Giardia Help!

CarrotTheFrenchie · Sep 24, 2016

My eight month old frenchie has had giardia for THREE MONTHS. We've tried panacur, metronidazole and Drontal plus. She's still testing positive. I don't think she's reinfecting herself. We've washed everything, disinfected her toys and beds, cleaned up her poo with Clorox, etc. our vet just recommended three days of Drontal and FIFTEEN days of Flagyl. This seems excessive, no? Anyone else have this issue or tried this medication? Starting to get concerned that our puppy's digestive system will never be the same. We've started to add pumpkin to her food, but should I also start giving her probiotics and/or yogurt? HELP!

2bullymama · Sep 24, 2016

Giardia is a beeotch!
[MENTION=894]blushy[/MENTION] went through it with her little guy-- she will have some insight

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davidh · Sep 24, 2016

Sorry, no help here, but have heard it is very hard to get rid of.

KimB3384 · Sep 25, 2016

We just recently dealt with this and this is what my breeder told me to do:

Get the horse version of Safeguard from Amazon or your local Tractor Supply-type store. It's a paste that comes in a giant syringe, and getting the large size for horses makes it much more economical. It's the same formula as what you'd give your dog, just in a larger container. Give a dime size for 9 days. Off for 5 days. Repeat two more times so that you will have done 3 rounds of treatment. Then do a giardia fecal test.

This totally worked for us and we got a negative on the fecal, but I'll have them test again in 6 months to make sure it's gone. I'd thought she picked it up when she ate some cat poop out in the yard (that is her one weakness - blerg) but the receptionist at daycare told me that her dog was dealing with it, so now I'm not sure if Beezy was patient zero or got it from someone else.

Good luck!

KimB3384 · Sep 25, 2016

Also, when you say she's testing positive, are they doing a full fecal by sending the sample to a lab and spinning it? I was told that if they're doing the test in-house, most vet offices don't have the capability to truly test for giardia and it will show as positive when the dog has only been exposed.

CarrotTheFrenchie · Sep 25, 2016

KimB3384 said:
Also, when you say she's testing positive, are they doing a full fecal by sending the sample to a lab and spinning it? I was told that if they're doing the test in-house, most vet offices don't have the capability to truly test for giardia and it will show as positive when the dog has only been exposed.

I think they are sending it out, as I usually get the results about 24 hours after I take in the fecal test. Plus, they were able to tell me this time that it showed LESS Giardia in her fecal test as last time? I guess that's good, but obviously it's still there. I will ask about the test. However, I did start the new medication today. Three days of Drontal Plus and 15 days of Flagyl.

blushy · Sep 26, 2016

CarrotTheFrenchie said:
My eight month old frenchie has had giardia for THREE MONTHS. We've tried panacur, metronidazole and Drontal plus. She's still testing positive. I don't think she's reinfecting herself. We've washed everything, disinfected her toys and beds, cleaned up her poo with Clorox, etc. our vet just recommended three days of Drontal and FIFTEEN days of Flagyl. This seems excessive, no? Anyone else have this issue or tried this medication? Starting to get concerned that our puppy's digestive system will never be the same. We've started to add pumpkin to her food, but should I also start giving her probiotics and/or yogurt? HELP!

Our pup had Giardiasis for about 6 months. It was so stressful. His digestive system is forever ruined, I'm not even going to lie. He'll be 2 in December and he's still on and off with weird mooshy stools sometimes. When he was first diagnosed we were told he had 30+ in the stool sample. The last round of meds after 5-6 months of literally back to back to back treatment before negative, he had 14. Did they tell you the exact number?

I'd do a probiotic. We did. We still do if he gets "sick". It helps.

We had a fecal done a couple months ago just to be safe and he's still negative.

It's tough to get rid of. Hang in there.

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CarrotTheFrenchie · Sep 26, 2016

It IS stressful. And I am really worried about how this will affect her digestive system ultimately. &#55357;&#56873;
She tested at 30 originally and in the last test ( last week) she had dropped to 3. I guess that's some good news? &#55357;&#56876;
I'm going ahead and doing the three days of Drontal and 15 days of Flagyl. I just hope she gets rid of it this time!
In terms of the probiotic, may I ask which one you've used? And is yogurt just as effective?

blushy · Sep 27, 2016

CarrotTheFrenchie said:
It IS stressful. And I am really worried about how this will affect her digestive system ultimately. &#55357;&#56873;
She tested at 30 originally and in the last test ( last week) she had dropped to 3. I guess that's some good news? &#55357;&#56876;
I'm going ahead and doing the three days of Drontal and 15 days of Flagyl. I just hope she gets rid of it this time!
In terms of the probiotic, may I ask which one you've used? And is yogurt just as effective?

We used the powder type for awhile and it wasn't working at all, so our vet gave us a tube type, it was $24 at our vet, I don't have the tube handy but it helps with diarrhea and their digestive system. It looks like peanut butter.

I would think yogurt does the same for a lot cheaper, but maybe not as quickly as a glob of pure probiotics would? I've never used yogurt, maybe once or twice with either of my dogs.

Only 3 means you're getting rid of it. We got rid of it at 14, so with 3 you should be fine!

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