Anyone have experience with giardia? How accurate is the fecal test? I’m concerned about Tribble, what with her all her vomiting three weeks ago and now diarrhea. I had them test a stool sample with her vomiting which came back negative, but I know that for people, samples can be negative yet giardia is still present. (I know this because my son got giardia from camp when he was five. Yuck. :dead:)
Anyone? Should I consider telling the vet to treat her for giardia even if the test is negative?
You can treat with 5 days fenbendazole, its pretty cheap.
Have you investigated another cause for vomiting/diarrhea? Unless there is a heavy burden, giardia doesnt frequently cause vomiting. However, you are right that sometimes multiple samples are needed to catch giardia - sometimes easier to treat anyway.
Covered above–you don’t need to continue to test, if you suspect its giardia…just treat with a 5 day run of panacur.
Vomiting is not usually a symptom but if she’s having these issues a trip back to the vet is a good idea. Has her food changed? Poor pup, hope she feels better soon.
If it is giardia keep in mind that it’s zoonotic. Wash those hands and no doggie kisses. 
Mostly her issue is that she will eat any disgusting thing she finds, which is primarily Canada goose shit around here. That’s why I’m wondering if it’s some sort of parasite that thrives near the lake where I take them swimming.
Thanks for your suggestions!
With the added info of the goose droppings eating, I can see where the dog could have Giardia, at the same time having vomiting from the goose stuff. My vet in Colorado treated dogs with Giardia only when they had symptoms (bloody diarrhea, etc), because virtually all dogs were carriers there, but asymptomatic. He said he usually only treated when the owner and dog ended up with the same symptoms, which happened a lot, and as BLBGP said, giardia is zoonotic, so humans getting it is very possible.
Yes, I had a long run with it with our dog when we got him as a pup. We treated him 3 times I think over the course of a year. I think he tested positive twice and the third time despite a negative test I treated him anyway. We used both panacur and flagyl.
Since he was a pup, I think it really caused havoc with his digestive system, and it ended up with us feeding him a home cooked diet since he can’t deal with commercial dry foods.
how old is the dog? most dogs seem to develop a sort of “immunity” to giardia- it’s usually only pups who have trouble with it.
goose poop is nasty and always triggers bouts of self-limiting diarrhea in my dogs so I try very hard to not let them eat it.
She’s eight. Will see how she does on the rice today. She didn’t have to go out in the middle of the night last night, but if it comes back after the rice gets tapered off, I’ll ask the vet for the panacur. Thanks for all your input!
Another here whose dog did not have vomiting at any time she’s picked it up. If I regularly walk Toula (Irish Wolfhound) along our old riding trail with the big pond, she ultimately comes home with it. Have a bottle of metronidazole on the kitchen window at all times. Feed chicken and rice. I’ve even tried just insisting she not take a sip from the errant puddles along that trail, but just walking on that trail always results in this outcome, so we don’t go there anymore.
We brought home a 6 month old Rottie about two weeks ago. She was just diagnosed with this via a blood test during her puppy exam. No symptoms other than constant thirst so I was surprised to hear of a parasite.
The vet recommened the metronidazole for 10 days.
Blinky- any chance your vet is Banfield? Forget the blood tests etc. testing for giardia in dogs is very similar to EPM blood tests in horses. In some areas most animals will test positive, but only the symptomatic ones need treatment.
A lot of experience with Giardia here. Once I got a diagnosis from the vet triggered by yukky diarrhea and the fact that I know my dogs ate some awful stuff on the trail prior to symptoms, I can tell when they have sinned again without any tests.
Metronidazole works. I’m not sure if Giardia is a protozoa or what but Metro (Flagyl) kicks it. After 5 years of battling diarrhea in my horse (which occurred after we moved here), and six vets/six opinions, I treated him with a course of Metro and wonder of wonders, no more diarrhea.
My now 3yo female dog had it as a 9mo pup. Symptoms were just constant loose stool and the occasional watery stool. Treated with Metronidazole and cleared up. ie symptoms went away as other mentioned many dogs test positive for Giardia but if they are symptom free then they are not treated. (she’s since become allergic to met and will now vomit if given the Met.)
My understanding of the dog giardia is that it is a different strain than what people get. BUT because there is no hard proof one way or the other it is strongly recommended that owners maintain clean/safe handling methods when caring for giardia dogs. Does that make sense? No proof that people can or can not get the same giardia strain as the dogs so better be safe than sorry.
No the vet is a local guy that we’ve been using forever. He’s generally pretty conservative in what he prescribes or recommends.
We started the treatment and since then she has had diarrhea and vomiting. So is that due to the medication or due to the Giardia?
Had three different rounds with one foster and two rounds with another. Get them on metronidizole. Watch where they eliminate also. I carried around a spray bottle with bleach in the back yard for wherever they pooped. Picked up the poop, sprayed the area with bleach. It sucks for whatever is growing, but that is about the only way to kill it.
[QUOTE=Blinky;6563113]
No the vet is a local guy that we’ve been using forever. He’s generally pretty conservative in what he prescribes or recommends.
We started the treatment and since then she has had diarrhea and vomiting. So is that due to the medication or due to the Giardia?[/QUOTE]
Do you know for sure its Giardia thats causing the vomiting/diarrhea? There are thousands of other causes. Metronidazole or panacur should NOT cause vomiting or diarrhea. Think it might be time to reassess the diagnosis.
Ok.
She goes back to the vet today. I just think its odd she didn’t have any issue until we put her on the medication.
Puppies! God love em.
the dog I mentioned above is now allergic to metronidazole. So she will get sicker on Metronidazole.
so contrary to what Squish the Bunny said (and StB is almost always right) some dogs (mine) do develop allergic reactions to the meds.
[QUOTE=NRB;6564549]
the dog I mentioned above is now allergic to metronidazole. So she will get sicker on Metronidazole.
so contrary to what Squish the Bunny said (and StB is almost always right) some dogs (mine) do develop allergic reactions to the meds.[/QUOTE]
Metronidazole generally causes neurologic symptoms before diarrhea if the patient is allergic. I think nausea can be a side effect, but never heard of diarrhea as one. Interesting.
We treat with panacur before metronidazole due to the side effects. Assuming your dog is allergic to this too?
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