Post by: dblungshot on July 20, 2012, 03:29:22 PM
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.
Post by: bearpaw on July 20, 2012, 03:48:37 PM
Post by: Curly on July 20, 2012, 03:50:12 PM
I've had giardia before........it is a bad way to lose weight. :bdid:
Post by: dblungshot on July 20, 2012, 03:58:37 PM
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?
Post by: dblungshot on July 20, 2012, 03:59:17 PM
Post by: Curly on July 20, 2012, 04:07:36 PM
Anyhow, that article also pointed out another parasite that makes similar symptoms as giardia. It is coccidiosis (http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/health/coccidiosis-diagnosis-treatment-and-prevention)
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. :twocents:
Post by: Curly on July 20, 2012, 04:24:10 PM
Quote
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.
Post by: NW-GSP on July 20, 2012, 04:24:42 PM
Post by: dblungshot on July 20, 2012, 04:41:01 PM
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.
Post by: Stilly bay on July 20, 2012, 05:42:30 PM
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. :tup:
Post by: Stilly bay on July 20, 2012, 05:45:56 PM
Post by: dblungshot on July 20, 2012, 07:36:54 PM
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?
Post by: hunting4sanity on July 20, 2012, 07:45:37 PM
Oh, back to your dog, get the vet to test a sample, besides I doubt my old human meds are pooch approved.
Post by: wraithen on July 20, 2012, 11:07:36 PM
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on July 21, 2012, 01:23:25 AM
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.
Post by: MikeWalking on July 21, 2012, 01:41:57 AM
The first test didn't find it but since the lakes I had hiked up to were labeled as being known for it my Dr. gave me the (dirt cheap) Rx for it anyway. That was almost as bad. Couldn't close the windows for 2 weeks...
Post by: dblungshot on July 21, 2012, 09:05:55 PM
Another symptom is gas during the poo process...only when it's a runny one, i can hear her have false alarms (gas) prior, during, and after and she looks at me like "I thought it was coming"...it's kinda funny cause I can understand the feeling. Look up Dumb and dumber toilet scene and see the results as this is probably most similiar as to what she's experiencing during the running stages. My dog probably thinks I'm a complete ass by now. I'm also exaggerating a bit to how bad it is, but I've also had a couple relaxing cocktails.
Here's a picture of my bitch which most the time I love and sometimes I will give away! :chuckle: She's the best dog I've had but also isn't perfect. Couldn't ask for a better dog for my kids and wife.
Post by: dblungshot on July 21, 2012, 09:20:47 PM
Post by: Curly on July 21, 2012, 09:51:14 PM
Post by: Mudman on July 21, 2012, 10:55:31 PM
Post by: wraithen on July 22, 2012, 09:15:57 AM
Post by: dblungshot on July 22, 2012, 01:57:32 PM
By the way:
This am the stools looked perfect...saw a piece of apple one of my boys threw on the ground from dinner last night. :chuckle:
Post by: Shannon on July 22, 2012, 09:37:34 PM
For the people who couldn't understand the cost in treating the dog, the fecal test is the cheap part. I'm the unfortunate person that has $2,300 tied up in getting my pup rid of Giardia. He has had many standard fecal test, one expensive test that supposedly test for everything that cost me two hundred something, and more drugs than you can imagine. He's ate special dog food that cost $4 a pound and he eats a bunch. The list goes on and on. Some of the drugs are human grade and cost $100+ for a two week dose. Some of the drugs worked while he was on them but the symptoms came right back when the drugs were gone. The food changes did nothing. The fecal test don't really mean anything because sometimes they are positive and sometimes they are not. You can test the dog 5 times in one day and get 3 that show Giardia and two that don't. Out of all the test, he has only tested positive for Giardia and that is only a few times out of a bunch of test. The last vet wanted to operate on him to remove an inch of intestine to confirm its only Giardia he has. I couldn't see doing that on a perfectly healthy dog that his only symptom is chronic diarhea. Long story short, I found a human grade supplement called Para-Gard that has cured him from the second day he has been on it. I'm not sure if he's cured or it just masks the diarhea but we will find out when the supplement runs out. If it doesn't he will take the supplement for good. Not fun thats for sure. It started when he was 6 month's old and he's 14 months now.
Good luck with reign. Let me know how it goes.
Post by: wraithen on July 22, 2012, 10:26:34 PM
Post by: Shannon on July 23, 2012, 07:33:49 AM
Good luck to everyone that is dealing with this. It's a royal pain in the ass.
Post by: dblungshot on July 23, 2012, 08:54:44 AM
I don't think it's as bad as charlie's case...reign is actually getting fatter. The stools are on/off. I'm gonna play around a bit with the different suggestions and see what pans out.
Post by: Mudman on July 24, 2012, 07:58:20 PM
Post by: Raghorn on July 29, 2012, 08:56:58 PM