Looking for others who've death with drug resistant Giardia...

[Fitz & Henry]

Hi there,
I know I've had some exchanges with a few of you on here. But I am looking for people who have fought the battle against Giardia that is drug resistant.
We have been battling Giardia for 4 months. We have never gotten a fecal test that is negative.
We have tried rounds of Metro and Panacur. We've tried Tinidazole, Tylan Powder, probiotics ... My puppy is not reinfecting himself, I watch him like a hawk, i pick every stool up asap, I wipe his rear, we have no standing water or run off where he is drinking, I am cleaning everything. I am curious if there is any treatment that has really worked and knocked the Giardia out.

Any help and or suggestions would be welcome to me or my Vet....

I know this is the best forum group to be asking.... Fingers crossed you guys have some miracle that we don't know about.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is all true, but no amount of probiotics is going to kill giardia. With normal giardia, you give probiotics so that once the giardia is gone and the antibiotics are discontinued, the dog doesn't end up with chronic ongoing diarrhea from a lack of good bacteria or a bacterial imbalance in the gut. If the giardia test came back negative but the dog still had loose stools, then I would definitely think it was just a matter of getting a decent amount of good bacteria established in the gut. The probitoics are still a good idea, but they aren't going to solve the problem on their own. 

No type of food is going to kill giardia, either.

I had replied to several of FitzUs5's previous discussions on this issue, and honestly have no additional advice; I am at a loss as to what to do for such a resistant strain of giardia that has not responded to any of the treatments with which I am familiar. 

The comment above about the Saponins/ Yucca Schidigera is intriguing. I was not aware that it had anti-protozoal properties. I did a little reading since that was posted and it appears to be true, although all the research I could find has thus far applied only to livestock like cows and horses, whose digestive systems are very different from those of dogs. Still, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to try it. 

Otherwise, I just don't know. If Henry was just a carrier, he would be asymptomatic, and that doesn't seem to be the case. Short of recommending an internal medicine specialist, I'm out of ideas. :(

[Fitz & Henry]

Karen thank you for all of your help as well... I may try something that someone on the ML group site replied to me about that she used on her pup. I will try anything about now.
I wish he was an asyptomatic carrier... Well not really, because I'd like to be done with it completely.
But dealing with the symptoms are no fun.
I wonder if we cure him if he would actually have a growth spurt, or if maybe that's just too late. I'm not so sure I understand the normal growth of these ALDs.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was looking at that ML discussion and I do think you should try it. My vet uses only Panacur for giardia, not metronidazole (JD never had it but i had a foster who did) and it is definitely the treatment of choice. Plus, it has very few if any side-effects, unlike metronidazole. The way the vets prescribe metro for any little bout of diarrhea, many of us get the idea that it's a relatively harmless drug, but in the past two years, I have learned differently. It can cause all kinds of problems down the road, some of them quite serious.

[Fitz & Henry]

I know about the side effects from Metro & its scares me.  : (

As suggested by the Parasitologist , we are now going to try Drontal for 5 days, wait 10 days redo the fecal and see what we have.

If that does not work, I think we will try just hitting him 2wks on 1 week off on the Panacur like Pink's owner suggested.

OMGoodness what will I do with all my spare time if we actually get rid of this darn Giardia?!?  ; )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good luck, I hope this does the trick! 

[Tara L P]

Has anyone suggested human grade Diatomaceous Earth for deworming?

Here are some articles to read and consider:

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/benefits-diatomaceous-earth/

http://www.naturalnews.com/039326_diatomaceous_earth_detox_mercury....

http://www.wolfcreekranch.net/diatomaceous_earth.html

http://www.americanbluelacyassociation.com/blog/?p=1036#awp::?p=1036

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Giardia is not worms, it's a protozoa, and there is no fact-based scientific research or studies showing that DE is effective in treating it

[Fitz & Henry]

You know it's an interesting question though.
The parasitologist suggested we try Henry on 5 days of Drontal. That is a heavy duty deworming med that takes care of flat worms, ring worms - most worms & it's very strong.
He just finished the 5 days and now we wait 10 days and then test the stool again.
FINGERS CROSSED!!!
I will keep everyone the loop after we get the next results.

[Robin and Libby Louise]

Good luck!  We'll be waiting!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

All fingers and paws crossed here! 

[Fitz & Henry]

For those who have been following my sweet Henry's story... We heard from the Vet this morning that after the 5 days on Drontal & waiting 10 days --
Henry tested positive still for Giardia.
On the scale of 0-4 / Henry is a 3.
In the fecal float he has a lot of organisms... And is shedding cysts.

We are now going to see a specialist & a veterinary parasitologist next week.

Why oh why didn't we get the pet insurance?!?!
Ugh....
Blue in Chicago. : (

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm so sorry that things have not improved. I hope the specialists have some answers for you.