[aweitzm1]

I love my Thumper but am exhausted as he has been sick since around August one thing after another. I am tired of going to my vet and they are tired of seeing me.

In previous posts I mentioned that Thumper's behavior changed since his strained back and his poop has been mushy too soft. I did mention it to the vet at one of the checkup but she and I both thought it was just due to stress and all the recent changes going on.

Well I tried the FortiFlora and Pumpkin and nothing was getting it back to normal after 15 days. My gut was telling me something was not right. Overall he was happy and living life just his poop was inconsistent.

My two regular vets were not in the office on the weekend. Long story short I tried to go to a low cost center for a fecal test. (Will never do that again it was a disaster to the extreme) Was able to take him to a different local vet and gave them a stool sample.

It came back the next day as Giardia.(4 plus for parasites) I was beside myself. I immediately had them email me the report and sent it to my regular vet and placed a call for them to let me know how to treat it. I was not expecting that diagnosis as I thought only puppies got Giardia and they barely go out on walks.

I kept thinking this is something I caused and blaming myself. I spoke to the one of the vets at the office a few hours later and she explained the diagnosis and treatment to me. (Love my vet office they calmed me down)

They said I did not need to separate Bella and Thumper since we decided to treat them both as a precaution. (Bella's sample which I dropped off on Monday was negative). That is very helpful because they hate being separated.

They are both on two medications one for 5 days and one for 10 days. (an antibiotic and a dewormer) Than a week later we will re-do a fecal test just for Thumper. However, based on the lab report the vet does think that Thumper will need multiple treatments before all of the parasites are gone. Since Bella is negative not sure she will need another course of treatment.

I am just exhausted physically and emotionally with all of Thumper's illnesses.

Would love any advice on those that have had this disease for their dogs. Anything specific I should do. My friend and I are going to do a huge cleaning of the apartment this weekend, wash all their toys and disinfect everything. It will be exhausting but it has to get done.

Since the meds his poop is mostly normal and definitely better than before. He poops about 2x a day after eating. He is a poop eater and constantly licks his paws so the vet said that might be where he got it. She can't tell me definitively as its impossible to know. I tried with the poop eating but I can't always catch him if he poops on the pads at night when I am sleeping or when I am at work.

Finally, now I am afraid to take him outside for walks as he can get the disease again. Any advice on how to protect him and Bella better? I live in the city so he doesn't really eat grass and he hates puddles so refuses step in them or tries to jump over them.

Thanks for listening to me