My puppy had giardia when we got him, and developed coccidia quickly thereafter if he didn't already have it (coccidia I believe lives in all dogs' intestines to a certain extent, but it turns into a problem sometimes in puppies when they are under stress like moving to a new home, or other dogs can have it spiral out of control if their immune system is compromised).
Both are horrible intestinal parasites, both are pretty hard to get rid of. Giardia is harder to get rid of because it's harder for vets to see (it's really small), and may not even be evident in every poop while the pup is infected. Even the smallest amounts of poop ingested will reinfect a dog. We have washed our pup's bum and paws immediately after EVERY SINGLE poop with baby shampoo for over a month now to get rid of the giardia. If they sniff it, you have to wash their face too, as well as pray they didn't ingest any it. We hope it's gone in our pup now, but it's nearly impossible to be absolutely sure until the stools stay consistent for awhile longer. We also use a 20% bleach 80% water solution which we pour over the area he pooped on right after we pick up the poop. We also wipe the floors and the bottoms of our shoes down with this solution and let it dry thoroughly about once a week. Literally even little bits of poop you can't even see will reinfect the pup, and bleach is the only thing that really kills it, so bleach your grass if you have to... or just make sure they only use the bathroom on gravel which is easier to bleach (our yard here in Nevada is landscaped gravel, so we're lucky we don't have to deal with grass).
Dogs can get these parasites from a healthy mom carrying low levels of them in her stool, other dogs' poop, bird poop (I think), standing water like rain puddles, eating mud/dirt, etc.
Hope that helps a little... these parasites are nasty, as you know by now. Sorry to hear about the pup. :-( Your vet's advice is all you can really do, so far as I know. Clean, clean, clean, and NO POOP. I can't imagine how hard that would be with a brand new litter of pooping puppies!
Lauren & Nikko |