Giardia....

tsavorite · ‎03-09-2010

My girl is 14 1/2yrs old and the poor thing has had this many times over the yrs. It seems to happen within a day or 2 of something very stressful/upsetting for her liking go to the vet's or the groomer. I have read that once your dog gets this once that these parasites are dormant in the intestinal track and if immune function or stress happens the dog can have another flare up.

My dog has loose stools plus bloodly discharge....gelatin like globs even happen! This is such a nightmare...as it's everywhere...outside...even taking her in anothe part of yard doesn't seem to work. If we encounter the stressful event I can almost bank on a flare up again.

Anyone else experience this? She is on the ususal treatment for the next 7days.

Everything was going ok until her yearly check up....she somehow developed a eye ulcer which has required repeated visits to vet's these last 2weeks. Monday was another recheck and it's much better but then last night the giardia started again....Tuesday she had loose bm's so that is the sign the storm is coming.

The vet didn't seem to agree...felt it's only due to parasite infection and can't be brought out by stress...meaning dog's don't remain carriers of this parasite for life. This hasn't been my experience!

fortune · ‎03-14-2010

@tsavorite wrote:
My girl is 14 1/2yrs old and the poor thing has had this many times over the yrs. It seems to happen within a day or 2 of something very stressful/upsetting for her liking go to the vet's or the groomer. I have read that once your dog gets this once that these parasites are dormant in the intestinal track and if immune function or stress happens the dog can have another flare up.

My dog has loose stools plus bloodly discharge....gelatin like globs even happen! This is such a nightmare...as it's everywhere...outside...even taking her in anothe part of yard doesn't seem to work. If we encounter the stressful event I can almost bank on a flare up again.

Anyone else experience this? She is on the ususal treatment for the next 7days.

Everything was going ok until her yearly check up....she somehow developed a eye ulcer which has required repeated visits to vet's these last 2weeks. Monday was another recheck and it's much better but then last night the giardia started again....Tuesday she had loose bm's so that is the sign the storm is coming.

The vet didn't seem to agree...felt it's only due to parasite infection and can't be brought out by stress...meaning dog's don't remain carriers of this parasite for life. This hasn't been my experience!

Giardia can live in the environment--wet areas in the yard, dog bed, water bowl, etc. Have you tried checking for sources in and around your home? There is a way to test for the this one-celled parasite (special zinc sulfate flotation solution) . It sounds like she's picking it up again and again. How clean is your groomer's? Her age may make her more susceptable as her immune system may be slowing down. Maybe she should be on extra vitamins, too. Have you considered getting a different vet? Humans can get this, too, so wash your hands often.

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@tsavorite wrote:
My girl is 14 1/2yrs old and the poor thing has had this many times over the yrs. It seems to happen within a day or 2 of something very stressful/upsetting for her liking go to the vet's or the groomer. I have read that once your dog gets this once that these parasites are dormant in the intestinal track and if immune function or stress happens the dog can have another flare up.

My dog has loose stools plus bloodly discharge....gelatin like globs even happen! This is such a nightmare...as it's everywhere...outside...even taking her in anothe part of yard doesn't seem to work. If we encounter the stressful event I can almost bank on a flare up again.

Anyone else experience this? She is on the ususal treatment for the next 7days.

Everything was going ok until her yearly check up....she somehow developed a eye ulcer which has required repeated visits to vet's these last 2weeks. Monday was another recheck and it's much better but then last night the giardia started again....Tuesday she had loose bm's so that is the sign the storm is coming.

The vet didn't seem to agree...felt it's only due to parasite infection and can't be brought out by stress...meaning dog's don't remain carriers of this parasite for life. This hasn't been my experience!

While she is not a "carrier for life" she is probibly picking it up from someplace in the yard or when out on a walk. Many times dogs can fight it off on thier own, or at least keep it at bay if they are in good health. However as they get older or have thier immune systems suppressed in stressfull situations, it can then flair up. So you are not going crazy.

I would look for sources so she does not keep picking it up. There are also many ways to boost her immune system so she can fight this off herself.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

deb5555 · ‎03-21-2010

Ask your vet about Panacur dewormer.

tsavorite · ‎03-09-2010

She is on Panacur + metro antibotic for the next 7 days. I wish I could figure out how she is getting it. She hasn't been to the groomer in months....so it's not from there. My yard would be the likely suspect. Can't do anything about the lawn....have poured bleach/water on the areas from last night....scooped up everything that was possible to get and did the bleach/water several times. She is too old for walks anymore...she has a heart murmur. She is basically inside and in the yard to go potty.

I have been bathing her for a skin infection also these last weeks....with malasab shampoo several times per week. Her bedding is washed several times per week. We have no other pets.

Today they did the test and found no parasite present...negative but since the symptoms are the same vet is treating her for them. Since she had her panacur + metro pill this morning she has had no further loose stools/bleeding...everything stopped. If it wasn't a parasite infection then I doubt these medications would help this quickly. She has always responded the same in the past too...many times I am rushing her in and test is negative!

From what I understand this parasite can live and live and live! Moist, damp, cool even freezing temps won't kill it outside. Only hot sunny weather has an effect. I live in the north and having a warm spell these last few days in 70's very sunny...don't know if it will help the lawn or not.

I have been taking her in a different area since this morning....no stool yet....some sites say to only let the dog go on cement that can be truly cleaned with bleach.

Not sure what else I can do? for all I know if could be a different parasite that responds to these med's....but usually in one of these follow up visits they will get a positive for giardia! that's been my past experiences....she has had it about 6 times now over the yrs....spread out...somewhat....these last few yrs more often.

HappyDaze · ‎06-13-2012

I don't get it- if she is negative, why are they treating her for it?? THere are other diseases that have the same or similar symptoms as Giardia. They thought my boy had giardia and he did not and it turned out to be something else. You may be paying for treatment for something that your dog does not have and the fact that your dog is continually having these symptoms besides the negative test tells me it clearly is not giardia and they need to find the REAL source of these symptoms so she can be treated correctly.

Is your dog on probiotics? I highly recommend them, especially for older dogs. with the continued use of antibiotics, you can be exacerbating the issues with the stools and the probiotics helpt to re-establish the good bacteria in the gut that the antiobiotics are killing off.

Also, are they only giving a week worth of antibiotics? I've never heard of only a week- most dogs require 2- 3 weeks of an antibiotic due to the lifecycle of bacteria but perhaps protozoa are different.

tsavorite · ‎03-09-2010

You can google it but giardia testing comes up negative quite abit....and as I said my dog would go in and get a negative result...be back a week later and have a postive one. Fecal or blood and both.

From my reading one needs to test a dogs poop as many as five times (days) to be certain...very expensive.

If it wasn't giardia or parasite that panacur/metro works for then she wouldn't get better. She always does...then we go for a yr or more and sometimes it was yrs then here it is again.

The only common thing I can come up with is the vet's....1st time she had it she had just had her teeth cleaned there. 4 days later BAM there it was.

I took her in to vet's for her yearly check up about 5wks ago....fecal/blood everything was tested and all came back negative...she had zero symptoms of this infection. Everything was great...we left.

10days later she develops eye cyst...go back she's on eye drops for it. Go back 3days later for recheck of it. Go back 1wk later for another recheck for eye cyst...almost healed up...continue on drops another week per vet. That was this Monday....today is Wednesday and BAM last night it hits again. It has been over a yr or so with no problems.

I am beat today...all the washing inside and out...plus my girl needed another bath (just had one yesterday!) her cage bedding all re-washed. After just finishing mopping kitchen floor I am thinking she must have picked it up at one of these many vet recheck visits as her annual blood testing/fecal test was perfect.

HappyDaze · ‎06-13-2012

hmmm it does sound like it could from the vet's! That is scary, actually. Perhaps a new vet might be in order. My dogs caught kennel cough from one of our vet's and we never went back. It made me wonder about their cleaning practices and I didn't want to take the risk again.

deb5555 · ‎03-21-2010

If they have the worm eggs, the test will show up negative.

Are you giving your dog some pumpkin for the loose poops? We give our dog about 3 tbsp 2-3 times a day and it helps right away. Make sure its 100 % pure pumpkin with no added spices.

I hope your dog is feeling better soon, we feel so sorry for them!

tsavorite · ‎03-09-2010

No I have never given her pumpkin....good to know! The medication worked right away....after only 1st dose all the loose stools stopped...in fact she has yet to go again since coming home from vets at 8:30am. Something about the metronidizole that stops loose stools quick.

Plan on re-applying the bleach water solution in the areas that I found this morning. Hopefully with the sunny day tomorrow plus the unusally warm temps here for Nov it will help kill these things.

One vet said to do this plus wipe our dogs paws with baby wipes. Anyone do that??

I looked up the last time this happened....it was last Nov....just shortly after her annual vet check up. It must be coming from there.

This makes me rather upset....