HELP ME!! 10 month old, chronic diarrhea, giardia?? - Page 1

Ok, I'm not on here much but I'm getting desperate.

My puppy has had chronic diarrhea since forever. Literally about as long as I've had her. I'd done a few fecal checks which came back negative, but finally confirmed she had giardia. Great, so now we can treat it. Put her on Metronidazole, it upset her tummy worse! When she came off the diarrhea seemed to get better, but before long it was back again. This time put her on Panacur. This seemed to work better, but the giardia came back. Fast forward. It's been months and months and months of this. Tried Metro again, her diarrhea is worse than ever, she's back on Panacur (starting last night). This is her third round of Panacur, she's been treated with Metro twice now too.

I *HATE* putting all these meds into her, but what can I do? I asked the vet about ding a PCR fecal and bloodwork, she recommended a regular fecal check to see if the giardia was present (it was) and not to go further at that time, since she felt the giardia was the culprit.

I've washed the dog, her bedding, the floors, her toys, her bowls. I even bought a steam cleaner and was boiling her water for a time, I'm exhausted. I'm in Canada and we're starting our thaw and had a lot of snow this winter, so very wet outside, I'm assuming the ground is contaminated. Picking up after her is impossible with the consistency of her stool. It's like a nightmare I can't wake up from! To make things worse, I live on a horse farm, with a lot of wildlife.

I know giardia is present in most dogs, but their immune system keeps it under control. So I'm wondering if something else is going on? I feel like I'm treating the symptoms, not the disease, if you know what I mean? Or is giardia really this difficult to get rid of? We had a cold winter with lots of snow, so I thought the risk of her picking it up from ground contamination was relatively benign. My dad's dog had giardia once (years ago) and after it was treated one time she was fine, no more problems.

Vet does not suspect EPI, she had a Shepherd with it and said the poop is more yellow and has a very distinct smell that she knows all too well. I'm due to take another fecal to the vet, but I wanted to try the Panacur again first to see if there's improvement, because she's due (vet sent me home with some to treat her once a month).

I'm giving her probiotics (Omega Alpha probiotics), canned pumpkin. I tried digestive enzymes, they didn't help at all either.

What more can I do?

Are there other tests I should run? I've been reading up on SIBO, IBD, colitis etc etc etc. I don't even know where to begin, it's all very confusing and the symptoms all seem to be the same and it seems like getting an accurate diagnosis is nearly impossible. What is most likely that would you rule out first?

Lord love her, nothing dampens her spirits, but I feel heartbroken for her. She must feel terrible with a constant upset tummy.

Does this sound like more than giardia? Or does it sound like she just keeps re-infecting herself? Will the ground outside clear up during the hot dry summer months? I know giardia likes damp & cold.

She has twice had what I suspect to be a low grade fever (months apart, Dec 8 and Feb 23), her ears were pink and warm, but by the time I got home she felt normal again and her temp was normal by the time I got her home (both times she'd come to work with me, so I couldn't take her temp until I got home) and thrown up a couple of times in the morning (bile), but not recently, I wasn't sure if that was related, I know some dogs will do that when they are hungry in the morning.

I need some suggestions, step by step process of elimination type of thing. I'll try anything , food changes, ANYTHING. She's on Acana Pacifica, BTW, and I've had her recently on Orijen 6 Fish, because the store was out of Pacifica for a while.

Her weight is better now too, she's about 70 lbs last check.

What would you guys do? What steps do I need to take :( 

Please help me
 

try combination of metro and flagyl 500 see how dat goes after 5-7day's

Feed her raw meat diet for a couple weeks.
Start on raw chicken for 4 days. Give her
a little under 2 lbs.per day. Then red meat for 2 days. Then an organ meal with plain yogurt and raw egg. All meals right under 2 lbs.
She if this will help this poor girl.
Hope this helps. Take care

Isn't flagyl metronidazole?

What will raw do, can I ask?

flagyl is not totally the same as other metro meds ask your vet about correct dossage if you combine diffrent meds, giardia meds for birds or often used in eastern europe for their dogs to and they have good results

Conspicuous, I feel for you. First time I had experience with giardia was twenty years ago, with my smooth fox terriers. They were swimming and drinking in a pond, which To my horror, had four alligators inhabiting it, that I could see while I was riding my horse by the pond to round up my unsuspecting dogs.
My dogs would go off feed and be very sick, vomiting and diarrhea with blood at times. Finally got a diagnosis by a vet in Ocala, and the meds I can't remember, except one was an antibiotic for secondary infection. Giardia can be very debilitating compared to coccidia, but the two are very similar in looks under microscope ( from what I was told told by the vet who was able to make the correct diagnosis). If it was me in you situation, I would get another opinion at a different clinic. Could be they are working on the wrong bug.
For cleaning up the loose stools, get a bail of PINE shavings, sprinkle generously over the diarrhea, and scoop up. Sprinkle more shavings as needed.

Eliminate dry food allergy. When I say red meat, try not to use ground beef.
One ingredient in kibble can be the cause and play havoc on the digestive system. All my dogs eat raw.

I would not feed raw chicken, as the gut does not need to be challenged by bones passing through. For my dogs, my vet recommended boiled chicken (no bones) and cooked rice, a table spoon of pumpkin to help tighten stool. Small portions through out the day.

Have you tried changing her food?  My pup was having loose stools on Canidae, which I had used for all of my other dogs for years, and I switched to Blue Wilderness Salmon (grain free) and the problem resolved itself within a few days.  Some dogs simply don't tolerate some ingredients or protein sources well.