My puppy has giardia!
 

I got a puppy :animal36 less than 2 weeks ago from a breeder in Ohio and immediately noticed that her stools were loose, contained mucus, and blood. :confused:

She tested positive for 2+ giardia (giardiarsis) which is transmittable to humans. Her vet put her on some meds for 5 days which improved her stools, but the day after it ended her stools went back to its weird state.

My internet research says it's hard to get rid of giardia and that the meds out there are controversial in and of themselves because they kill everything in your stomach.

Has anyone else had this problem? What medications worked and how long did it take to get rid of?

Thank you!

My Pom had it when I got her 9 years ago. It took about a month to get rid of it. Just stay on top of it like you are. Keep us posted.

Had it in rescue dogs, and YES you can get it, so wash those hands as often as if you had OCD!! The two things used to treat it were Flagyl (Metronitozole) and also some used 10-14 days of Panacur. I liked Flagyl. Talk to your vet, you probably need to treat her for longer than 5 days (10 minimum) if on Flagyl and give her something to control diarreah or she will dehydrate quickly. Everywhere she poos, she is depositing the virus, so clean REALLY GOOD with amonia in those places, it is the only thing that is known to kill protozoans like Giardia and Coccidia. Also, wash her water and food bowl every day, she is getting it in there too. Sorry you are having to go through this. :( :( Did you notify the breeder? If so, what was the response?

We went through this with Sissy when she was 9 months old. It took a month to get rid of it and two rounds of meds. The first round was only 5 days and was Pancur. The 2nd round of meds was 10 days of Metronitozole in a liquid form through a syringe. She got very sick after a few weeks of having the Giardia and dehydrated easily. She also stopped eating her dry food completely at this time. I have read where dogs can become anorexic cause their food tastes yucky while on this treatment. So watch out for these syptoms.

You will need to dysinfect all your pups things, toys, bedding and any area where she has been sleeping/playing. If you wipe her little bum with a baby wipe every time she poops, that will help keep things clean, too. Good luck to you and your baby.

How do they get this?

The main thing to worry about with Giardi besides ridding the system of it with Flagyl is that the meds kill all the needed active bacteria in the stomach. Please ask your doctor for a support supplement such as Acetylator or add yogurt to the food or cottage cheese as well. You have to get back those needed bacterias and keep the stomach conditioned. I get my Acetylator from Vetri-Science direct but your vet may know of another or carry something similiar. Just my two cents worth. I am new here so I hope this post goes where I meant for it to. Have a great day!! Oh forgot to add Giardia is usually from bad water or even a change of water. Use filtered and distilled water and change frequently. Clean water dispenser or bowl well and often.

Thanks! I didn't know that!! and to think of all these animals that drink out of puddles YUCK!

I found that Sissy loves yogurt. In fact, since she stopped eating her dry food, yogurt has become her breakfast. I buy her the Dannon Activia with the good bacteria in it. She gets 1/4 a container each morning.

My vet told us that standing water almost always contains Giardia. Sissy got it after several days of non-stop rain.

Sounds like all the advice you've been given is good. Stay on top of it and get another round of meds and clean up her stools promptly. I would add good bacteria to her diet to help replace what the antibiotics kill off. Good bacteria is in yogurt (causes diarrhea in some), can be bought separately in a powder form (health food stores) or in little tubes called Bene-bac from a petstore. I would also give her Pedialyte to restore the electrolyte balance caused from diarrhea. With giardia, anorexia is also a symptom - make sure she is eating good. If not, make sure you are giving her Nutrical or Nutristat. I would put her on a diet of boiled chicken (easy to digest) and rice (firms up the stools).

I don't know if I would give her a medicine for diarrhea specifically because what I've been told is that the system needs to clean itself out and by giving a med for diarrhea it delays the cleaning out process.

I pray your baby feels better really soon! :hands: :hands: :hands:

I did notify the breeder immediately but she never responded. When I told her of the symptoms originally she said it was just due to stress from flying.

After the 3rd day on her meds, she lost her appetite, so I am worried about putting her back on it. The vet needs me to bring another fecal sample 5 days after her last medication for another testing so I will keep you all informed.

Thanks for all the info, I need to be more diligent about disinfecting my home.

Definatley get her on more meds and entice her with whatever she will eat.

Sorry to hear this. Angel had Giardia as well. She only had to be treated w/ a 1/4 tsp. of Panacur for 5 days and it was gone. I did a lot of disinfecting, washed her bum and paws, if necessary, w/ shampoo after a bowel movement and gave her a bath after the treatment was finished.

You can read about my experience here: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44285 and http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45380.

I was searching posts for Giardia, since my puppy has it, and I found this thread to be particularly informative (but buried pretty deep). So just in case anyone else is having this problem with their new pup, I'm bumping it. And I'm also going to add my upcoming battle with Giardia to it too, as it progresses.

For now, I can only mention that we detected the Giardia with a stool sample taken straight from his bum by the vet, and we started the meds today. He is taking "Metronidazole Susp. (Flagyl)" twice a day, and Panacur once a day. I'm also getting him to eat a tiny bit of vanilla active yogurt, and his poops and pees only happen a couple or few times a day because he's only eating and drinking what I figure is about half of what he should be at this age (12 weeks). This food intake is supplemented with apple chicken baby food for treats and coated on his dry kibble to make it more enticing, and we are encouraging water at every opportunity. I may try some of that magic chicken broth tomorrow, and maybe some rice, but his energy level is still pretty high so I'm not too worried yet.

Lauren and Nikko

Lauren and Nikko-
I am so sorry you are all having to go through this, but I wanted to say how impressed I am with how proactive you are! You are doing a great job!! :thumbup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.:thumbup:

Maybe my pup has this too????
 

:rolleyes: 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.:eek: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:eek:
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???:(

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

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????:cool:

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.

I didn't know you could immunize against giardia?

Lauren & Nikko