Giardia

Guinness had his four year check up and shots last week, and I brought a stool sample which I do every year. He's had no symptoms of anything and has fantastic poops with his special diet. He's had no flare ups of the IBS in well over a year, and no parasites of any type. All in all, he's been really healthy. As a young puppy he did have a horrible case of Giardia which it took weeks to get rid of. Anyway, to get to the point the Vet called to say that he was shedding the Giardia cysts and needed to be treated....and of course they also will treat Murph because he's in the household. Tomorrow I'll go and pick up the panacur and metronidazole and we'll start that "process" which I know from experience will take several weeks.

That's nothing new or even interesting, but my conversation with the Vet really got me thinking. She said that it's running rampant in our area, so she's not in the least bit surprised. Basically any dog being walked in our parks, bike paths, or going to daycare is being exposed. When I asked why she said she had a theory but no scientific proof that it was the case...just her supposition. She feels that puppies are being given metronidazole and/or panacur often before they even leave their litter by the breeders. The idea the breeders have is that they want to rid them of giardia before leaving for their homes, and they don't bother to test (because it's so prevalent). Then they get to their homes and often they are still infected and so they go on another round or two, and so it goes. They eventually build a tolerance to the meds and the parasites continue to survive and infest the ground and ultimately other dogs who come in contact with that ground. Karen has said that she had lots of concerns with the frequency of metronidazole being prescribed, and so I found this thought provoking. If all this is true, it's a bleak picture.

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Permalink Reply by Janie, Jackson and Jilly on June 18, 2013 at 2:28pm

So sorry to hear this and I'm glad it was found early. I hope the treatment does it's thing fast!!

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Permalink Reply by Star and Goldie on June 18, 2013 at 3:13pm

Goldie's fecal just came back negative! YAY! That Pancur is serious business! I hope it gets wiped out of your household pretty quickly as well.
I, too, am alarmed by the increase in Giardia cases. I had actually never even heard of it before joining DK and I've had dogs for years. Suddenly I'm hearing about it all the time AND dealing with it! Yuk!