Giardia?

[Jessica]

Hello All!

I just brought our tiny f1b puppy home from the breeder, where she was housed with lots of other doggies. I became a *bit concerned when she was sent home with safegaurd and flagyl, and was told to give both. 

I held off, as she was seeing our vet today 48 hours after coming home) and she was eating/drinking/peeing/pooping well. The only thing that bothered me was the smell of her otherwise normal poops...So Stinky!!!

The vet felt she was a bit thin (she's gained 2 oz/day in the last 18 days, weighing 6.6 lbs at 9 weeks).

The combo of the dog being thin/stinky poops/coming from a busy shelter prompted me to give her a dose of safegaurd today, prior to the stool culture coming back tomorrow. She vomitted about 2 hours later. Otherwise she has had no vomitting. She is really, really calm and laid back. Still explores, runs, plays with the kid, etc, but likes her quiet time on her mat too. I'm not sure if that's a golden doodle personality or a sign that she's unwell?

Also, if in fact her stool does come back +ve, how do I clean the yard!?! is it even possible? I have a pair of boots outside on the porch that has her poop on them (whoops) that I wiped all over the grass. It's cold and snowy here right now. 

I washed her bedding and my clothes in bleach, I'm about to bleach the sink where my daughter emptied her water bowl this morning. Is there anything else I should be doing inside to keep my kids safe, and the puppy from becomming reinfected? There's no fur anywhere in the house, I gave her a little bath this morning after she had some poop stuck to her fur (washtub has been bleached, as well as the towels I wiped her with...and the clothes I was wearing ;-). 

I'm panicking a bit here, but just worried for the health of my kiddos and new pup. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, 

Jess

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You're correct. The greatest risk is reinfection of the puppy, because people don;t generally eat things from the ground outdoors or drink from puddles of standing water, lol. So as long as nobody gets poop on their hands and then puts them in their mouth, the human family members should be okay.

I had a foster here once with raging giardia, and my vet did tell me to spray any grass that the poop touched with a bleach and water spray. But it was summer. 

[Jessica]

This is great info! Thanks so much. I hope other ppl with this issue have a chance to check this thread. Very helpful

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

One precaution I would add is that every time your puppy poops you need to wipe his butt really well.  We had one dog who was treated for giardia, and our vet said that was key because of how they lick themselves.  We used disposable gloves and baby wipes and cleaned the area every time they went potty. 

[Jessica]

Thanks for the info!!! Appreciate it!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Tigger had giardia for about six months as a young puppy.   He kept getting reinfected probably from Roo, who never had symptoms, or tested positive for it.   It is a total pain in the neck for awhile, I feel your pain.  Follow Karen's information and don't worry overly much about your or your children catching it. 

First keep puppy's rear clipped or scissored very close - does not need to be bear but about 1/8 to 1/4 inch.Take your puppy to only one small area to poop in the backyard, preferably an out of the way place.  Mark it for your kids in some way, like don't go in this corner or near this tree until we are sure our puppy is completely well.  At nine weeks you should still be accompanying her to potty, just put her on a leash to keep her where you want her to go.  The long run good effect is she will certainly always potty there and you will no right where to pick it up and keep from stepping in it forever after.

When she is done, wipe her rear with baby wipes and throw them away in the outside trash if possible or just a covered plastic bin kept near if that is better with a little chlorine (either bleach or pool chlorine) and water in the bottom, keep your boots just for potty runs and keep them in a bucket of water with a little chlorine in it.  Change it once a week or so.  Wash your hands after all this and you and the puppy are good to go. 

Presumably by the time it thaws the giardia will be history and all that is left to do is disinfect the potty area.  After the thaw use a flower food dispenser on the end of the hose with about an inch or two of chlorine in it and spray the potty area thoroughly every day for 14 days. This is probably not great for the grass or the dirt, I had a fake grass area that I could use - it loves chlorine.

If she is cleaned up with baby wipes after every poop you don't need to was towels, bedding and bleach the sink.  If you have an outside or laundry sink to wash your hands it will probably make you happier.  Otherwise just use a bathroom sink so you aren't near food prep.  This routine is way beyond what you really need to do and allows for you to get a little lazy about it occasionally.

Adult dogs often live quite healthily will a small continuous giardia population in their intestine, never get tested, never get wormed or but wiped or worried about  and everyone stays healthy.  Puppies are more susceptible to large populations of giardia and they are way smaller, so even a small population can cause symptoms

This is all information from my vet, and the routine that I could manage to keep (mostly) for Tigger.