Giardia

[dblungshot]

I have a few friends whose dogs were diagnosed with Giardia...they've thrown a ton of $ through diagnosis, prescriptions, etc...both have gone through numerous medications...with results only showing 4-8 months later...one friend swears by a over-the-counter pill and has seen night/day results just after a few days.

To make a long story short, I believe my dog has giardia after talking with them and listening to their dogs symptoms.  Mucus poop, squirts, bowel movements 2x as normal & sometimes more.  My dog isn't losing weight (still eating good) and appears to be "normal"; I haven't ran her long distance yet to test her stamina....so it's tough for me to tell if she is degressing and actually sick?

So after listening to their success stories I chose to give my dog the same over-the-counter pill which has no side effects and is a natural healer.  The stools firmed up a bit at first but now it's more of a yo-yo and is soft serve at best and worst - runny slugs...sometimes it seems to work and other times it doesn't seem so.  She's been on this medication for over 2 weeks now...

Is their any other digestional disease/sickness this could be?  She's been squirting on/off for over 4 weeks now...I really want to get this under control before chukar season begins.  She could be worthless if she's taking dumps every 5 ft. instead of finding birds.  I love my dog, just trying to bring light to the situation...

Any words, experience or input would be great. 

[bearpaw]

One of my firends got it once drinking from a stream while elk hunting. Be glad your dog has it and not you. Call your vet, probably all they need is a stool sample, hope he gets well.

[Curly]

That was some good info Rasbo.  Interesting.  I never thought about dogs getting giardia.  You would think more dogs would get it because of what they will put in their systems.

I've had giardia before........it is a bad way to lose weight.

[dblungshot]

One of my firends got it once drinking from a stream while elk hunting. Be glad your dog has it and not you. Call your vet, probably all they need is a stool sample, hope he gets well.

I haven't heard of any dog owner who's dog was diagnosed with giardia that spent less than 1k over stool samples (many times a false negative), failed prescriptions that don't work, and prescriptions that are really hard on the dog.  One friend spent over 2k...I don't want to spend over 100$ if I don't have to, especially when she appears "fine".

Maybe a better question with those more experienced with their dogs who've treated and cured giardia...if my dog truly does have giardia, will she lose weight at an obvious rate? 

[dblungshot]

Thanks bearpaw & curly for your reply.

[Curly]

I don't know where Rasbo's post went.  It was a good article, the link didn't quite work right, but I got there anyway.

Anyhow, that article also pointed out another parasite that makes similar symptoms as giardia.  It is coccidiosis

Both those articles on the beagle website provide info on treatment with over the counter stuff.

Hope you get your dog figured out.  And hopefully some of the vets on this site will read your thread and chime in.

[Curly]

Been doing more reading on the subject.  Found this interesting:

Even with treatment, it is possible that only the cystic form of Giardia has been removed from the feces, while the infective trophozoite form in the dog’s small intestine remains. In other words, fecal tests for Giardia can be negative, but the parasites still can live inside the dog’s gastrointestinal tract, making those dogs a source of potential infection for other animals, and possibly for people. Giardia is rarely deadly in otherwise healthy dogs. Dogs infected with this parasite typically have flu-like symptoms that eventually resolve.

I'm sure my lab had giardia infections at times due to some of the lake, pond, mud puddle, swamp, you name it nasty water he would drink at times.  I don't know how you would prevent it??? The bolded part in the quote above makes me think that in a lot of cases, the dog will simply get better on his own.

[NW-GSP]

My dog had it as a pup, one stool sample some Meds and everything cleared up

[dblungshot]

great read Curly!  Interesting...I've seen no blood in her stools yet...she does strain and doesn't seem to be pleased to be in crapping position for so long without productivity. 

I guess, the next question would be...what symptoms should I look for that should cause concern and require a vet visit...?  I know, most responsible owners would of already had her in the vet (I'm abusive).  Honestly, I'd like to see more signs of sickness before I take her in. (of course if it was chukar season and she wasn't performing I'd take her in ASAP )  I thought I'd post this thread in hopes someone else had experienced something similiar....I also hoped to identify what she may have...any more thoughts/suggestions?

In any regard, thanks for all who've replied.

[Stilly bay]

when in doubt go to the vet. with out getting a vet involved it would be hard to tell if it was giardia or parvo or  by the time you start seeing other symptoms on some internal problems its already getting close to being too late for a quick and cheap fix.

is your dog current on its vaccinations? sometimes getting vaccinated will actually cause these symptoms.

have you switched foods recently? some dogs need to be slowly eased into a new food or plays hell on their digestive track and they experience symptoms like you described.

until you get your dog to the vet give it some canned pumpkin (not pumkin pie mix ) and that should help firm up its stools.

also if you feed your dog only once or twice a day, try breaking up its meals into three or four, that way there is less for intestinal track to deal with all at once. I had a parvo survivor that could not handle more than half a cup of food at a time. any more and he would get the squirts.

but you really should let the vet sort it out.

[Stilly bay]

also on the off chance it is giardia (or anything similar) you should clean your yard and kennels thoroughly or the dog will continue to reinfect itself. scrape it up, hose it down and spray bleach water over everything.

[dblungshot]

Thanks Stilly Bay!  Great advice...my bitch is gonna be 8 in dec...I haven't vaccinated her recently but have switched dog foods shortly before her symptoms started.  She ran off on a warm day for 45 min so I thought she got into some bad water or eight some other animals feces...(the *censored*s didn't show up until roughly 2 weeks after her joy adventure)?  Haven't really thought about the dog food since she's eight this brand and kind before without any of these symptoms...I did however put her directly on it without integrating the food slowly...Another abusive gesture   If this is the case I will take it serious and obviously not repeat myself.

I've heard of the canned pumpkin...I'll give it a try...I'm also assuming I should stop the current feed cold turkey and get back to the last food?  Or should I reduce her current feed with canned pumpkin until feces is firm, then begin to integrate new feed (last stuff she was on) until the old feed is fazed out then slowly reduce the canned pumpkin until her digestinal tract begins to act normal?

first or latter?

[hunting4sanity]

This thread brings up too many bad memories - I've been treated for it three times.  Very quick weight loss tool, but it can be brutal!
Oh, back to your dog, get the vet to test a sample, besides I doubt my old human meds are pooch approved.

[wraithen]

Ok, if your dog isn't losing weight and isn't having trouble or showing any symptoms other than weird poop then I would think a possible food allergy. If you can be VERY strict then feed your dog only plain white rice and boiled chicken (boneless breasts are easiest.) If symptoms clear up it's the food. If she starts dropping weight get her to the vet asap. If she acts weird when walking or any time really when she isn't squatting, go to the vet. Sounds like your dog is just fine. A lot of people freak out and run to the vet for weird poo. Even if it is bloody most times there's not much to do other than wait for the bloody poo to go away or wait for more symptoms. Hope it all goes well, I know I'd freak if my dog had these symptoms but the wife's a tech so I get a bit of a discount.

[Michelle_Nelson]

My dog gets really runny almost water poo if I feed him raw meat.  He also gets soft diarea when he eats chicken.  My husband has given his chicken lunch meat as a treat a few times (2-3 pieces) and that really tears him up. He will go out almost every 2 hours.  If I feed him beef or dry dog food he is fine.

I was feeding my dog Taste of the Wild and he would have a normal stool once (sometimes twice) a day when just eating that.  Recently I took him off of the dry food because he just hated eating it.  I'm now feeding him real food, Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Rice, Green Beans, Peas, Carrots, Squash, etc, etc.  It takes more time preparing the food but he is now supper excited when he knows it's time to eat. 

Certain foods I have noticed (Chicken so far) tend to give him the scoots.  He will go 3 or 4 times a day.