Took our three month old puppy to the vet yesterday because she’s been having diarrhea and there was just a bit of blood in some yesterday.
They took a stool sample and prescribed her metronidazole and a bland food diet with probiotics.
Got the call today that the stool was positive for giardia. I’m so sad.
They want her to go on fenbendazole as well. Both are treatments but why the extra medication? I’ll do whatever I can for my pup but I’m just curious if anybody else had this happen.
I also appreciate any tips on how to combat the giardia and further prevention until we can get her the vaccine. My main concerns are that she eats absolutely everything including grass and sticks and we live in an apartment so I bring her down to a patch of grass that other dogs use. Apartment people without access to grass, how do you potty train?
Anyway I’m a rambling mess and I just feel so bad for my girl. Thanks in advance
@anthonyk Okay, thank you for that. They prescribed metronidazole and the vet said that it was good because it helps giardia too in case she does have it before the stool sample results came back so I was just confused as to why they wanted to give her another one. I’m skeptical of everything and wasn’t sure if they were just trying to make some more money. But like I said, I’ll do whatever it takes.
Definitely gonna be looking into grass/turf options to put out on the deck until she can get the giardia vaccine. I just feel like such a jerk being two weeks into puppy parenthood and she already has a parasite
@jora Don't beat yourself up.. It's shockingly common, it's everywhere. It sucks but it's treatable. IMHO the upside (socializing my pup to the outside world at a young age) outweighed the downside (risk of giardia) that I took the chance.
I'm still super jealous of people with yards though
@jora I had the same for our pup. One was more of an antidiarrheal while the other was targeted more at resolving the giardia. (at least that was my understanding from what I was told. I didn't research into it)
@jora Hi! Our 3 month old French Bulldog also tested positive for Giardia, he had diarrhea when we got him from the breeder. He started his medications 5 days ago and now stopped having bloody and watery stool. Just wanted to ask if you have his stool tested again before you let him interact with other dogs again?
@duncangill Hi. Sorry to hear about the pup! Our vet had us go back 4 weeks after she tested positive and started the medicine to re-check and she was clear. We did wait until she was cleared to interact with other dogs. Good luck!
@jora Thank you! We just don’t know what to do currently as we are traveling next week and we can’t bring him. So the option is to leave him in our friend’s care but they have a cat. So we may need to reconsider our plans if he could be a danger to the kitten
@jora My pup had giardia at 3 months. But my vet said hers was inactive Giardia so not as serious. He just prescribed Panacur for 6 days. The medication won't hurt your pup (otherwise the vet wouldn't prescribe it). So if you can afford it I'd just do what the doctor says.
As another commenter mentioned, it's important to wipe their bums during treatment as they will be pooing the giardia out and could reinfect themselves ( from my limited understanding).
@brekehan Yeah, I guess I was just confused. They gave her medication last night that they said would help giardia if it came back that she had it now they want her on a different medicine completely. You’re right, I’m not a vet. I’ll just do what they say. The cost is whatever since I’d do whatever it takes. Mostly I just wanted to know if people had experience being prescribed both which they have so I’m fine with that.
I’ll definitely be wiping her bum after every poop.
@jora Good luck! Sounds like you're a good pup parent so I'm sure it will work out. I definitely understand the suspicion with unnecessary medical costs, etc, etc.
@jora My puppy came from the breeder with Giardia, I was also prescribed both. From my understanding one is to stop the diarrhea, and the other is the actual treatment for Giardia. Don’t stress, you’ll be fine!
@jora My 3 mo cocker pup has giardia too. He’s had it since we got him. The vet warned us against letting our puppy go potty in the dirt since he can easily reinfect himself. So we’ve been putting off potty training, which sucks. He’s been using a pen with puppy pads that get taken out right away, lots of baths, cleaning and disinfecting. Still, he’s had it for at least three weeks and is on his second round of antibiotics. It even caused a secondary intestinal infection. I’m hoping after his next sample analysis he’ll be clear of it.
Our vet didn’t say anything about probiotics and a bland diet but that sounds like a good idea. What probiotics are you using for your dog?
@imagebeastmarkbeast Yeah, giardia blows I feel so bad because I’d take her out pretty regularly to a little grassy area by us and now I don’t want her to leave the house. Too much energy not to. Ugh. These next couple of weeks are gonna suck.
The vet gave us Purina pro plan kibble, soft food (special GI formula) and the probiotics are Purina too. It’s called FortiFlora. All the products may not be available commercially but your vet may have them?
Yeah they put her on the diet before we got the giardia results as we thought it may be her food but I’m gonna keep her on it until things get a little better.
Heard pumpkin is good too! Hope your little one feels better soon!
@jora Our pup came home with Giardia from the breeder at 8 weeks. He was prescribed 5 days of Panacur and then did an additional round 2 weeks later. His poop firmed up pretty quickly but he never did have diarrhea, it was just soft stools.
One thing our vet stressed is cleaning of his toys and bedding while he was under going treatment. We limited his access to only toys that were easy to clean and rotated towels in crate daily.
I am not sure where you are located but I am in Canada and also live in a condo. We use a thing called a Pooch Patch. https://www.poochpatch.ca/ They deliver it to us every 2 weeks and has been a life safer.
Also, Giardia is extremely common and rarely has any lasting effects, so don't stress too much.
@levend Thank you for that. I guess what is stressing me out is not knowing where it came from exactly. We’ve had her for 2 1/2 weeks and she’s had soft/runny stool for the majority of that time. It’s on us for not taking her in earlier but we thought it was the beef liver treats we were giving her that was causing the diarrhea. It’s 100% possible she already had it when we got her but who freakin knows.
Sadly I’m in the US but I’ll look into that company and see if there are any similar alternatives.
