Struggling with 13 week old puppy with Giardia

[WellyBootsandPuddleSuits]

We’ve had our puppy for over 5 weeks now, picked her up the day she turned 8 weeks old. She’s not our first puppy - we’ve had two from pups before, but I don’t ever remember it being this hard. Since the day she came home, her poos have been loose - after a week, the vet gave us a worming tablet which resulted in evidence of worms but did nothing to firm up her stools. We followed up with a second treatment two weeks later, and sent a sample off for testing which showed roundworms and giardia. The vet prescribed Panacur for 3 days, which caused her to regress with her crate training, she refuses to settle for the night and after night time toilet breaks, her stools have turned to diarrhoea and she vomited after the third dose, and it hasn’t improved anything. The last dose was given to her on New Years Eve, so should be out of her system by now, but things are worse than when we started!

I didn’t enter in to a new puppy blindly thinking it would be easy, I’m fully aware of the responsibility involved - but at this point I would seriously consider handing her back if I didn’t think the children and my partner would mind. I’m not sleeping, either because I’m trying to settle her, because she needs to go out, or because I’m anticipating her waking up. I haven’t enjoyed a moment over Christmas because I’ve been focused more on cleaning up after the dog (not easy with soft stools!) than enjoying the time with my family. I suffered from PND after both children and am starting to feel similarly to that - is it just that overwhelming, or have I made a huge mistake bringing a puppy in to our home? All the stories I’ve read of puppies suffering from giardia are horror stories of it lasting months, of multiple treatments and different medications. I really think if I can sort this problem out I’ll find the rest easier, but I can’t keep feeling this way for months. Should I contact the vet again when they reopen tomorrow, or give it a few more days to see if anything improves? Will there be light at the end of the tunnel?

When puppies are poorly or need extra care it is very hard work.

Both worms and giardia are treatable.

You will need to be extra careful with the puppies poos or your puppy will reinfect itself.

I would try to have an outdoor area for pooing that is easy to disinfect so hard ground and disinfect this after each poo. Indoors again very thorough cleaning is required. If you take this approach giardia should clear up quicker. Do not relax the cleaning after a negative test but carry on for quite a while to be on the safe side. I would be asking for regular tests for a while after the negative ones.

I can understand how overwhelming this must be for you but it will go and your puppy will get easier when they feel better. Can you take one day at a time and see how things go? However if you do feel that it is not the right thing for you then speaking to the breeder and returning the dog is an ok thing to do.

Does the breeder know it has giardia? (it does flash up a few flags that your puppy has it)

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’m having a bad day today and it means a lot that someone’s heard me!

I am trying to keep on top of the environment - boiling water over anything that can’t be picked up, and soil/grass underneath disposed of as well. Her beds have gone through the hot wash and tumble to try and kill anything.

I was so happy to have an answer to what was wrong, and then the treatment not having worked is crushing. I feel on edge constantly - watching and waiting for her to need to go out, and then feeling the disappointment every time it’s not a solid movement. I know she can’t be feeling great either, so I’m feeling doubly guilty when the thought crosses my mind to give her back! I know she’s a good girl, and that in 6 months she’ll be a super companion, I just can’t see the woods for the trees at the moment.

I haven’t contacted the breeder, partly because I’m so angry she came to us with worms and Giardia. Although maybe I should in case any of the other pups in the litter have the same problem. That’s another thing, I wouldn’t want to give her back to the place where she picked this up!

Giardia is pretty easily treated, but it does mean preventing reinfection by disinfection anywhere there has been poo. The vet that the rescue I foster for does 3 days of Panacur liquid as a first try, then 7 days, then if that doesn't clear then Drontal. Some vets give antibiotics as well.
The pup also needs probiotics and very gentle food while healing their gut.
Def back to the vet first thing, and let the breeder know as having worms at 8 weeks means they got them from their mum in utero. How far is your pup with their vaccinations?

Oh, and we use ProKolin to help with stool firming as they go through treatment

Thank you - I’ll give the vet a call in the morning when they open. She’s had both her jabs now, the vet was happy enough with her general condition to give her the second vaccination when we went last.

I have some probiotics (pro-kolin advanced) being delivered tomorrow, have tried Bella and Lola super tummy instant today and yesterday but that hasn’t helped so will stop that. Have also got a fibre supplement from pro-texin on order as well in case that might help.

We have a 13 week old puppy, too. I am so sorry that your’s has Giardia. I can’t give any advice about the condition as I’ve not come across it before. Our puppy has had lots of runny poos with mucus on them which I found very alarming, so understand how awful it must be when there is something really wrong.

It was more your comments about how stressful you are finding having a puppy that I totally get and sympathise with. We have always had dogs, but have not had a puppy for years and years. I, too, am finding it very stressful. It is much more intense than I remember and my puppy makes a huge fuss about being left on her own. I have to go back to work next week - only in the mornings - but she can’t even do an hour by herself without barking and howling. I have been desperately trying to find someone to have her while I am out.

I am sorry that I am not able to help you, but know that you are not alone in finding having a puppy much more stressful than expected.

Lots of luck! I hope you get the Giardia sorted out really soon and that life gets easier.

Mine had giardia when she was a little older than your pup, and I completely understand how stressful you are finding it; it was horrible for her (she came close to be hospitalised she got so poorly) and I found it really upsetting and stressful, managing it with young kids in the house and when she was just a little scrap. I’m sorry you are going through it.

The good news is that it is treatable but it took a while. For us it took 2 x 3 day courses of Panacur, followed by 1 x 7 day course. After the second 3 day course the vet did further tests and found she was also infected with campylobacter, so she had additional antibiotics for that alongside the 7 day course of panacur. After that she was fine, and she improved very quickly on those meds.

It sounds like you are doing all the washing and scrubbing you need to. I blocked off a patch of patio in the garden that was the only place she went out to toilet which made it easy to scrub down With boiling water. I washed all her bedding daily and kept her separate from the kids, I just couldn’t cope with the idea of them getting ill. In terms of sleep, I slept downstairs with her right by the back door so I could whisk her outside as quickly as needed - and funnily enough, that meant she (and I) both slept not so badly. Once on the mend she got better very quickly. She has had ongoing digestive problems which I am sure are a result of what happened to her gut so early on, but they are manageable and nowhere near as awful as that spell with Giardia. And honestly, everything else in her puppyhood has been pretty easy in comparison.

Your puppy will get better and everything will get easier!

I’m sorry you’re finding it hard too, but it’s nice to know I’m not the only one. I do feel bad complaining, because apart from the stomach, and resulting sleep, issues, she’s such a good puppy. Biting has calmed down massively over the past few weeks (for now at least) and she has been fine when I do the school run or have had to go in to the office (a few hours in the crate before being checked on).

I think I just had an idea in my head what having a puppy again would be like, and the reality is much much harder.

I hope you manage to find someone to look after your pup - I’m sure after you’re back in the routine of work it will all be ok.

Thank you for sharing your experience - it’s nice to see there is light at the end of the tunnel (somewhere!) We’ve been prescribed a second round of Panacur, which I’ll try in the mornings to see if it has less of an impact on sleep. The vet said that I should see improvement within the 3 days and if not I’m to take her back down. She’s had two doses of Pro Kolin today, so I’m hoping that will help as well.

I already keep her separate from the kids and original dog - until she’s house trained and calmer, she has the kitchen diner to herself. I’m sleeping next to her crate at night (like when I first brought her home!) so I can get her out quickly, and in the hopes that she settles a bit better. I do miss my bed though, and I worry that she’ll get reliant on me being beside her to sleep.

I just don’t remember having anywhere near this kind of stress with our previous puppies - I look at my old boy now and can’t imagine ever feeling like this when he was little. I love him so much, and I know that will come with the new puppy, but the days are a blur and the nights last forever when you’re up every hour.

It sounds like you're doing an amazing job doing everything you can for puppy. It is exhausting though isn't it? But honestly you should feel
Really proud you are doing all the right things. The emotions are only natural given how tiring it is.

Have you also tested foods? My last puppy had awful runny poops with mucas/blood. He did have worms but then we also learnt that he couldn't have grain. Just one small bit would irritate his gut/cause inflammation and trigger it all off for a few days. But it took us ages to work it out. Just worth thinking about/testing too. Altho it sounds like it is just the Giardia. You never know.

It will get better. It's just so hard when you're having to deal with it and it all feels like a muddled tiring blur xx

Thank you for being so kind - at the moment I feel like I’m in a never ending cycle of worrying about the puppy, getting cross with the situation, and then feeling guilty that I’m not able to fix it. I’m also severely lacking in other areas of my life because everything is taken up with looking after pup. Basically, I’m exhausted and I can’t see an end.

We haven’t changed anything with her food, it’s the same food she was eating without a problem at the breeders, and we daren’t risk anything else upsetting her stomach. Part of me thinks that maybe her insides are just so irritated by the worms and Giardia that they need some time to heal. Second round of panacur seemed to have an effect, but that hasn’t lasted. Back to the vets tomorrow to see what they suggest for next steps

Ask about metronidazole as well as Panacur. In combination they kill Giardia at different stages of its lifecycle.

Are you sure it's the Giardia giving her loose stools?

I can totally empathise op. We had ddog at 8 weeks and she was fine for about a month then started having looser and looser stools until it was pretty much diarrhoea. Took her to the vets and she had Giardia.

Did the treatment, didn't work. Did a second round a couple of weeks later then probiotics. Minimal improvement but poo still couldn't be picked up. Then went to diarrhea again.

We've struggled and struggled and like you, didn't want to change her food and risk making it worse. Plus, she'd been fine on the breeders food for a while so we didn't think it could be that.

She's now 5 months and last week we thought bugger it, we can't possibly make it worse and we changed her food to a fish based one.

The change was almost instant. Solid stools in two days. I'm now pretty sure she was intolerant to chicken as its very common - and it can develop gradually so you could have a puppy that's been on the same food since weaning and fine for weeks - until it's not.

I would really really recommend trying a different food, maybe taking her off chicken as that's one of the most common intolerances - it may not be the guardia at all affecting her poo. I so wish we'd done it weeks before we did.

We went back to the vets this afternoon and have been prescribed metronidazole, which I’ve started this evening. It’s a five day course and the vet said if that doesn’t work then it’ll be another stool sample for testing and try her on a super hypo-allergenic diet. She’s always been on grain free, so maybe it is the chicken, but the vet suggested waiting until the weekend to see if the metro works first.

I’m trying to keep positive, we are doing everything we can to get her better. Something’s got to work eventually. Poor thing was up 5 times last night - she’s as bad as a 14 week old baby! I need a good night’s sleep and a day without stressing about her toileting.

i know it’s been a few weeks since this was posted but we bought our pup home 2 weeks ago and within a week she was hospitalised for 2 days with giardia 😩 we’ve been keeping her inside since, disinfecting as much as we can, using dettol laundry liquid for our clothes and her bed/soft toys. Dishwashing her rubber toys etc. shes not allowed in the lounge atm as it’s carpet and we also have a toddler who’s toys she loves to chew 😂 she’s had her 3 day course of panacur but I am concerned about her becoming reinfected.

wanted to add on the food front, for future reference, we kept our girl on the same food as the breeders but since she came home from the vets they’ve told us to give her royal canin gastrointestinal food as it’s easy on her tummy (while she’s poorly).

it’s definitely hard work keeping on top of it though so I know how you feel! Hope your pup is feeling better now!

@Squellyolwelly we’re still going through the motions unfortunately - after the 5 days on metronidazole she seemed to improve, but last week she went backwards again. We’ve got a specialist digestive support food to give her alongside a different pro-biotic - she’s allowed that and nothing else (which is making training ‘fun’!) for the next 6-8 weeks. A sample has been sent off to see if it’s still the Giardia or if it’s just that all the good bacteria has been stripped from her gut and the bad bacteria is having a field day before it can come back.

Ours isn’t allowed in the lounge either because of children’s toys and carpet - if it’s not wipe clean, she’s not allowed near it! I’ve had to accept that there really isn’t any more I can do on top of what I’m doing already - we’ll get there eventually I’m sure.

On the positive side, she’s doing really well with housetraining, and she’s starting to come out of the land-shark phase and become a lot more affectionate, which is making it a bit easier to deal with the broken nights and regular toilet trips.