Lungworm is your major problem with snails, Max had it at one stage and was very poorly. Overnight he went very lethargic and his breathing became quite laboured. I took him straight in that morning and he was placed onto a drip, he's always had a bit of a cough due to him having damaged his trachea, but its only apparent when he pulls on a collar, although it had worsened. He was placed onto antibiotics as he had a secondary infection also, and a faecal sample was sent off which revealed lungworm. A dose of Advocate and he was as right as rain - I now treat him with Advocate monthly to prevent it.

We had a case about a year back of a dog which came to us for a second opinion. The dog had been coughing for 10 months, and had been treated at a previous vets with all the antibiotics under the sun. First thing our vet did was test for lungworm, results were positive, treated with Advocate and problem solved.

That's very interesting, because we never seem to think of lungworm or heartworm in this Country do we? Well I haven't! When you mention Advocate, do you mean the spot on treatment the same as I use each month as a flea treatment??? I know it kills lots of things including mites, or is it a different oral Advocate that's specifically for worming please? Thanks!

Just the normal Advocate spot on

Thanks for that, so that's ruled my dog out for lungworm then at least! Advocate is brilliant stuff, so make a note of that!

oh thanks for that leo, we get a lot of snails so I'll be watching my 2 !

afraid there are cases of heartworm over here

When Lexi was about 5 months old (she is now nearing 4yrs)she developed a dry cough (similar to a cat with a fur ball) we took her to the vets and they said she had lungworm and asked if she eats slugs or snails well at the time she had eaten slugs the vet said if you live in an area where there are foxes it is more prevalent because where the foxes defecate the slugs absorb this and so pass onto another host ie Lexi who had eaten the slug she was treated with panacur and has (touch wood) been fine since...
Sue

Hello Helena54 and thank you so much for your response. My apologies to everyone for not realising the messages were a year old. This is my first visit to a message board and I have much to learn.

I've noted all your points and will observe, more closely, what my beauties are up to, on our trips to park tomorrow. As Abbie has been having this problem, off and on for a couple of weeks, I think that I must make an appointment with the vet on Tuesday morning. I tend to apply the same action with my dogs as I did to my children when they were young. I'd feel happier if he would rule out any underlying problem which may be more severe. Certainly, reading of your experience it seems that the snail idea may not be the cause I was hoping to discover.

I'll write with my findings in a few days, should it be useful to any other member. You have been most helpful and it's great to know that there are many dog lovers here, to generously offer help and their knowledge. Thank you so much.

Please see the link below for the dangers of Snails and Slugs to Dogs:

http://www.lungworm.co.uk/scripts/pages/en/home.php

Hope this helps.

hey my dog does the same thing? he just ate one yesterday but i caught him in time before he finished eating it. should i take him to the vet to get checked? im worried