Drug Resistant Giardia...

[Fitz & Henry]

Hi Gang,

I am new to DK and learning my way around this site. For those of you who  have reached out to me, sorry for the repeat of the info.

Currently my puppy and I are battling a drug resistant strain of  Giardia. He is 6.5 months old and he came to us with it, and we have been  treating him on and off for the past 4.5 months.

We have tried Metro and Panacur, we have tried Tinidazole and Tylan and  probiotics we have tried it all. We keep his rear very short and I wipe it  after every stool. I only walk him on a leash (and that is only on our property  because he is contagious) so that I can pick up his stool the sec it hits the  ground.

I have cleaned and disinfected my house until my hands have cracked like its  the middle of winter.

 

I am reaching out in hopes that one of you has gone through this type of  Giardia battle and has some advice or suggestions to offer.

I am also hoping to hear "happy endings" and that there is life after the  dreaded Giardia.

 

Thanks in advance...

 

[Fitz & Henry]

Wow... so that's not just our experience...hmmm good to know.

Do you have a picture of Millie? Which litter did she come from?

I swear to you, I thought for awhile that Henry might not have even come from the Serena/Rufus litter.

At 4 mos he only weighed 15 pounds, and I called Melissa and said, "Is he a mini? Because I think he's only going to get to 30lbs and I asked her if there was any other smaller dog in his bloodline - She said No, that he should definitely get larger"

And she told me that their dogs are tough to judge and plenty of them have had slow growth spurts...so don't give up yet Joan.

[Joan Bollaert]

What upset me was that I asked for the largest girl in the litter of Ritzy and Marquee and when I contacted ML telling them how concerned I was about Millie's size as was the vet and that she just wasn't the weight he thought she should be, ML told me that she wasn't the "runt" of the litter nor was she the largest girl.  That infuriated me.   Before they even picked a puppy for me, I told them that if they didn't think there was a puppy in the Ritzy/Marquee litter that met my criteria, I was willing to wait for another upcoming litter for the size puppy that would be better.   They never acknowledged that request and I soon learned that they had a few upcoming litters that clearly stated they would be LARGE Mediums.  I have no idea why they wouldn't have just waited.  I think they just want to get rid of as many puppies as possible from the current litters.

AND....  I'm with you...I thought the same thing regarding wondering if Millie even came from Ritzy and Marquee.  How would we know?   They could easily just give us a puppy that wasn't claimed from another litter.  I just don't trust these breeders anymore after having two consecutive  experiences of betrayal.  

I'll try to post pics of Millie if I can figure out how.  :)

[Joan Bollaert]

I hope you can open the pics I uploaded.  ??   I'm not sure how to do this stuff.  How did you post the pic of Henry?  I couldn't figure out how to do that.

[Fitz & Henry]

OMGoodness Millie is sooo cute! Her coloring is beautiful.

But I can see she does look little, its hard to tell though in pics.

Who knows? Maybe the dogs with Giardia are slower growers, it actually makes sense when you think about it.

Okay when you want to add a pic into the thread - on my PC I can see right above the dialog box where you type your reply there is smaller header with options, the 2nd option is IMAGE. You click on that and it allows you to Browse your computer for pictures. Does that make sense?

[Joan Bollaert]

Yes, she is very beautiful.  Her coat feels a bit thin though but doesn't look it and it's not really the silky fleece feel either.   Millie never had Giardia, though I was so fearful she would.  I insisted they have her tested several times up until the moment before she was shipped and made it very clear that I knew there was a Giardia problem with their facililty.  So, Millie will need to have a huge growth spurt to reach the size I hoped she'd be and was promised.  

Thanks for the picture posting tutorial. :)   I'll try it the next time

[Fitz & Henry]

Okay now for something fun... Henry is currently in a People Magazine Furry Football Fan contest. If you have Facebook acct you can vote for him. He is in 3rd place currently. You need to go to www.people.com click on their site and then at the top on the far right there is a tab called "YOUR WAY" you click that and go down to the furry football fan contest and scroll down until you see Henry -- or whoever you'd like to vote for....   : )

[Joan Bollaert]

Done.  I voted for Henry.  :)   He's adorable and hopefully will be Giardia free very very soon.  GO BEARS! GO HENRY!!  :)

[Debbie & Gibbs]

OMG, he is so stinkin cute!

[Cynthia, Elvis & Pink]

Pink is a standard.  She had (and has) such big feet, I thought she was going to be huge.  She was supposed to be 50-55lbs but seems to have topped out at 47.5 lbs BUT she is very tall.  She's about 24" tall at the shoulder so height-wise, she's a standard.  She has very long legs and a petite build.  She's a beautiful dog but doesn't really look like the other ALD that I have seen - they are usually kind of stocky and compact.

[Debbie & Gibbs]

Hi Joan, I also got a puppy from ML and so far I haven't had any issues with our puppy. I have requested as of today 3 times for certificate/registration for Gibbs. I agree with you, how would you know which parents your puppy actually comes from if you don't receive back up paper work? Did you get certificate/registration papers? I did ask them in my last email today, that they respond. I may be wrong, but I though supplying this information was part of what they had to do to stay in compliance with the organizations that they belong to? Any information you have would be appreciated. Thanks, Deb

[Oliver & Elizabeth]

I'm glad you're getting lots of advice in here! I hope the new medication regime works for Henry. He's way too cute to be sick. I too did lots of research before picking ML and thought that I was going to a very reputable breeder. After knowing what I do now, I don't feel the same way. The health and happiness of the dogs should be her top priority. It's very sad because I think her dogs have the best personality and are completely adorable.

Regardless, I think that your puppy will likely grow larger. Oliver was predicted to be 20-30lbs, and was 23 pounds at 6 months but is now is 32 pounds at a year and a half. I think he stopped growing around 10 months.

[Fitz & Henry]

I think Henry looks more like a mini, he's very short... I love him and he's not a purse dog by any means, but based on who his parents were I was worried he would be too big... never did it occour to me that he would be too small...