Giardia what else is there??? HELP - Page 1

I got two dogs from a kennel and brought them home. I had 3 gsds at home already. Brought them home switched them on their food and after 4 days they had nasty diarrhea seemed like it got worse and then a couple of my other dogs got it. So this isnt my first time I knew what they had giardia, but just to test for other worms I brought them to the vet and sure enough only giardia was found. So we treated them with metronidazole for 8 days and it cleared up fast for all girls... well then a couple days later and the one puppy got it back and so my vet thought it would be good to put her on the same meds for another 8 days so we did it again... she just got done with it and got it back, she has diarrhea and its very muscusy and I dont know what else to do. I called my vet again and he wants to put her on the same meds again, I do not want to do that with knowing the side effects of this drug.  Just curious if anybody else has been though this... I would appreciate any help!! Thanks so much!!

It could be a resistant form of some bacteria, but it seems that all the dogs would have it. Mucousy poo can be a sign of mal-digestion. Or if it's a pup, make sure it's not something serious, like parvo. Could be coccidia, but it tends to be yellower in color. With it being on flagyl several times, and no improvement, I'd suggest bloodwork, just in case. Or try some probiotic yogurt, that cleared my girl up.

Some people use Safe-Guard goat wormer for giardia.
Length and dosage can be found on Merrik Vet site.

I am not expert and I have never heard of this parasite....Here is my thought though based on other animals I have had that had reoccurring parasite issues:

Put the pup in a sterial environment.  The parasite could be living in an area that only this puppy goes to (i.e special potty spot).
 What I mean by sterial:
          1. a room only for this puppy - eat, sleep, play, potty
          2.  everything in the room are throw away items
          3. everything is thrown away everyday and replaced with something new; even food dishes
          4.  flooring is cleaned and disinfected every day

do this for 3 weeks

This is a real pain, but sometimes the only way to totally clean out a parasite from an animal.


Good Luck

Beau just went through this...I thought the worst, Parasites, EPI, etc...

The BEST thing I ever did for my puppy was to take him to a DIFFERENT vet. I spent OVER $1,200 for diagnosis, bloodwork, meds at my other vet, and still Beau was sick. Finally, I had enough, I took him to a different vet, she did a fecal, it was NEGATIVE (despite my past vet telling me it could be this, that, ect... and fecals were always negative!) and she did a SMEAR on Beau's fecal, saw an overgrowth of bacteria, gave him Flagyl and Amoxicillin for 10 days. His BMs are now normal. He still has about 5 days left of the two meds, but he is feeling so much better, not even one bout of diarrhea.

Your vet sounds like mine...they were bending me over and...well, you know. Find a different vet, is my absolute best advice.

I also wanted to add, Beau was having yellow, mucus-y stools, very foul smelling, and his gut was constantly "talking". What I did a few days before I took him to the new vet was I put him on a bland diet, NO KIBBLE, just plain boiled white rice and boiled hamburger (drained very well). Between the bland diet for over a week now and the medications listed above, he is back to his old self again, and his stools are PERFECT.

My NEW vet also recommended a Probiotic, which I did order. She said to give them to Beau for about 1-3 months to get "the good bacteria back into his gut"

Here is what I ordered. I ordered the chewie ones and Beau loves them.


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+106+18828&pcatid=18828






edited to add more information.

This is interesting... I have three puppies (2 are 3 months and 1 is 6 months) that sounds IDENTICAL to this story. 2 rounds of Metronidazole and 2 days after the were done it was back to mucus very very stinky watery diarrhea. So frustrating and I am really tired of pouring money down the drain. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? When the pups are on the Metronidazole the stool is perfect, take them off and two days later it is a mess. Seems like if they were getting reinfected with Giardia that it would take longer than 2 days?? Are there resistant strains of Giardia? If so what can you treat with?

Here seems to be a good artical on it and the treatment.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2102&aid=739

Here is my two cents worth of experience in case it helps:
Whenever members of the pack I was working with until recently were diagnosed with Giardia, rather than straightaway reaching for the antibiotics, Met. etc, we started with  a UK wormer called
Panacur.  This is used for puppies; dogs & cats; deer & goats.  Haven't got any to hand and I'm
afraid I can't remember the active ingredient, but it may be same as the Goat Wormer mentioned by Sitasmom.  We used the granular version rather than tablets or the puppy-paste.  A 4-day course.
This always cleared it up, without resort to anything more / stronger.
However, word of warning, some dogs always got it again after various time intervals - we were told this was down to the fact that it carried in bird's droppings.  We had lots of Canada Geese which used to feed on the dogs Exercise Fields, and some dogs just liked eating a lot of the shit. Which put them at risk time after time.

 

Panacur, febendazole, will kill microorganisms such as giardia and campylobacter as well as worms (roundworms, whipworms, hookworms). You may need to treat for up to 5 days in a row, however, for it to be effective, depending on what is being treated. You can get the panacur powder or the suspension fluid at a lot of places online, or you can buy the horse or goat de-wormer. You just have to do your research on dosage (which can get a bit complicated), if you go for the livestock products.

  Safeguard ( cattle/goat> fenbendazole ) 1cc per 5 pounds treat for 6 days for giardia
       or safeguard for dogs @ tractor supply powder must buy for correct pounds.