My puppy has giardia!

[Kelz]

a lot of our dogs that we get from breeders have giardia.. our are put on meds for a minimum of 14 days.

[lemonlauren]

Just for an update, it's about four days later now, so Nikko has had four days worth of his meds (one he's supposed to take for 5 days, the other for 10). His poops haven't really gotten any more solid, and some of them are even less solid than before the meds. Yesterday, he barely ate or drank at all, so this morning I made him some chicken broth, boiled chicken and plain white rice, which I mixed all together with some mushed up kibble. He ate it! Then drank some water too!!! And then he did some pooping, and a bunch more peeing in the following hours, which is great because he hadn't been eating enough before to have much to poo or pee out.

But then about three hours later, we had a scare. He started shaking while laying in my lap, and whining quietly, and breathing funny, and barely being able to stay awake. He refused any food or water, even the fake maple syrup. We panicked, and I was ready to drive the hour to our nearest animal emergency room. But my DH said wait, let's see if he his tummy is just hurting, let's see if he needs to poop.

Well, that was it I guess... we took him out and he peed a big pee and pooped a super messy gaseous soft-serve poop. After I got done bathing him, he happily sat down and started gnawing on a baby carrot. Then he ate a little chicken and rice. Now he's sleeping peacefully.

Whew! We have a regular vet appointment tomorrow, hopefully he can stay well enough until then. *Sigh* I'll post what the vet says about all this craziness tomorrow probably. With every day that goes by, I'm getting angrier and angrier with the woman who sold him to us. :-(

Lauren & Nikko

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by lemonlauren

Just for an update, it's about four days later now, so Nikko has had four days worth of his meds (one he's supposed to take for 5 days, the other for 10). His poops haven't really gotten any more solid, and some of them are even less solid than before the meds. Yesterday, he barely ate or drank at all, so this morning I made him some chicken broth, boiled chicken and plain white rice, which I mixed all together with some mushed up kibble. He ate it! Then drank some water too!!! And then he did some pooping, and a bunch more peeing in the following hours, which is great because he hadn't been eating enough before to have much to poo or pee out.

But then about three hours later, we had a scare. He started shaking while laying in my lap, and whining quietly, and breathing funny, and barely being able to stay awake. He refused any food or water, even the fake maple syrup. We panicked, and I was ready to drive the hour to our nearest animal emergency room. But my DH said wait, let's see if he his tummy is just hurting, let's see if he needs to poop.

Well, that was it I guess... we took him out and he peed a big pee and pooped a super messy gaseous soft-serve poop. After I got done bathing him, he happily sat down and started gnawing on a baby carrot. Then he ate a little chicken and rice. Now he's sleeping peacefully.

Whew! We have a regular vet appointment tomorrow, hopefully he can stay well enough until then. *Sigh* I'll post what the vet says about all this craziness tomorrow probably. With every day that goes by, I'm getting angrier and angrier with the woman who sold him to us. :-(

Lauren & Nikko

are you using probiotics and pumpkin as well? i would do that with the meds to help get the system back up and running faster

[lemonlauren]

thanks for the tip! he's eating chicken and rice and broth well right now, but i'm still very anxious to get him into the vet tomorrow. he seems to also have developed a snotty nose and some sneezes now too. i'm feeding him a little bit of active yogurt when i can, mixed in with food or sometimes as a post-bathtime treat. the pumpkin i have not yet tried. i've heard other people mention pumpkin - i understand what the yogurt does, but what exactly does the pumpkin do? i'll probably be trying that soon. i feel so bad for the little guy. :-(

Lauren & Nikko

[lemonlauren]

I just read one of the most detailed articles on Giardia in dogs and puppies, the best medication(s) to treat it, how to avoid it, and all the other good stuff you have to do to help your dog get over it (like bleaching his poo spots, washing his bum and paws after each poop, feeding him pumpkin, etc.). It even goes into what each medication does, and what you can expect and watch out for during the healing process. I'm really impressed, and happy I stumbled across it. Just wanted to share! :-)

Here it is

-Lauren & Nikko

[dwerten]

the pumpkin is natural fiber -- i use organic canned pumpkin when mine get diarhea nd then i put in ice cube trays freeze then pop out and put in a baggie in fridge so when one gets diarhea i defrost and feed to them -- it helps with constipation and diarhea

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by lemonlauren

I just read one of the most detailed articles on Giardia in dogs and puppies, the best medication(s) to treat it, how to avoid it, and all the other good stuff you have to do to help your dog get over it (like bleaching his poo spots, washing his bum and paws after each poop, feeding him pumpkin, etc.). It even goes into what each medication does, and what you can expect and watch out for during the healing process. I'm really impressed, and happy I stumbled across it. Just wanted to share! :-)

Here it is

-Lauren & Nikko

yes you need to constantly clean as it is very contagious and you can re-infect if not kept very clean

[lemonlauren]

So, toward the end of all the meds for the giardia, Nikko started to go downhill. He started gagging and spitting up a little, and kept eating and drinking less and less - even the delicious chicken and rice. We bumped the vet appointment up, and now we're back home. Here's the news:

The vet saw a little giardia still in the stool, but she said it looked like it was dead - Nikko hadn't pooped in about a day at this point, so perhaps hopefully this is cool. She said she was hopeful the giardia is done with. Horray for us for obsessively keeping Nikko and his environment clean during all that!

But the reason he's feeling so crappy still is that he also has coccidia. Turns out, the first vet we took him to (that was nearby where we'd picked him up) had seen the giardia, but had missed the coccidia. Grrrrr! First vet was also unable to interpret the shot/worming list that we got with him, but new vet glanced at it and said she knew what everything was. She even pointed out to us the last two de-worming treatments Nikko had had before we got him were to treat practically everything EXCEPT FOR giardia and coccidia.

Anyways, that's the story. If I don't post back to this thread, you can assume we killed all the giardia in under a week, and lived happily ever after (well, after we get rid of the coccidia too, lol). Whoohoo! But if it ends up coming back, I'll post again with more updates... Cross your fingers for us!

:-) Lauren & Nikko

[lemonlauren]

Hahaha... sucks to be us. The coccidia meds were starting to firm up Nikko's poo a little, but then in the last couple of days it all went downhill again - he was more lethargic, and his poops got runnier and stinkier again. Still though, he was still eating and drinking - thankfully.

Today I took a stool sample in, and the vet said the coccidia seems to be gone (but to still finish out the meds he's on for that anyways), BUT the giardia is still there, and alive. We had had TWO stool samples before this where there was no giardia, or at least the vet didn't see any - so beware, this is a tricky and horrible parasite. And we have also been insanely obsessive about washing him and bleaching everything, espeically poop areas after we pick the poop up. We have another five days' of Panacur ahead of us now, then we'll do another stool sample. Please pray for tootsie roll poops instead of chocolate mousse in Nikko's near future! We're getting closer!!!

Lauren & Nikko

[Skippy's Mom]

Just wanted to let ya'll know- Flagyl does not kill the "good" bacteria in your system- actually, at least when a human gets the diarrhea from too many antibiotics, they are treated with Flagyl and sometimes the probiotics in pill form. I hope your puppy ends up being okay. Skippy had the Giardia when we got him too, we just used the Flagyl from the doctor, and gave him his puppy food, not all of the extra people food that you used. Keep it simple- and wash everything- eventually it will die.

[143julz]

History:
Had new pup for 3 weeks now, have not changed his food, Chicken Soup. Since last Tue he had soft stools for 4 days, Sunday 2a.m. explosive diareaha. Again at 6am so i gave him 1 ml of kaopectae at 930 and at 4pm Monday we were at the vet.
Fecal came back clear. Dr gave him Barium and sent us home. Well Tue 2 am it comes out, explosvie in his cage.ALL ALONG HE HAS BEEN HIS PEPPY SELF. EATS AND DRINKS NO ISSUES THERE!!!
I called breeder and she suggested flagyl, i got it last night from the vet and a syngerine of Barium. I read some post on here about flagly and what some have experienced, that scared me so i decided NOT to give it. Last night before bed i gave another 1ml of kaopectate. This morning, diahera AGAIN
Gave another 1ml of kaopectate off to work i am....
AGAIN, SAME PEPPY PUP!!!
Suggestion..
I would like to try the pumpkin, can you get that anywhere? And probotics? What kind?
From what i read is a 2nd opinion inorder? Should i stop w the kaopectate and go ahead and give the flagyl?
I'm really confused about all this and just looking for MORE advise???

[lemonlauren]

I don't know enough to really suggest anything specific about the Flagyl, I'm sorry. My puppy was on Flagyl though, and he was fine with it - my vet prescribed it at the beginning of Nikko's stomach parasite mess along with the other meds, and I trust my vet (she specializes in small dogs, which makes me feel good). But if it's a parasite like giardia or coccidia, the Flagyl won't fix the problem from what I understand. And it's true - giardia is REALLY hard to detect. First, it's really really small and hard to see. Second, it simply won't show up in every poop! It's a horrible parasite...

So I suppose it's possible your pup has this, but it certainly could be other things too - including coccidia. From what I can tell, giardia looks like just diarrhea while coccidia looks like diarrhea with mucous in it usually. I don't know... your pup may have a parasite, he may have something else going on. Definitely get him and/or his (fresh!) poop to the vet again, and get a second opinion if you want to as well.

Also, probiotics and pumpkin are fine I guess, but you HAVE to figure out what is causing all this diarrhea and FIX it, not just mask the symptoms. My vet said a tiny bit of active yogurt (like Dannon Activa) is OK, but to lay off the pumpkin until the root cause of the runny stools has been eliminated.

Good luck, and let us know what happens...

Lauren & Nikko

[143julz]

Thanks for your info....If things aren't improving by tomorrow I'll be at the vet by afternoon.

I'll let you know...
The Dr, said, since test was neg, that sometimes dogs just need to "blow it out of thier systems" well OK, but this long???? I hope i see improvement when i get home, he will of had 3 doses of kaopectate at this point, DH said at lunch he didn't poo, so MAYBE, (fingers crossed) we're on the road to recovery.

Did i say, all this started last Tue when we brought him home from his first trip at the groomers??? I've used them for yrs. with my other Yorkie, but maybe one of the dogs there had something????

[mkbartz]

Does anybody ever immunize their dog's against giardia?

I thought Gypsy had Giardia about three weeks ago. She had diarreah on and off for a few days. Then Prissy caught it. Then I was ill, then my 15 year old brother who was visiting. We couldn't find anything in the stool at the vet's, but they suggested we put both puppies on flagy-something. It worked for Prissy but Gypsy was still ill for a few weeks on and off. Turns out, she just had the FLU! Anyways, I have been giving them a little bit of yogurt with the dog food. The LOVE IT!

Anyways, it is enough that I am going to get the girls immunized against Giardia.

[lemonlauren]

I didn't know you could immunize against giardia?

Lauren & Nikko