Giardia Help

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

I have had my puppy for 2.5 weeks now and the whole time she has had very runny stool and blood in it.

Day 3 of having her we made our first vet visit and they put her on Albon, precription food.  They said in 2 days it does not get better to bring her back.  With in those 2 days it got worse and the poor baby was going to the bathroom every 30 minutes and it was mostly pure blood.

So day 3 first thing in the morning I took her back and they put her on Metronidazole (5 days) & FlortiFlora supplement into her food for 2 weeks, also more canned Gastro food.   This seemed to be making it better the blood cleared up in 1 day and her stool started having a soft serve ice cream look to it. So about a week later now its back to watery and very bloody again and the poor thing keeps going out about every 20 minutes trying to poop.

 

I was finally able to get a hold of the breeder I got her from and she informed me that another puppy in the litter was diagnosed with Giardia.  OK well when she found this info out shouldnt she be calling all the new owners of the litter mates or any other dog/puppy she sold on the last month since this is so contagous???  Not to mention she knows I am 7 months pregnant and Humans can get this as well!!!

So I told my vet this info and they had me pick up 5 days of liquid panacur.   I told the breeder all the meds she was on and is now on and she doest agree with how my vet is treating it....

 

here is her Email to me....

 Treatment for giardia with either metronidazole or panacur is a 10 day treatment. The course of metronidazole with FortiFlora was correct except that it should have been 10 days for metronidazole. The 5 days was just enough to knock it down a bit and then rebound because the treatment was not long enough. Panacur is ok to treat giardia, but not as good as metronidazole and if it is used it has to be for 10 days. The body develops an immune response to giardia and clinical signs are rarely seen in older puppies and adult dogs even though they are exposed to it in the environment either through feces, natural colonies in wet areas or ponds/lakes. The lifecycle/shedding pattern of giardia is such that the most effective treatment for giardia is to use metronidazole for 10 days, skip 3-5 days and treat with metronidazole or panacur for 10  more days. Addition of probiotics such as fortiflora is always good and should be for 2 weeks - our vet clinic uses probiotics for all GI upsets. It is unfortunate that your vet did not properly diagnose or prescribe for her diarrhea because it should have been cleared up within a few days. Hopefully you can convince them to prescribe 10 days of metronidazole and possibly follow-up with panacur. If they wont' do this, let me know and I will get a prescription from our clinic and mail the medications to you. Hope this helps.

 

So I put in a call to my vet asking them about this since they only gave me a 5 day treatment. I dont know who to go with here the breeder is a vet tech. And all I want is the puppy to get better and the quicker the better.

 

So I guess my question is anyone else here deal with this??? What treatment or treatments worked for you?  Should I just tell the Breeder to send me the meds anyway?

 

Anything else I should know to help make this go away quicker?  I washed all her bedding and cage with bleech last night. I picked up all the poop that I could pick up in the yard, I bleached the area's on the patio she had gone to the bathroom. I plan to rewash her bedding and cage every couple days. 

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Oh cool thank you.  I have always been told rawhides were bad but she came with one from the breeder and it seems to be a comfort thing for her.

I have been trying to find a good bone rather than a raw hide but no luck at the pet stores.  I had one with my Yorkie that was a good solid bone he was unable to chew up but it had a hole through it and I would stuff penut butter in it to make him happy in his cage but can not remember where I got it from..... I found it outside this week but tossed it out because who knows what sickness this puppy could get from it since its been outside for 6 months or more.

I did not realize that this breed of dog seems to be sensitive to food and things.  I had a yorkie before this and feed cheap food and he never really got sick... other then epilepsy at the end that ended in his early death at only 8. 

But I just grew up with my family saying its just a dog but after lossing my Bailey so young I often think that if I had been better with his diet (I never gave hom people food but my husband admited to always sneaking him food and fast food french fries all the time grrrr)  He swore to never feed this dog people after the night Bailey died he fessed up to giving him 4-5 fries.  But anyway a lot of this is new to me. And I thank you all for the guidance.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lindsey, check the Food Group. Lots of info there about antlers and all kinds of other chews that are much better and safer than rawhide.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

I looked for Bully sticks last time I was at the pet store and could not find them.

I may try to order some antlers online..... If you know a hunter who might have some would that be the same?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The better chews, foods, treats, etc. are at the small private pet supply stores, you won't find them at the big-box stores like Petco, etc.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

My FIL has antlers in his basement, but wont let the dogs have them! They look exactly the same

[Carolyn and Ruby]

I just went through this with my puppy, Ruby, in November when I first got her from a breeder.  Don't despair. 

Don't let the internet scare you. After reading about chronic cases on the net, I was so worried that Ruby would never recover from Giardia.  Guess What? She DID.  With Ruby it was a combo approach of both panacur and metradozinole; the vet wanted to retreat her with panacur after 2 weeks, but we tested first and she was clear. 

Ruby does have tummy issues if I let her chew on anything other than antlers or a natural bone from Whole Foods.  Even bully sticks give her the runs, so I would definitely stay away from rawhide. However, she is NOT on a grain-free diet, and she's doing just fine, uhh...poop-wise that is.  We have a bunch of OTHER problems: jumping on people (she's a tigger), selective hearing, etc.  ;) 

Take heart - this will pass.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

giradia is very common. I would not feed the prescription food, nor would i use fortiflora - the ingredients are very questionable.  You can by digestive enzymes at a pet food/supply store, or you can give a little natural youghurt. Pumpkin (canned) will help firm the stool too

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Tigger went throught Giardia as a young puppy too.  Multiple fecal samples are taken because the Giardia parasite only is passed in the feces at one particular stage (I don't remember which one) and so it is necessary to do several.  I just remember washing and bleaching the dog run everyday for weeks and weeks.  I put towels in his crate so that I could change them out and wash them constantly.  Stick with your vets recommendations, but don't be afraid to ask. 

IMO your breeder should have called you about the giardia.  Tiggers breeder sent me medication for another parasite that one of his littermates had tested positive for at his new home.  My vet retested Tigger and since he was clear we did not need to use the meds.

 

Hang in there, giardia with puppies is messy, time consuming, worrying, but will pass.  Just do exactly as your vet says and wash your hands a lot.

 

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Yes my breeder should have called me and that really upsets me. I have a feeling she has not called anyone else in the litter.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Last night I was woken up by my daughter crying. I go in her room and she had poo all over her and the bed. She also had it it really bad Sunday but a coupe days passed so I thought nothing of it..... I'm going to give her another day but I have a feeling she has it now :(. I had found her before we knew about this putting puppy's toys in her mouth and pretending to be a dog when I left the room. I had been trying to get her to stay away from the dog and wash her hands but she is still in the phase where they go right to her mouth.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I wouldn't give it another day, Lindsey. Call your pediatrician and tell him what is happening with your daughter and that your puppy has giardia. You want to get the meds started ASAP if your DD has it.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

She never had the poops again so I am thinking not and its been almost a week.  I think she just had a tummy bug. 

We are still in the treatment infection phase so I am still praying hard. I am probably not cleaning up as well as the people on here recomend but its impossible to clean watery poop from the grass when its snowing outside and the hose is frozen solid so I cant hose it off.

I have washed her bedding every other day and DH is giving her another bath this weekend... I have not been wiping her butt off, I did not toss out all her toys etc. 

But this went on at my house for 2 weeks before we got a diagnosis so I figured the damage is already done and since I only have one pet I hope that makes it easier to contain.