Am worried about Lacy!

[SharonSnowbird]

Originally Posted by Scoobstersmom

Sharon, I have also heard good things about Scottsdale Animal Healthcare but don't have any personal experience with them. It would be a drive for me sine I live in Fountain Hills. Why oh why can't I find a vet that is open 7 days a week! LOL

I am so glad that Lacy is feeling better. When I said my dog went through three courses of treatment for the giardia - she was only ill and had symptoms the first time, when she was diagnosed. After a couple of days on panacur, her symptoms resolved and she seemed fine, but we could not rid her stool sample of the parasite until a month after the third treatment. We kept plugging away at it - I've got two other dogs in the house and the last thing I needed was an epidemic of it. We used panacur all three times. Metronidazole is another treatment for giardia but our vet didn't want to use it on our pup because she was very young and only weighed a couple of pounds at the time.

Good luck with getting rid of the giardia, and with finding a more assessable vet. One thing I really liked about Hillside and also about the current vet I'm using now in Fountain Hills is that they are very available by email even when the clinic isn't open. I've found that both monitor their emails very regularly nights and on weekends and are willing to advise or at least make a phone call to help.

Diana

Thanks Diane, I am worried about Lacy, as she cannot be on the Panacur as she had a bad reaction to it, she got into a severely agitated state and I had to take her to the emergency hospital on Friday night. They told me to hold off on the meds, so she has not been on any since Friday night. Am waiting for my vet to call me back this morning to put her on something else. Lacy only weighs 2.2 pounds, so is very little also.

[glorianlove]

Wow, hope everything goes okay with Lacy.. Why did the breeder fed the dogs chicken feet? Just asking because I thought dogs should only eat the chicken meats except all the bones...

[Jkpal]

Any update on your little girl?

[yavenay]

It sounds like to me she is in pain, probably beyond just simply discomfort. My Brandi had the same exact symptoms. She was restless and could not get comfortable. However, it was intermittent. In her case, she was diagnose with liver shunts.

I'm am not saying that is wrong with your baby. I am hoping it is the meds that is causing the behavior. I do hope she is doing much better today.

[Scoobstersmom]

Sharon, one thing we have plenty of here in Arizona is compounding pharmacies. Diamondback Drugs or one of the other pharmacies can make a dose of metronidazole small enough for a two pounder. You might just have to wait a day or so for the meds. We continued on with panacur because our pup did fine with it. I hope you've spoken to your vet by now. Unless your Lacy is lethargic, vomiting or has diarrhea, she will be fine waiting on the meds. Our little gal was very sick with giardia when she was diagnosed so there was some urgency at first, but her symptoms resolved within a couple of days. Its important to continue to monitor with fecal samples - we waited about two weeks after the meds were completed - because they can still carry the parasite without having any symptoms. It felt like a never ending battle to me. It took at least a few months before she had a clear stool sample. I was so angry that our poor little gal came home with this nasty parasite. She was a rescue from across the Mexican border so I'm sure that's where she got it.

Let us know how Lacy is doing.

Diana

[SharonSnowbird]

Thank you all so much for your concern for Lacy, I appreciate it.

Scooberstermom, like you, I am also pretty upset that Lacy came with Giardia. You just don't expect to have that kind of a problem when you first get a puppy! Especially from a reputable breeder. Getting a puppy is supposed to be fun. But when you are told you have to be scrupulous about keeping her entire playpen spotlessly clean or she will keep getting infected, and WE can get infected also, it is a REAL concern. The vet told me if humans contact it, you get extreme diarrhea, and it is serious and can take a LONG time to get rid of. NOT a happy thought!!!

The vet put her on Metronidazole for 7 days. Then we have to wait another week to take another fecal test to see if she is rid of it. From what I have read, many times it takes three sessions of the drug to get rid of it.

I am so upset that my sweet little Lacy has to go through this, I just want her to be happy.

[Scoobstersmom]

No Sharon, it's not what we expect (especially when the pup comes from a reputable breeder), but my vet says it's a lot more common than most people realize. Many dogs carry the parasite without ever getting sick or having symptoms, so they're never diagnosed or treated and the parasite doesn't always show up in regular fecal tests. My little gal was about 16 weeks old when we got her, and she'd been vetted, completed her vaccinations, and even had a fecal test the day after we got her. A week later she became very lethargic, had vomiting and diarrhea, and our vet immediately suspected Parvo even though she'd completed all her vaccinations. The blessing was that she didn't have Parvo, she had Giardia. Even vaccinated pups can get Parvo, and many do not survive, but it's rare for one not to survive Giardia. So that is our blessing - that we only had to deal with Giardia.

The constant cleaning and washing and bleaching is a hassle, but with basic precautions your family is not likely to catch it from her and your pup will be fine as well. Once we got past the nasty diarrhea, it was pretty routine. Our pup was already well on the way to being potty trained, and I had been using a little ex-pen in the backyard for her to do her business, so she was already isolated from our other dogs at potty time. I took her out frequently, picked up immediately after bowel movements and kept a spray bottle of bleach/water solution handy and sprayed down the area each time she had a bm. I washed my hands frequently with antibacterial soap. And I kept the hair on her bum and feet trimmed really short and used a wipe on her after every bowel movement. She was completely potty trained before she ever cleared the giardia. Between BM's she had the freedom to run around in the house with supervision and played often with our other dogs and no one got sick. Yes, Lacy CAN re-infect herself or other dogs or humans, but it's really not that likely if you are using normal cleaning precautions as you would with a puppy anyway. The only real difference for me was spraying down the area where she had bowel movements with a bleach/water solution.

Make sure she gets her meds, have regular fecal tests done every few weeks for a while after she clears the parasite, and try to relax and enjoy your puppy. They only stay tiny for a little while so don't let this ruin the great experience of bonding with your girl.

Diana

[SharonSnowbird]

What great advice Diana, thank you! I am feeling better already, hearing that.

I know my breeder was not aware that Lacy had giardia. I was just curious as to how many breeders test their pups stool for giardia before selling them, and if they didn't, I was curious as to why they didn't. I know absolutely nothing about what breeders should or shouldn't do before selling puppies. I am just trying to become more aware of the process of selling and buying puppies, as I want to buy a brother for Lacy in a few months.

I really take my hat off to all the great breeders around, as I think being a breeder is difficult and very time consuming. That is one job I would never want to have. Good breeders are worth their weight in gold!

[Russpilot]

Like Yavenay, I had a pup with similar symptoms. It turned out to be a liver shunt. I would have a Bile Acid test done on Lacy just to rule out the probability that it could be liver issues.

[SharonSnowbird]

You know, everyone, even though the path to finally getting Lacy home as my pup was difficult, after losing out on Cosmo, and then the sister and brother, then getting Lacy and finding out she has giardia. But I truly believe that three months from now, I will be posting to the list about what a wonderful and fabulous pup little Lacy is. And I guess that is all that really matters in the end, that we get a puppy that is a wonderful pet and companion. I think Lacy is going to be a very special dog. So, even though I think my breeder has made some major mistakes, I do think she raises great dogs.

[scrapindee]

I do test my dogs fecal matter before they leave here.

[ZacharyDY]

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In much of the world, tap water is unsafe. Unfortunately, bottled water is not necessarily better. People who live in advanced nations generally fail to appreciate the value of safe, germ-free drinking water straight from the tap. The fact is, it's OK from a health standpoint to drink water staight from the tap most of the time in the United States, in Canada, in Australia and New Zealand, in the European Union, in many parts of the Caribbean, in Korea, and in Japan.
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Sources of Infection & Risk Factors | Giardia | Parasites | CDC
The risk of humans acquiring Giardia infection from dogs or cats is small. The exact type of Giardia that infects humans is usually not the same type that infects dogs and cats.

[ZacharyDY]

Originally Posted by SharonSnowbird

I picked up Lacy on Monday afternoon, and took a stool sample from her on Tuesday to the vet and she was diagnosed with Giardia.

SharonSnowbird: I'm confused; if she was diagnosed on Tuesday, why did you wait until Friday to treat Lacy with the Panacur?

[JadeD]

Is she on a 7-10 day dose? One of my puppies got sick and they thought it was Giardia. They think he drank water from outside or ate bird/cat feces (most likely cause) and picked it up. I was lucky and he went through one dose and was free of it. I did clean up all poop for several weeks and threw it away and was able to be rid of it. I had the puppy for almost 2 months when this happened so I am sure he got it while under my care. The other 3 dogs in the house did not get it. I was very lucky and I also took him to the vet the first day he showed signs of being sick. It was amazing how quickly he went downhill just from waking up in the morning to seeing the vet in the afternoon. However he only took a few days to show improvement, although he did have some issues for a few days, but he was active and appeared to be feeling better. I did the dose of panacur and he was better.

I hope she gets better quickly and that this is gone in no time so you can be enjoying her more.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by ZacharyDY

SharonSnowbird: I'm confused; if she was diagnosed on Tuesday, why did you wait until Friday to treat Lacy with the Panacur?

hmmmmm

I am even more confused or LOL perhaps I am not. What is your interest in this puppy purchase? Seems you have a lot of "reasons" for what is going on with this purchase.
Are you the breeder or a friend?