When to transition puppy food with asymptomatic giardia?

[Nancy & Echo]

I still have my new puppy on the breeder's food (Taste of the Wild High Prarie Canine Formula) and its been 2 weeks since I got her. 

Her stools have always been fine; no soft stools, no vomiting, maybe a bit of gas.  She may have had a bit of lethargy right after she got her DHLPP booster on Apr 22.

Apr 12: fecal O+P (incl giardia) negative at breeder's. (I know O+Ps are notoriously unreliable.)

Apr 15: I got puppy, continued her on TOTW. 

Apr 16: Well vet visit (didn't bring fecal sample).  I have been giving her 100% human grade chicken for treats.

Apr 18 fecal: came back positive for giardia on Apr 20.  I had her in puppy kindergarten, so she can't go until she has a negative fecal test 30 days later ( next fecal ~May 23).

Apr 20-24 Panacur daily x 5 days

Apr 27 ? a bit of gas x 1 day; she loves to chew my bark mulch and small sticks.

I have been giving her a tablespoonful of plain yogurt daily until my Proviable DC comes in.

I would like to transition her to a DK certified food, such as Orijen Puppy.

She's now 12 weeks old.

Is it OK to start transitioning her to Orijen now?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm surprised the vet wants to wait 30 days to run the next fecal. Typically, it's done 10 days after the meds are finished. 

I would wait until you get the Proviable and she's been on it for a week before you transition to the Orijen. Ideally, you'd like to have a negative fecal first, but I'd hate for you to have to wait until May 23rd to switch foods. I'd increase the yogurt to 2 or 3 TBSP a day until you can start the Proviable, and then wait a week to transition.  

[Nancy & Echo]

Thank you so very much Karen.  You're exactly the person I was hoping would answer.  I will do exactly as you say.  You're the best!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good luck and please keep us posted. 

[Joy and Forest]

Our vet is having us wait 2 months to re-test and that was without any meds! Supposedly, even with the meds, the giardia remains in the system, because the cysts take awhile to go away and some never fully go away. Or maybe that is with coccidia? She had both as a puppy. Good luck!

[Nancy & Echo]

I talked with the puppy trainer, and she said as long as Echo

a) completed treatment and 10 days out from that

b) asymptomatic

she could return to class.    So I'll be taking Echo to her last puppy kindergarten this next Saturday.

This 2010 paper found that 4 different giardia testing  methods in subclinical dogs did not agree with each other well, were good at detecting a negative result, but not at detecting a positive result. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20136713  I don't know if there are better tests currently, or what test was used on Echo.

This paper seems to imply that sometimes subclinical giardia may not need to be treated. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25246022  In addition, in both humans and dogs, Giardia sometimes may be considered as a harmless passenger, or even as a beneficial friend.