Need some moral support - Puppy has Giardia & Coccidia
 

It's been a long week. I just got my 8 week old puppy last Sunday (7/22/12) and had to take her to the emergency vet early Monday (7/23/12) morning due to vomiting, lack of appetite, and lethargy. At the emergency vet they tested her for Parvo and Giardia, but both came out negative so they just attributed it to stress. So, she spent half a day there getting IV fluids since her blood sugar was a bit low. When I took her home she was a whole new dog! Playful and quite active. Things went down hill the next day (7/24/12), she continued to vomit and started to have diarrhea as well. Went to see the regular vet and decided to put her on Flagyl since the Dr. suspected it may be parasites or some sort of intestinal bacterial infection. Was also told to give her 0.2ml of Karo syrup every 2 hours to keep her blood sugar up and give her pedialyte. She seemed to take both well. Finally got her stool results back the following day (7/25/12) and turns out she had both Giardia and Coccidia. I was shocked, but relieved at the same time. Finally we knew what was going on, but it's so scary for such a small puppy (only 1 lb 13 oz) to have to be so sick. :( So in addition to the Flagyl she was also put on Albon. I've also been syringe feeding her gerber because she won't eat on her own in addition to the Karo syrup. Anyway, I thought things were looking up today (7/27/12) when she had two normal stools! But, later on in the day she had a couple episodes of diarrhea. I'm not sure what to think now. Is this just her going through the motions and her body just getting rid of the parasites?!? I know she's on a lot of meds which could also cause the diarrhea, but I just found it so strange that she had two regular stools this morning and diarrhea in the afternoon. I guess I'm just a bit frustrated and worried, I just want her to be ok asap. Anyone else out there have a similar situation? Thoughts? Comments? Any moral support would be greatly appreciated :)

Joel had coccidea a couple months ago and had the diareah he got a shot and started getting better, it's pretty common with puppies, hope your baby feels better soon:)

Hope your baby starts to feel better soon.:animal-pa

I am raising an 8 week old orphan , so I know how much work it takes to take care of a young puppy, puppies should stay with their mom's until 12 weeks,with that said, if he was mine this is what I would do.. go to the pet store and get Nutrical Puppy, it has more calories and is a lot better that just the karo syrop. give one pea size drop to the pup every 3 hours. Go to the store and buy a few cans of Goat's milk, is what we breeders use to wean puppies, a HIGH quality soft puppy food and use the kibble the puppy should be eating, mix it and make a Gruel type food and offer this to the puppy at least 5 times a day, I feed my puppy, breakfast, snack lunch, dinner and snack before bed and make sure that right before you go to bed at night he gets a last dose of nutrical puppy, this will ensure his sugar level will stay put thru the night, my pup still gets up at 3 am to pee, I have a wee wee pad next to his pen in my bedroom and I just put him there he does his business and back to the pen and he sleeps until 6 or 7 am. if you need more help don't hesitate to pm me.
looking forward to hear the pup is doing better..
hugs,

Carmen, You are wonderful! OP- I pray your little one turns the corner for the better very soon.

I am going through this right now...however, mine are 7 yrs, 6 yrs and 1 yr. they picked up some kind of intestinal bacteria along with giardia (had stool tested). I treated all 3 of them for over a week...also adding fortiflora to their food. Their stools never got as firm as they were before this. Today I wake up to EXTREMELY soft poop AGAIN! just called my vet...back on the metronidizole. Giardia is a tough parasite to get rid of. UGH! when will it end!!!

when I got Emy in June, I took her in for her puppy wellness exam with a stool sample, and came back she had coccidia also. Vet had me give her 7 syringes of banana flavored worm medicine which she loved for 7 days, then I took another sample in and she came back clear. She also started to gain weight since then and has continued to gain weight, she now weighs 5.2 lbs at 18 weeks, but she never did have the diarrhea when she had the coccidia, her stools were actually kinda hard (made it easy to clean up though LOL).

My son went through this with a puppy a couple of months ago. It took his little one about 3-4 days of being on meds to feel better. Good luck!

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. It's been a rough few days. My puppy was getting a bit worse over the weekend with vomiting so we ended up hospitalizing her. She's doing ok, has IV fluids, and they are still treating her for the Giardia an Coccidia. Unfortunately, her energy levels are still low and she still has no appetite :( Hopefully, things will get better soon. The vet said that her blood work came back a little concerning with elevated amylase and lipase which could be an indication of an inflamed pancreas. Anyone, have any experience with this?

i will keep your baby in my thoughts..i hope she shows signs of improvement.

Don't fret. Austin, my first yorkie, had giardia when we first got him. The vet gave him meds and he cured right away. My other biewer, Chelsea had a bug, that gave her symptoms like Coccida but wasn't. She was put on IV overnight and on meds. She got better within days. They had me put her on food that has probiotics. This is why they are all on Fromms grain free kibble. I have three yorkies. I know what you are going through. The key Is, be consistent on the meds and food. She will be fine. :)

Skippy had Giardia when we brought him home. It was awful for 1-2 weeks. I had to clean everything he touched; humans can get it too. Curses to that breeder; I called her to tell her she sold us a sick dog, and she wanted to know the name of the medicine we were given for him-then to spell it for her. Of course then I knew her other dogs must be sick too.I did let her know because I didn't want her dogs to die!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! :) Our puppy is still in the hospital...its been 4 days now. I think she is starting to get over her giardia and coccidia, but the main issue now is that she will not eat. She has no appetite even though she is on an appetite stimulant. Today was a little better, she had a few licks of some food, but thats all. They have to force feed her with a syringe to prevent her blood sugar from going low. She's still on IVs and she is getting a blood test to test for pancreatitis. The results will be in tomorrow morning. Hopefully, everything turns out normal. I can't imagine having to deal with something else on top of everything thats going on.

Poor baby....hope she feels better soon.