Giardia- It's something you don't want your pet to get!

bullmama

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It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in Chino Hills, California.

We were staying at a state park in our RV. It was located right next to a huge cow facility, so unfortunately the flies were horrible.

The RV spaces were huge, so we let our two bullies run a little bit. There were no other RVs around, it was a weekday, so we let them go crazy in the grass.

There was a really huge puddle where it never dried out from the sprinklers the night before. So the proceeded to jump in it and play, and got muddy from head to toe. We laughed at the site of them, even took several photos of them playing in the mud. It was so funny and adorable!

But, 3 days later one of our bullies paid the price. They got Giardia from the mud puddle. It was horrible. It is like extreme diaper rash, but it is on the inside. When they expell their stools, it litterally "shoots" out of their bums. It can shoot up to 3-4 feet away. Their bums get severe diaper rash. It burns them inside and out, and is very difficult to get rid of. We had to medicate both of them, because if one had it, the other could get it from them easily. We had to put diaper rash ointment on his poor little bum every few hours, and it was so swollen and purple. It was heartbreaking. :(

Usually Giardia is found in sitting water, and can even be found in your dogs water dish if it is not cleaned.

Do not let your dog drink out of puddles, fountains, or any water source that you are not sure of it's quality. Giardia is most commonly found in places where dogs frequently go, such as RV parks and Dog parks.

What we thought to be an innocent play in the mud ended up costing us at least $500 in vet bills. It took over a month to get rid of it completely, and our bully lost several pounds during this time.

I now know of a product called Safeguard, which can be purchased at A to Z vet supply. It is a dewormer and also gets rid of Giardia. I wish I would have known I could have ordered it and treated them myself. It is expensive, but going back to the vet weekly for exams and stool samples, fecals and more medication costed us 5x more than if I had gotten this product myself.

Has anyone else experienced Giardia? I would love to hear about your experience too.
 

cali~jenn

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Mar 28, 2010
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Never thankfully but thank you for posting this so everyone has an idea of what to watch for. Your poor baby!
 

Maximus

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Re: Giardia -

My poor "MAXIMUS" arrived with Giardia. On his initial visit to the VET, his stool specimen tested positive for Giardia. As a result, he had to be put on Flagyl for 10-days. It was nasty. Poor little guy.
 

TessaAndSamson

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I am so happy this was posted. I actually live in Chino which is right next to Chino Hills and I am pretty sure I know where she/he is talking about. And I go there with my dogs! I would have totally let my dogs play in a puddle without thinking anything of it if they weren't actually drinking the water. I have copied this story and emailed it too all my friends/family that own dogs.
 

Maximus

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Re: UPDATE --- Maximus has GIARDIA again . . . !

I got a phone call this morning from my VET, reporting that the stool specimen I brought in on Saturday tested positive again for GIARDIA. This is the Second bought of Giardia Maximus has had....
but I just read that some dogs can be chronic carriers of Giardia, which may have been transmitted by their Mother when they were young puppies. So now Maximus is on PANACUR for 3-days for this episode. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed that this does not continue .........
 
OP
bullmama

bullmama

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Oh dear. It took us at least 4 rounds of meds, and 3 different types to get rid of it. Our poor baby lost soooo much weight. It was so hard....

I wonder if safeguard would get rid of it? You should call Matt at A to Z vet supply and find out. It's expensive tho- I think it is around $115 a bottle. But take that times the vet trips and the fecal analysis.... may be worth a shot...? I got some and gave a round to all of our bullies and we used up 2 whole bottles. But worth it! Clears all worms and giardia.
 

Maximus

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Re: UPDATE ----- Maximus has Giardia again . . . .

Well, I was a little upset when I was charged $58.00 for the Panacur. . . . only to realize that it costs $8.00 on Amazon.com. I didn't realize these medications were available OTC. I will think twice before I let the VET dispense it .......... their pricing is outrageous !
 

Maximus

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UPDATE: Giardia

I'm finding that Giardia is extremely difficult to treat and eliminate. Maximus is now on his 2nd Treatment and will end up having a 3rd Treatment as well. This treatment is 5-Days of Panacur. The initial treatment of Flagyl was ineffective in treating the Giardia. The 3rd Treatment will be a 10-Day treatment of Panacur, and I'm hoping this will finally be eradicated. This has been the worst condition
I have ever dealt with in a dog.
 

Bulldogg

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UPDATE: Giardia

I'm finding that Giardia is extremely difficult to treat and eliminate. Maximus is now on his 2nd Treatment and will end up having a 3rd Treatment as well. This treatment is 5-Days of Panacur. The initial treatment of Flagyl was ineffective in treating the Giardia. The 3rd Treatment will be a 10-Day treatment of Panacur, and I'm hoping this will finally be eradicated. This has been the worst condition
I have ever dealt with in a dog.

It is awful, and expensive to treat. Has you bully lost weight? Ours did, and a lot of weight. Took us well over a month to cure it.
 

Harley Bulldogs

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My 7-week old puppy is suffering from diarrhea. The vet put him on benebac but it just seemed to get worst. Now we are starting the Flagyl. Hope this works. His stool sample was fine but the diarrhea continues.
 

JAKEISGREAT

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Mar 25, 2011
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You might want to try canned pumpkin..not the pie filling..our guy had diaherria ..like most pups..and this..along with rice diet..did the trick..I know how awful this is to deal with. You might need a food change and there are some very smart people here to help with that..good luck [MENTION=12]Harley[/MENTION]bulldogs
 
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bullmama

bullmama

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What are you feeding? They checked for coccidia too?
 

speechmom53

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Our little man tested positive for Giardia on his first vet visit. I was a little surprised because he didn't have any symptoms at all. He was put on a 3 day treatment of Panacur and then 3 weeks after he finished that he did another 3 day treatment and all was clear on his next sample. I am so sorry to hear about all the horrible experiences everyone has been having. I hope it gets better for everyone really soon! I also haven't had any issues with diarrhea, but my dad would give his little lady rice when she was suffering from it.
 

ABEBD

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By many names depending on the situation?
"Has anyone else experienced Giardia? I would love to hear about your experience too. "

Good Day~
Sad to say but yes. I took in a sample to the vet cuz something was going on with my dogs stool form. OK poop. I have 4 adult EBD, one new puppy and one 10yo lab. Something was not right. I called the vet office to get the results. The tech said, "the vet will have to talk to you about the results". I KNEW that was not good. Later that day the vet called and said it was Giradia. Here's the kick in the gut (or head)...she got if from my own back yard! GREAT, bad news, knowing that it was highly transmitable I knew if the others did not already have it, they would. So the vet sold me lots of panacur, enough for 3 days of each, 2 x @ day. I dropped off a new sample yesterday and will find out the results tommorrow.
But what I don't know is where it came from? I keep bowls cleaned, yard picked up, but with stray cats, birds, rain...and living on irrigation property it could have come from anyplace. Over the past 20 years that I have lived there, I have never had Giardia.
And yes it is VERY nasty, especially in the crates where they sleep. I pray it is gone. The BM (yes poop) is back to normal. Gross that we even have to look closely at that...eeewww...
 

LisaMarie

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It is awful. Mocha was diagnosed last spring. She lost weight, diaherria was terrible,so weak she was:*(. And she got it from drinking from a dirty bucket of water that my daughter and her friend got from a nearby pond. It took her about 8 days to recover, but She had to have IV's for 2 days. I wasnt aware you could purchase Panacur otc. It seems to make sense to have some in my doggy first aid kit.
 

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