Apollo home but issue...

[Kerry Daly]

Apollo came home on sunday and is as cute as can be!  Zeus and Apollo are becoming best friends!   I took Apollo to vet on Monday.  He has Giardia.  I am a becoming more and more worried every time i look it up on interent.  I am so afraid Zeus will get it.  Humans can even get it.  I am constantly washing my hands, I clean up after him immediately and I have been trying to keep the family safe - but Zeus and Apollo have been sharing toys and wrestling (gently of course). I cannot keep them apart.  Aparently Giardia is common in Ohio and many puppies have it.  But it scares me.  He is on day 4 of 6 for treatment and the vet said even in 3 weeks he will still be showing signs and contagious.  When does it end - why doesnt the drugs get rid of it.  Has anyone else had this issue?  What advice can you offer?  I am one worried mom - for Apollo , Zeus and my family.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

I will leave specific advice to our resident experts, but will give you encouragement to hang in there!  

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

My older dog had Giardia when we brought our second puppy home. For some reason, he gets it like twice a year. I was suspicious that he was getting it from eating freshly watered grass on our local soccer field. Fortunately, the puppy did not catch it. I did what you are doing: washed hands, cleaned up the poop immediately, etc. In addition, I sprayed the backyard area when my sick dog pooped with a mix of water and bleach (10:1). I've never cleaned the toys, but if you are worried, you can also clean them with a bleach solution. Good luck and hang in there. It will go away soon with the meds.

[Kerry Daly]

so i read the bleach on the grass doesnt do anything - but at this point - not doing it may make it wose for me.  I am glad to hear you did not clean the toys.. i keep thinking that is impossible!  I am cleaning bowls daily and his bedding.  Have any of you gotten it from the dog?  And sounds like your other dog did not either. 

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

No, I don't think you can get it unless you lick your dog's dirty butt or eat their poop. ;-) If you have kids, I would make sure they clean their hands.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My vet told me to wear rubber gloves when picking up the poop. I didn't get it.

But keep in mind that giardia is just amoebic dysentery...what visitors to Mexico used to call Montezuma's Revenge, lol. It's very unpleasant, but far from life threatening. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Dozens and dozens of doodle puppies here on DK have had giardia.  It's not fun, but you will survive it.

First, what meds did the vet give you. If Panacur isn't one of them, get it. Insist on it. In the past, metronidazole (Flagyl) was thought to be the best treatment, but that has now been disproven, Panacur is much more effective and safer, too. There have been some people whose vets were not aware of this, so make sure you insist. 

Pick up some plain, unflavored fat-free yogurt and give the pup two TBSP twice a day, at least 2 hours before or after the meds. This is necessary to prevent the good bacteria in his gut from being destroyed along with the bad. Many dogs still have diarrhea after treatment because of that. Gentle Digest capsules by Ark Naturals will help, too.

Giardia is not transmitted by mouth or on the air, so your dogs just playing together will not spread it as long as you are didligent about using wipes on the puppy's bottom every time he goes, and disinfecting everything that may have come into contact with the giardia cysts. I have never heard of a dog being contagious three weeks after treatment, as long as the treatment is effective and the giardia is gone, verified by a negative fecal float test. The 6 day treatment makes me think your vet did not give you Panacur, as the standard Panacur treatment is 3 to 5 days.

You must bleach or otherwise disinfect the areas where the pup has pooped, even outside. Just cleaning it up is not enough, giardia cysts can survive freezing and can remain in soil even over the winter. Use a solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water in the yard...I used a spray bottle attached to a hose. Indoors, steam cleaning will work on carpets or fabrics, and use bleach for hard surfaces. 

Make sure there is no standing water that the dogs can get at outside...including plain old puddles.

To make you feel better, I had a foster with raging giardia, and I was scared to death that JD would get it; he has health problems as it is, and a compromised immune system. Well, he didn't get it, even though i have a very small yard and my foster was an adult doodle who was pooping all over the yard 10 times a day. So don't worry. :)

[Kerry Daly]

Thank you -that helped.  Acutally he is on Panacur.  It says it can be for 3 days or 5-7 if necessary.  He has two boxes of 3 (and honestly I will take the extra treatment).  So far he has only pooped outside so cleaning outside I will have to do with the  bleach - now I have heard it twice.  I need to get that going. Do i need to worry about inside if he hasnt had an accident in there?   My other dog has had some stomach issues so i was worried.  He uses Forta Flora to keep him in balance. I will see if I can just give Apollo some of that too.  I apprecaite your response. Thank for taking the time.  I do not do well with "stomach" issues when they are in my family..  :(  (ps I cannot even watch certain tv shows because they constantly have vomit scense and I cannot deal with it!)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Just make sure that no poop has been tracked in or brought in on the puppy's fur, and you should be fine indoors. My vet told me to use the bleach in the yard as well. 

FortiFlora is a not-so-great product made by Purina, which is why we don't recommend it. It contains only one strain of beneficial bacteria and some other ingredients that should be avoided, like one called "animal digest":

Animal Digest

AAFCO: A material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto. A cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. The animals used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.

. There are much better probiotics made for dogs: Proviable DC, iFlora, Gentle Digest, to name a few.

[Kerry Daly]

ok - that is great to know!  I will look those up .. Guessing those are on 800 pet meds too.. lol  Yeah - i think my vet is a purina backer.  My dogs are on Fromm but he keeps wanting me to switch (only one of the vets- the usually vet I go to in practice doesnt push it and thinks Fromm is fine.  She is on maternity leave right now.. but comes back soon!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There is no nutrition curriculum in vet school, and everything the vets learn on the subject is provided by Hill's and Purina. And don't forget, they make the same profit when you buy food or meds from them as the retailers do. 

Gentle Digest is usually available in pet boutiques...not places like Pet Smart, but the private stores that carry only premium foods. Proviable and iFlora can be ordered on-line from numerous sources. They are not Rx items. You vet can order Proviable for you, but it's cheaper on-line. 

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

And yes, our vet always prescribed Metronidazole. I bought several boxes of Panacur and now keep them for giardia emergencies (you can get them online without prescription, the amount to administer must match the weight of your dog).

[Kerry Daly]

I saw them on 800 pet meds.  I was tempted to get them to have for zeus if he starts showing signs