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]

She wants me to completly stop her normal food while we do this stuff for 2 weeks. 

 I did not know that about over feeding. I did not know what else to do she was crying where her food bowl normaly was until I gave her a little more food.  She is eating 1 cup 3 times a day.... the vet wants me to give her 1/2 can 3 times a day of the wet food.  

I am not worried about her size but the vet is. I think she looks to be good weight and she was 5 pounds at 8 weeks and was 11 pounds at 12 weeks.  She would like to compaire to litter mates weights but the breeder will not respond to me. I keep telling the vet she is only supposed to be 35-40 pounds full grown so to me her weight is right on.  Now at 8-9 weeks she looked really skinny to me and was refusing to eat the nutro the breeder had her on so after swapping her to Blue she ate really well and plumped up. 

 

We did a month of probiotics from the vet.... but then I was just told on here that they are not good ones.

 

I am at a loss. I keep reading posts to my husband and we got into a huge fight about it. He got upset yelling at me saying, if I dont trust what a vet recomends then stop taking her to a vet and just deal with the problem myself. 

 

So I guess what I am going to do is follow vet orders until we get good poop and maybe an answer as to what the problem is and then if I need a certain food or treatment I will try to reseach my own since I know they are commision driven by food companys to push their foods.

[Heather & Jake]

1/2 can....  what Rx food are you feeding???  The one I'm referring to and Karen posted ingredients to is a dry food... if you are feeding a canned food it will most likely be very different.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

 its a wet canned food.  Its the ID Canine Gastrointestinal Health canned wet food.   The vet wants her on wet food to make sure she is staying hydrated.

 

Here is the ingredients.. but I dont know whats bad or what to avoid I am clueless even when it comes to human food..lol

 

Ingredients

Water, Turkey, Egg Product, Pork Liver, Rice, Whole Grain Corn, Rice Starch, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Beet Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Caramel Color, Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, L-Threonine, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Tryptophan, Taurine, Iron Oxide, Ascorbic Acid (source of vitamin C), Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Cysteine, Magnesium Oxide, Beta-Carotene, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I just posted this right below, lol. Again, there is nothing in this food that will help an illness, and if the purpose is hydration, all canned foods are very high in water. There are plenty of simple, limited ingredient canned foods that are much cheaper, don't contain corn or ingredients imported from China, and contain much healthier ingredients.

Vets do not receive any nutritional education in veterinary school other than voluntary seminars provided by Hill's and Purina. Your vet may be a good vet as far as his medical knowledge goes, but he doesn't know anything about dog food. Most of them don't. They don't know what's available, and they don't know what's in these Rx foods, either.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And, they don't just receive a commission, they are selling the food, they receive the full profit. That's a conflict of interest, and even the best intentioned vet still has bills to pay.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's the canned i/d ingredients:

Water, Turkey, Egg Product, Pork Liver, Rice, Whole Grain Corn, Rice Starch, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Beet Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Caramel Color, Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, L-Threonine, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Tryptophan, Taurine, Iron Oxide, Ascorbic Acid (source of vitamin C), Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Cysteine, Magnesium Oxide, Beta-Carotene, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite.

This is a little bit better than the dry, at least it has turkey instead of by-products. But it still makes no sense to me, because dogs who have intestinal disease do not tolerate corn.

[Heather & Jake]

Okay, that is a little better than the dry but I do agree with Karen about the corn not making much sense to me.  Keep us updated if things start to get better and the results after the 2 week trial. 

Btw if she was crying for more doesn't actually mean she needs the food :) Lots of dogs will try to get more and if you let them decide what (refusing to eat the food dry etc.) and how much they eat... watch out for getting a finicky/picky eater.  If this is in fact a digestion issue having a picky eater on top of it will make it that much harder.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

My Bexter had this as well.  Karen is right about the medications.  They did clear it for Bexter, but it did take a while for his poop to return to more firm poops (probably about a month).  I made sure not to change foods while this was going on.  It was very frustrating, and I had the bleach in a bottle to bleach the yard after he went.  I did keep him on the leash to limit where he went.  I tried the paper plate like Jane did, but it didn't work for me because he just kept walking and some would hit the plate & some would not.  It drove me nuts!  After it cleared though, everything worked out.  His poops have been perfect ever since and he is a very healthy and great dog.  This is just a faint memory now.  Don't get too discouraged.

[Lindsey & Cocoa]

Her poop seems to get better while on the meds but as soon as she is off it goes down hill fast. Today she has had 9 poops already and each one is getting runnier. I am doing the DK no-no and let the Vet talk me into the RX food just because im at my witts end with this after 5 weeks now.

 

I dont think the paper plate would work for us as well one she is a poop walker and with me almost 8 months pregnant I cant bend over that far with out getting really dizzy, being in pain or falling over.  I am just picking it up right away hosing the poop off and then bleaching it after.  But now the vet is thinking its not Giardia and some other intestinal issue..... I just want to know what is wrong.  We could go right into testing but it could be hundered or thousands so we are trying to rule out food issues and stuff first to save us money.  This dog was a X-mas present from my inlaws and they are trying to help out with vet bills because last month my DH got a huge pay demotion at work and we are having money stuggles.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Keep us posted.  This sounds like a terrible mess.  That is terrible that you can't get a response out of your breeder!

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Lindsey, I really can't add anything to this discussion except to say that I am so sorry that you (and Cocoa) are having to go thru this! I know this can't be fun! Cocoa is absolutely adorable and I hope her issues clear up soon!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Do exactly as your vet says, that is what you are paying for.  If you lose confidence in that vet, take all the records ( they are yours) and find another vet. Never mind us home taught know it alls.  When it gets this bad, take the vets advice exactly.

 

 Do not give up hope.  Tigger had runny stools for months and months.He, too pooped and walked -yipes, super messy. He had giardia twice back to back in spite of my best efforts and then it took months on probiotics to put his digestive system back together.  He had runny stools for probably 6 months.  Sometimes as thin as soup, other times, more like thin pudding.  He is fine now, but he does best on straight dog food kibble, although a tiny treat of chicken or stead or fish no longer sends him into a week of the runs. Tigger is now almost four. 

 I thought I would absolutely lose it cleaning up after him with bleach and bleaching my rubber clogs, using disposable painters gloves with every pickup and I sure wasn't pregant and watching a four year old.  You are in a super difficult period.  This too will pass. 

 

I know it would not be your first second or third choice but I for one would understand if you either gave your Cocoa back to the breeder.  Since that is such a poor choice emotionally would it be possibe for a very good dog crazy friend or either set of your parents take Cocoa for awhile.  It would give you relief, you husband could absolutely disinfect every surface in the backyard.  It does sound in your latest post like she is getting better on the meds. 

When Tigger had giardia I was caring for my son's three dogs, all grown and of course Roo who was one.  The rest of them barely had synptoms, one round of medicine did it for them, but I think because Tigger was so young it hit him really hard.

Hang tough and try to get some puppy and cleaning help.  Wish I were there to help.