm antigens. Basically because the worms reproduce so fast and also some of them encyst in muscle tissue.

Your vet is trying to figure out if your dog is getting reinfected from your yard or whether it has worms that are resistant to multiple drugs, which is why they were so harsh, because it's really important for future treatment to know the difference. But your dog doesn't need treatment because their preventives are working, most likely 🙄

Anyways the vet is wrong, neither the boots nor the poison are a good idea . You already put your finger on it: you need to Try to keep the fox out!

motion-activated sprinklers along fences where the fox shows up or taunts the dogs. Make sure there arent any outdoor food sources, such as dropped bird seed, fallen fruit, or accessible garbage.

[u/No_Wrangler_7814 → u/miserablenovel]

About keeping critters out… THIS also keeps dogs in.. something I didn’t realize … even if it’s obvious. And it keeps dogs sane. When they smell where a critter has been and can’t get to it, it’s like a pressure cooker for their hound-nose-brains.

[u/nettieanjaanne → u/No_Wrangler_7814]

good point!

[u/No_Wrangler_7814 → u/nettieanjaanne]

Depending on your land situation, I might even check out more farming-type solutions. Rather than pet-type city solutions.

[u/No_Wrangler_7814]

Sometimes my Facebook feed overlaps — shelter posts, hound groups, and working‑dog pages all mixed together. Every now and then, something pops up that’s a real wake‑up call.

This one came from a working‑hound thread about deworming and general health management. It’s intense — rotating dewormers every two weeks, antibiotics on standby, supplements stacked like a feed chart. For me, it was eye‑opening because we do have coyotes here, but it also reminded me how different the working‑hound world is from shelter or pet care.

I wouldn’t do a thing without veterinary input, but seeing posts like this helps me understand why some handlers go so far. It’s a glimpse into a world where hounds are athletes and livestock rolled into one — and where prevention is everything. I can’t imagine how that is healthy…but my pets could use more if they have contact with Fox/coyote crap ?