Those who have delt with Giardia in the past

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

A little history.  I got Cocoa 5 weeks ago at 8 weeks of age. Her poo was runny but I figured it was just puppy stuff and stress from a new home. On day 3 her poo was just straight water and started having blood in it. So off to the vet we went, they ran fecal tests and everything came back negative. They ended up putting her on Metrodozonale for 5 days and canned script food. She seemed to clear up a little on the meds and food, her poo started to look like soft searve ice cream. So now we are about the 2 week mark and I have been E-mailing the breeder the whole time with no answer. I finally call the breeder and to my suprize she finally responds.... she admits another puppy in the litter has been confirmed positive for Giardia and that I should let my vet know to start treating her for this. This info might have been nice $160.00 ago!

So I contact the vet and they put her on 5 days of Panacur (breeder told me that is not long enough and Metrodozonale is a better treatment, she is also a vet tech). So I call the vet and they have me do Panacur for 5 days and 10 days of Metrodozonal.  During the next 2 weeks her poo has been like pudding every so many poops might get to soft serve looking. She was due for her 12 week puppy shots and I was on vacation with my daughter and parents so my husband took her. He let the vet know that her poo is still not normal and still has that horrible stink to it and she has some nasty gas. The vet wants us to wait 3 more weeks and do a fecal test. She said that sometimes this can take a couple weeks after the meds for it to clear everything out and her poo to get back to normal.

She then asked that we contact the breeder to see if she knows the adverage size of the litter mates because she wants to make sure her growth is not effected by this and started talking steriod shots.

 

So what I was wondering how did your vet treat this and how long did it take to see improvement?

My neighbor said one of her dogs had this as a puppy and it took over 6 months and several rounds of meds to finally clear it up. She also said that now he has IBS from it and she has gone through so many food types but he will have runny poo still very often and he is 5 years old.

 

 

It is impossible to pick up the poo in the yard when its so runny all it does is just smear in the grass. I am trying to hose it down on the days the sun comes out and thaws out the hose. Good thing is she has not pooped in the house in 3 weeks. But im getting sick of washing her feet from stepping in her own poop. When she poops she walks instead of staying in one spot so each poop gets spread out.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

UPDATE

During the day yesterday Cocoa took a couple really nice naps. This is rare for her as she will try to lay down and keep getting up and moving around and I think its because her belly was bothering her. But yesterday she would fall alseep and be out good and be still for long periods of time.

Yesterday she only pooped 3 times (maybe 4 my husband doesnt write down what she does when he takes her out and he took her out at 5am) But before this she was going 6-9 times a day and up to 16 times a day on really bad days.

 

This morning she went out for her morning potty and had the best poop I have ever seen since owning her the first part of it I was able to just scoop with the scooper but the last half was still a little runny. The color is also changing from light to darker brown.

 

 

So if her poop continues to improve and stay that way I dont know what this means?  Are we really dealing with a food issue, could the Blue Buffalo just be to rich?  I was thinking maybe it was a grain issue but the RX food has corn in it.  Or is the RX good just going to give her firm poops even if she is still sick?

I am just happy she seems to be feeling better poor girls tummy was really bothering her.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Richness in food refers to fat content, so it wouldn't be that the Blue was too rich. One huge difference is that the Rx food is canned and contains about 80% water. High moisture content helps with the formation of stool.

But the Blue could not have been responsible for a dog having such severe diarrhea and having to go 6-16 times a day. That's a symptom of illness. As we've mentioned above, the Rx food alone cannot cure anything. So if there is an underlying illness or parasite, it will still be there when you discontinue the food. The Blue Buffalo may not be the right food for her, you may need a limited ingredient formula, probably one that's grain free.

What meds is she currently taking?

 

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Oh ok.

No meds right now she is on a 2 week wait to do another stool sample first. The vet doesn't want to keep treating her for parasites when her last sample was negative. She already did 3 rounds of meds 2 of Metro.... & 1 panacur with no changes. We are doing one last sample and then I'm not sure what's next. She was talking about some test that will cost $300 but I was not home when she called so I didn't have anything to write it down.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Breeder FINALLY Emailed me back and pretty much avoided my question.

Here is my Email to her and her Email back.

I left you a voice mail a couple days ago but never heard back.  We are still dealing with really bad runny poop with Cocoa when we took her in for her shots this week the vet was wanting us to contact you to see if you could find out what some of the other litter mates weigh. She is concerned that she is not where she should be and was talking about steroid's but wants to try and find out first if she is off on her growth.  She is now thinking she might not have Giardia and wants us to do RX food for 14-30 days to see if that helps clear it up if not she wants to run some test that is going to cost $300 and I thought she said to check for pancreas issues but she called while I was out to dinner and it was hard to hear her.
She has been pooping about 6-9 times a day and the vet said that is way to much and she is eating 3 cups a food a day and acting like she is starving still and the vet also said that is way to much food and that makes her think something is going on where she is not getting enough nutrients and pooping it all out, this is why she was wanting know if you know of any other weights of the litter mates. 
She gets no treats or people food so we know its not from any of that. I had been waiting to clear her tummy issues up before giving treats but they never have.

 

 

Lindsey,
I have 2 of her sisters here still, both of which have normal stools, poop 5-6 times a day (normal for their age and size) and eat about 3 cups of food (divided between 2 meals) each per day. They are normal weight and growing normally. The other 6 puppies that are with families besides your girl are doing fine or have not contacted me with problems.
 
If you would like she can come stay with me for a week and I will take her to my vet clinic for evaluation and cover the cost. I do not recommend steroids for puppies and the test that your vet is talking about is something that we can run, but most likely is not an issue. The test is only about $65 so your vet's estimate of $300 is extremely high. As for a food trial, those usually use a prescription diet which is expensive and not necessarily conclusive. I am concerned that your vet thinks she is not growing properly and would thus like to have our vet clinic evaluate her.
 
Let me know what you would like to do.

 

 

 

 

We can't just send her away for a week.  She has not had an accident in the house for over 5 days now and goes to the door and barks when she wants out. She does really good in her cage and does not bark and only whines in the morning when she first see's me because she is hungry.  I know if I send her to the breeder she will just kennel her for the week and what will she be like when I get her back?   Also since the breeder is so hard to get ahold of what if I dont get her back?    I am not really trying to ask for money or her to pay for it just wanted to know the weights of the litter mates and if she thought after this amount of time that kind of testing is needed or not.     If they do find something serious wrong that might need expensive treatment or surgery then I will send her up to the breeder since she offered.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would not send her to the breeder. The breeder is the one who gave you incorrect information about the Panacur. How does she know what test your vet wants to run? (I would get the name of the test, BTW, so you know you are both talking about the same thing.)

I have found that many of the breeders do everything they can to cut costs on health care, which IMO results in some ineffective treatments.

Also, it has been a long time since I had a 3 mo. old puppy, but I am fairly certain that 6 BMs a day is not normal, at least not for a healthy puppy who is eating a good diet.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Yes my husband and I talked and we feel sending her to the breeder to be checked out is a BAD idea.   All I really wanted was to know what the size of the other pups is.

 

 

Yesterday Cocoa only had 3 poops and each one has been firmer and firmer and this morning it was such a nice poop I would call it normal I was able to just roll into the poop scoop and i have never been able to do this before.

 

I talked with my neighbor who has Shiba Inu's shows them and also does resuce foster care work and has had a lot of dogs come with problems such as these. One of her personal dogs has IBD and she has had food issues and such trying to get his poo under control. She told me to find out what the "test" is the vet wants to run and come home and do research first and maybe call a few other vets for second opinon and prices. But she highly recomends the vet I am seeing and says the fact that we live in a larger city has to do with the cost.

She watched Cocoa for a couple days last week while I was on vacation and my husband was at work. She thinks that after 36 hour her poop firming up that this might be a food issue and that if the next stool sample is still negative I need to change her food but try a new protine source since the chicken was in the other foods and the wet food has turkey and she seems to be ok with it.

 

But I agree 6 poops a day is to much... and 6 a day was a good day for her most days could be up in the teens.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Just went to the breeders web site and 2 litter mates are now for sale and I saw on the older dogs page what I belive is the mom of the litter has been spayed and is available for adoption.... I hope this is not a sign of something that the mom is now spayed and being sold.

 

I have seen a couple others on here with dogs from the same breeder one has talked with me and is on my friends list and her dog is 5 years old and never had any problems she even bought the breeding contract.  The other has not friended me so she may not be an active member. I have done a search on the site about her and never found anything bad.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Giradia is common in puppies, and it can sometimes take a long time to "fix". If it is not giradia, then finding what the problem is could take time. The rx food definaltey is not good long term, and canned food (even from the pet store) can get very expensive. I would suggest you try a dry food, maybe with turkey as it seems like she can tolerate that ok. look for a  grain free limited ingredient diet, as the less ingredients, the less it may upset her tummy. She has been on meds for a while so her digestive system will not be too great right now. She is too young for it to be allergies, but she could have a sensitive stomach, especially with all the meds she has had.

I would not send her to the breeder to be checked out, but some help with vet costs would be nice!

A good breeder will only breed her bitches a few times before spaying her, so I wouldnt worry too much about that.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Thats how the vet explained to me about the canned food that we are just using it to help calm her upset system from all the runny poo and meds until we can test again for Giardia or other testing.

I dont think its allergies as she has not other symptoms but the tummy issues.  I would like to try a couple food before doing expensive testing but I am going to let her be on the RX food for a little longer before taking a chance to upset her tummy again so fast with new foods.

 

 

Oh ok that makes me feel better about the mom being up for adoption. I think the breeder said this was only her 2dn or 3rd litter. I thought they breed them a lot more than that.  But this mom has huge litter with about 10 puppies in each so maybe that is why.

I think I am just questioning everything about this breeder at this point..lol

 

Yes vet bills being covered would be nice. But she says my vet is way to expensive.... well she is a vet tech and gets a HUGE discount for working there so I bet to her what the normal person has to pay is nuts.  I also live in a big cit and she lives way out in the country so that makes a huge difference in the cost of this stuff.

 

 

I have no paticence with this stuff and just want to know NOW what is wrong with my poor puppy. 

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

vet prices vary where you live  - when I lived in vancouver (big city) the vet visit was $25, free with shots, which were also around $25. I moved to ontario (small city) and the vet visit varies from $55 to $75 and you pay that every time you go no matter what else you pay for. Even if she gives you what her vet would charge, its a start!

As you are already on the rx food, id stick with it til you get a diagnosis and start treatment. Wait til her tummy has settled down, then start introducing new foods and treats one at a time, so you can see what upsets her. it will take time, but will be worth it in the long run.

Get insurance - this wont be covered, but future illnesses of a different nature will be