Anyone experiences with Giardia?

corgimom6092

Our foster/adoptive dog has been diagnosed with Giardia. Our vet prescribed metronidizole to clear it up. It worked and seemed to clear it up for a few days after we finished the course of treatment, but now, four days later, it seems to be back.
Anyone have any experience with clearing this up? I am putting a call into the vet today, but would like to hear about other experiences.

chiirioz

Hi corgimom, we have recently adopted a Weim from the LA animal shelter who was diagnosed with Giardia about 2 weeks ago. When we got her (2 months ago), she had some diarrhea that we assumed was stress related so our doctor prescribed metronidazole 500mg (since she was about 54lbs and very "underfed"). We gave it to her in case it was an intestinal infection.

However, in the last two weeks, her symptoms persisted and even started pooping just liquid and blood so I took her to the vet who gave us another prescription of metronidazole 500 mg (she was now 64 lbs-- still ribby) and got a stool sample in the office where we found out the subsequent morning that it was Giardia. ($200!) He had already put us on Lomotil (prevent diarrhea) and metro again so he said I didn't have to come back in but just continue the course.

We've finished it and this morning (2 days after finishing), her diarrhea seems to be back but we'll wait 2 more days to be sure its consistent. I'm sure its Giardia again.

Giardia is pretty nasty and can stay and our vet has told us of a strain that seemed to be pretty hardy lately so your dog and my dog most likely both have it. Plus a lot of people seem to say Giardia is difficult to rid of. I joined this forum like, today to see if other people had this problem. We're hoping to try Panacur this time to see if it works but we'll see. Aki is pretty much in normal health except her inability to gain much weight and her diarrhea-- luckily eating is still normal (weims are just food feinds so...) and she drinks lots of water.

Goodluck!

croll326

My pup had a bout with it. We had to give him Panacur 3 different times before it was gone. He never had any symptoms but it kept showing up on his fecal exam.

corgimom6092

hmm. Interesting. I did put a call into our vet this morning, but have not heard back from her. I was sure the metronidizole would kick it out of there - I've used it with horses and it is a pretty powerful drug. The biggest problem we seem to have is not so much the diarrhea, but the fact that Pip gets a bit incontinent with it. I'm really getting tired of cleaning up after him because he can't hold it long enough to get outside - I'm not talking him having to hold it for hours and hours. It is minutes. We will be heading for the door, and he just can't hold onto it. Has anyone tried incontinence pads for dogs for this problem? He has one spot that he seems to be draw to, so I am thinking about putting one down in that spot.
Thanks for the input and the commisseration!

chiirioz

You might want to try Lomotil or ask about some drug that is a preventative of diarrhea-- even if he doesn't have much diarrhea. It hardens stool up and Aki didn't have to poop as much. We didnt have incontinence but Aki did need to poop at least 3 times a day and asked to be let out... and it was very loose, smelly, yellow-- before it was bloody.

Perhaps he just doesn't know the rules around the house(?) since he's a foster (dunno how long you've had him) but putting a pad down might not be a bad idea. Aki isn't allowed to poop on the lawn but must poop up a hill in the backyard and she's had some accidents in the house. You might want to put some hydrogen peroxide and vinegar to take away the smell of urine/poop so it doesn't encourage pooping there again.

Dog_Shrink

Coccidia and Giardia are VERY difficult to clear up esp. if you're just treating the animal and not the environment it lives in. This isn't like treating tape worm or round worm... this is much worse. You need to kill them in the potty areas, in the house, in the yard... anywhere your dog frequents or has gone potty. The cysts are constantly shed via your dog's rectum and drop all over the place and can live up to 30 days in your environment after the dog has shed them... all it takes is one paw lick, one sniff of the carpet or ground and BOOM you're reinfested... not to mention even totally clearing it up in the first place is impossible. It never really is totally "gone" it goes into a dormant state and can re-emerge at any time in your dog's life. Usually periods of time where the immuno system is compromised such as old age, very young, just had surgery or illness, high stress/anxiety. This is a zoonotic disease which means IT CAN BE PASSED TO HUMANS... you want to clean your home as best as you can using cleaners that remove fecal and urine enzymes and that will kill the cysts. Your vet can recommend an effective cleaner. I wrote an article for our local paper about coccidia and giardia because so many of my clients lately had it, turns out most of them were from the local pet shop... go figure. Too bad it's stuck on my old computer There's a ton of info out there on it... you really need to do a google search and see what you're really dealing with.

Good luck...

luv2byte

Panacur is a bit more effective but it is hard to get rid of. Clean bedding, bathe the dog 2-3 days in to treatment, clean up poo asap. For poo we bought spray bottles of Clorox disinfectant & we spray the poop spot with it. It does not kill grass. If you can also spray your yard with a 1:32 bleach, water solution, again, it doesn't kill the grass (I've done it, I know). So with keeping every place clean & diligence with meds you will kick it. Just be sure to test poop 2 weeks after the end of the medication.

just fyi...we're on our 4th round of giardia in a year. Our 15mo old eskie got it at daycare then the new dude brought it with him - guess this is actually round 5.

Dog_Shrink

When you do take more samples in for testing they should be collected from 3-4 different poos because dogs dont shed the giardia cysts in every poo so you could get a false negative. your vet should tell you that and if they don't I'd question him a bit deeper as to why when that is standard protocol.

winniec777

Our dog has had giardia a couple of times. We've had to go through 2 rounds of meds to get rid of it. Is your dog on a bland diet -- boiled chicken, turkey, or hamburger and rice? Our dog would be on it for 3 weeks. Once she was through the meds and had no more symptoms we took 2 weeks to get her back on her normal diet. (Cooking for 5 weeks was not fun!). Metamucil or pumpkin helps, too, in firming up the stool. Sometimes our dog would need 3 different drugs to shake a round of giardia - metro + panacur + a shot. Can't remember what was in the shot but it was supposed to be pretty potent. And we used a probiotic in the middle of the day half way between medicine doses to help re-establish balance in her intestines - Activia yogurt will do. Eagle Pack also makes a probiotic sprinkle that you can put on the food.

Cleaning the environment is important as others have mentioned. We cleaned her bedding, shampooed all the carpets & had the rugs professionally cleaned. We cleaned all tile & linoleum with with bleach/water solution. We used the same solution on all hardscape outside (patio, sidewalks). We dug up all the mulch in her potty area, bleached it several times. and put down new mulch. We also cleaned the area with a special kennel cleaner that is supposed to kill the spores. And the dog was bathed a lot until she was through it.

corgimom6092

We are working through cleaning up the house. Thankfully, our house has wood or tile flooring throughout, so that makes it easier. I am working on washing all of the bedding in the house also.

What is the efficacy of the spores through the winter? We are getting close to having our first heavy freeze here, plus I have about 8" of leaves in the backyard that will soon be going away into the dumpsters, but that will take a bit.

winniec777

I've seen studies that say the spores remain viable in winter and others that say they do tend to die off, so who knows.

croll326

I forgot to mention that we also had to wipe his butt with baby wipes after he did his business and also had to clean up the yard very very well everyday.

melgrj7

Nash had giardia when I got him. I gave him diatomaceous earth in his food (and still do), and cleaned the potty area and his crate pan daily and gave him lots of baths.

HORSEandHOUND

you need to scrub your house the day you start the meds, 2 days before finishing the meds, and the day after you finish.
Giardia sticks to EVERYTHING, so if you aren't an ocd cleaning nut, it will come back.