Giardia in dogs

[ViaRia]

Hi all
Our poor little boy has had giardia for a while - first diagnosed in March! He’s had four rounds on panacur treatment from the vet, each time increasing in dose and duration. Each time his lab result still comes back positive.

I understand it’s a common parasite, especially in puppies… has anyone had experience of this and can you tell me
(1) what treatment did your vet give?
(2) did it work on the first treatment or did you need to do it multiple times?
(3) any tips/ advice for getting rid of it?!!

The vet says that he is likely to be reinfecting himself by re-ingesting his waste. We pick up straight away to prevent him doing so but maybe he is leaving traces on his fur and then licking it when grooming etc. We’ve increased frequency of baths to twice per week (maybe it needs to be daily…?)

Good news is that he no longer seems poorly - he has energy, eats and drinks normally, poos normally, etc. It’s just the lab tests that keep showing the parasite is still present.

Any help or advise, please do let me know?

Thanks !

He probably needs antibiotics as well as the panacur treatment. I would also clean down your lawn/patio really well with a weak bleach mix or special cleaner if able. While pup is being treated it is best to keep them in one room (preferably not one where you eat/prepare food) which you can bleach clean. It can be hard to get rid of.

Not a vet, but if it's not clearing ip with panacur then the next line of treatment is antibiotics.

I had a dog that had giardia ages ago. It was a bugger to get rid of and took antibiotics, and daily bleach cleaning of her area and food/water bowls.

One of mine had Gardia I was prescribed panacur plus antibiotics. Make sure you swill the garden down when they toilet. And clean everything well. He got rid of it no issue never got it again. About 50% of puppies get it my vet said.

Metronidazole is the only thing which got rid of it for ours.

Have you hot-washed (or replaced) all his blankets, bedding etc?

My rescue boy had stomach issues and tested positive for Giardia. He had seven days of Metronidazole followed by another five days of Metronidazole and then a repeat test. It had gone, but the antibiotics played havoc with his system and he still isn’t quite right on the poop consistency front but we are getting there. Washed all bedding on a hot wash and gave him a bath.

Thanks everyone for your help.
Yes, we’ve washed him and his bedding and we were also hosing down the grass after picking up his poo.
He’s now on antibiotics as well as panacur for 14 days so hopefully this time we will get it sorted. Now we’re washing him more regularly- particularly the back end. Have also washed his toys and bedding, and will do that every couple of days I think.

It’s reassuring (in a way) to hear that others have been through this as well. I really was thinking we must be really crap dog parents!!

Thanks again

yep, we were left with a dog with a sensitive stomach though.. we've never been able to get him back onto normal food and have to feel him a specialist diet.

antibiotics, washing/bleaching everything regularly basically.. and avoiding walking him where he picked it up as he could be reinfecting that way.. find somewhere else to walk him.

My one year old terrier has giardia and we were given three days of panacur then seven days of metronizadole. Still bad, so today we're starting on five days of both.

It's so annoying. I've been washing everything, incl his bottom ( bedding, toys etc as well, obvs). I just feel like we'll never get rid of it.

PS did anyone else find panacur made their diarrhoea WORSE? He is shitting liquid, poor thing.

PPS OP how did you get on? Hope you're cured of it now!

His diarrhoea always seemed to clear up quickly half way through treatment and we were always sure “it must be sorted now” but then the lab tests came back positive again.
Most recently he was on panacur and antibiotics at the same time for 2 weeks. We actually haven’t tested him again (yet) but we will do. He seems absolutely fine now.

The vet had given us the choice between the above panacur/ antibiotics treatment or to just leave it … he’s still young and often this sort of thing will clear up over time, by the time they are 1 yo or so.

Hoping for negative in next week’s test so fingers still crossed.

That's so interesting about it clearing up by itself. Thank you OP, and I really hope your test comes back clear.

Hi
When I collected my ddog he had bloody watery diarrhoea and I am so grateful for the poster on the puppy support thread who told me to go to the vet and ask for antibiotics. I think it was a 7 or even 10 day course of metronidazole which did the trick but also we changed and washed bedding daily, took up all our mats and rugs so we could clean accidents properly and we flushed the garden with water from the kettle.
This was a year ago. He has a pretty robust digestive system now but my lawn hasn't recovered!
I wouldn't leave it because it is is very contagious to other dogs.

I'm not leaving it, we're deep in the meds. But it's depressing hearing how hard it is to cure.

The vet prescribed Panacur, a probiotic and told me to wipe my puppy’s bottom and clean her feet every time she came in from the garden. To also wash all bedding, blankets, throws etc daily on a hot wash in order to prevent reinfection. She did need a second course of probiotics that I bought from Pets@Home.
I used puppy wipes on her bottom and feet and it cleared up after one course. I am ultra vigilant with washing her blankets etc and fingers crossed it’s working.

So Giardia is a Protozoa, so it can form cysts that will survive on your grass etc. even if it is hosed down. Likewise bathing him, if you are using regular soap the cysts may not be destroyed.
You need to use a proper disinfectant. I use “Safe4pets” from Amazon. It is defra approved and used in vet surgeries etc. It kills Protozoa as well as bacteria/fungi/viruses. If he goes to the toilet in your garden you need to try and prevent him from going back to that area. It’s almost impossible to remove it once it’s in the soil.
Wash water bowls/bedding fastidiously.
You need to use hibiscrub on his paws and back end. You can buy it from pharmacies (boots and Superdrug do it). It’s a presurgical wash that is antiseptic and will kill the giardia cysts. Dilute the hibiscrub to a pale pink don’t use it neat. Don’t allow it to get in his eyes etc. A sensible wipe and rinse of the bum and paws after each time he goes to the toilet will do.
Source: I’m an animal microbiologist if you have any other questions and my poor GSD suffered with recurrent giardia as a pup. I really wouldn’t advise leaving it, it can cause secondary food intolerances and GI issues, like it does in humans with long term infection.

We had several lots of antibiotics if I remember rightly, and expensive stool tests.