Oliver has giardia - and I have a few questions

[LarryL]

I thought I'd move this out of the food group and start a new thread as it is no longer food related.

Oliver is a little over 3 months and has been with us for two and a half weeks.
A day after changing food he had diarrhea - after getting a stool sample to the vet, he tested positive for giardia.

We have been adding a bit of mashed sweet potato to his food to firm him up a bit.

The vets office initially gave me metro, but thanks to DK I requested Panacur instead.
They gave me 3 little baggies of powder - a 3 day supply.

Question 1: I know I'm supposed to give a probiotic either two hours before or after he takes his meds. Yesterday we bought all natural fage Greek yogurt - is this a probiotic? Or is yogurt & probiotic not the same?

2: how often should we give him yogurt? Just once a day before or after his meds??

3: I asked the guy at the vets office if in a week or two I should give another stool sample, but he said he would just take more Panacur in two weeks. This sounded weird to me as I dont want to give him more meds than necessary - am I right for thinking that?

4: as far as cleaning, I know to be diligent with his poop cleaning. Is the only way he can reinfect himself by eating licking his poop???

5: he just got his booster shot yesterday - should I avoid taking him outside until this passes?

6: how cantageous is he to other pups? We have a puppy socialization class on Wednesday that I now think I should cancel?

Lastly, I will take as much advice & recommendations as possible!

Thanks

[Brittney & Cally]

Larry are you disinfecting after every bowel movement, cleaning his toys and bedding and are you catching his poop with a paper plate? Also have you been wiping his bum off along with his paws?

[LarryL]

Yes, we are trying are very best to do all of the above.

Everytime he poops we catch it with a plate.

When we miss, we spray the area with bleach/water mix.

We also wipe his butt and paws after every BM too.

We disinfected in the house, and cleaned most of his toys.

How would the Giardia be on his toys tho - dosn't it only come from the poop?

We changed his bedding too.

The thing is his BMs never really improved too much from the panacur.

it improved a tiny bit, but I'm assuming thats more to the food and not the meds.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think you need to give it time. Giardia does not go away overnight and symptoms can last for weeks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Panacur is not just the safest, it's also the most effective, as was noted a couple of times in the link F and I provided here in this discussion. 

Are you giving the probiotics? 

Is he still waking you at night to go out?

I don't believe the Panacur "did nothing", but as was also mentioned, there are strains of giardia that are resistant to antibiotics. It does sound like there has been some improvement. 

Metronidazole and Tinidazole are in the same class of drugs, and both have serious side-effects. You would not use both together. 

[LarryL]

Yes, I was giving a little plain yogurt first 3 days - and the last 2 days I got Proviable DC

He woke us up that 1st night 3-4 times.

The other nights were fine (even tho his stool was still soft)

Then last night he woke me up at 5am to go.

It wasn't that watery spray like the first night, but it was still soft serve.

Then a few hours later he went again.

also, last night he had many #1 accidents in the house - he pee'd quite a lot - more so than normal.

(not sure if that means anything tho)

He also wasn't eating ALL of his food as he was before. Still eating some, but not all.

So what would you do Karen if you were in my shoes?

Would you still wait the two weeks, and then do more Panacur?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think I would give it more time. If this continues, you can always see the vet. Not doing anything right now doesn't mean you have to wait two weeks. You can decide to give another medication tomorrow or Monday, too. :)

Meanwhile, I think I would start adding some kibble back into his diet and see if that makes a difference. 

[LarryL]

So even tho he finished his 5 days it could still be working inside him?

I will wait a few days and see what happens.

When do I make the decision, or how do I make the decision, just based on if his stool firms up?

The fact that more blood was present in his BM this morning isn't a cause for alarm?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Larry, just take it day by day. You don't have to make any decisions right now. 

If things don't get better in a few days, you can re-evaluate. 

[Pam Sadberry]

Mackenzie had giardia as well at 10 weeks old.  Our vet gave us a medicine, but, I don't have a record of what it was.  She had us confine Mackenzie to our fenced in yard until she was 4 months old and until her immune system became stronger.  She wanted her to have her major shots before she ventured out, and was primarily concerned about parvo.  When she was spay at 6 months old, we brought a fecal sample and the giardia was negative.  I'd recommend that you have him tested again in a few weeks.  I believe as long as other dogs don't eat his feces, then they should be fine.

We also found her stools to be soft and sometimes runny.  As we changed her diet, I am pleased to report that we no longer have an issue.  We originally tried a grain free diet at our vet's suggestion.  There was an issue with a bag of food we bought.  I won't provide the details as it had nothing to do with her stool.  So we switched to Science Diet for puppies at the time-small bites.  Her stools have been the best since we switched.  Mackenzie is now 14 months old.  And a happy young lady.

I do hope this helps.  Good luck to you!

Pam

[Brittney & Cally]

Pam, I hope you have updated yourself on the issues with Science Diet and also we do not allow that type of recommendation in this group.

[Pam Sadberry]

Thank you for the reminder.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I love you Britt, but this particular discussion is not in TFG, lol. Larry did post the same discussion there, and it's hard to keep them straight. :)