Sorry for the obscure title but I couldn't think of a more apt one.

As some of you are aware I have a 3 and a half year old large breed boy who we have had for 2 and a half years and since day one has been a flipping nightmare to feed. I had tried virtually every kibble on the market from the cheapest through to the dearest several times over. We tried adding all sorts to his kibble including the usual failsafe options of tripe, sardines, tuna, human beef mince, gravy, every flavour of dog mince. All raw and cooked. He did better on raw but only for a few days and then would start his fasting again. Many many times I have been in tears as Ive watched him nose and nudge his bowl around the room (his nudging could get quite frantic sometimes) and then walk off and leave even my homemade food for him. At his worst he dropped from his usual 68kg to 54kg when I tried to make a stand and implement the "tough love" theory. That went on for 4 weeks before I gave in. An array of vet checks came back clear.

Well something strange has happened over the past few days and I can't pin-point the trigger. But he is now eating pure dry kibble straight from his bowl. The only thing that has been different is that he finished his 7 day course of Panacur worming last night.

The first 2 days of worming I did it by syringe but what a mess!! Syringing 35mls of that foul tasting stuff into a wriggling, foaming 70kg lump of muscle is not something I recommend in your new blue jeans or on your freshly jet-washed patio!!! So days 3 to 7 was added onto a little bit of food but I had to keep him hungry so he would eat it. So He would get about a quarter of his usual portion in the morning and then about half his usual portion at night with the wormer added to his night feed. Usually, with most dogs I would say that because he has been kept quite hungry for a few days that is the reason why he has now started eating whatever is put in front of him.....But this is the dog that has quite happily gone 4 weeks and only eaten probably 2 days worth of food during that time. He has just never seemed to feel hunger.

Do you think that this complete change in behaviour could have anything to do with the Panacur treatment. He has not passed any visible worms and I have spent the past week squashing and inspecting poo. Probably at the great confusion of my neighbours I might add!!  Is there something glaringly obvious that I'm missing?

Obviously I'm not complaining, just curious and I hope this sudden love for food continues.

certainly an odd one. have used panacur before or any other wormer. Long may it last

Could have been some other parasite such as giardia or lungworm. I would have thought giardia would have made him more hungry, but I guess it could have upset his digestion. Poor appetite is listed as a symptom of lungworm.

Assuming that this isn't the first time he's bee wormed in 2 1/2 years..........what did you use before? is this the first panacure? and did the vet check include a worm count?
Hope it continues!!

I have always used a rotation method with Milbemax / Drontal / Panacur. They were all done 3 months ago with Drontal and then this week with the 7 day lungworm Panacur dose. We have a very low case of lungworm here (in fact my vet has said that in the past 5 years he has only heard of  a handful of positive fecal results from all vets up here) so I haven't lungwormed them with Panacur for about 10 mths.