Giaridia and Diarrhea for 3 months

[Nishasmom]

Angelbunny, that is horrible and should be made illegal. Thank you for posting this.

[Nishasmom]

Originally Posted by bdragonladyt

will do the bland diet again. i sure hope it works. thanks.

Hi, I was doing some research to find an alternative dog food for Nisha (she is still getting over Giardia as well). I am sick of making food; and I DO NOT want to feed her the Science Diet the vet prescribed. So, I found this dog-food...Healthwise Chicken and Oatmeal. It states that it is "HIGHLY DIGESTIBLE". Which is exactly what I (and you) need for our dogs with upset tummies!!! . The vet told me to keep her on a food that was easy to digest; so, I would assume that this would fit the bill.

Healthy Pet Products – Natural Cat Food, Healthy Dog Food, Puppy Kibble – HealthWise Pet Food

[DinoGina]

We the vet has my pups on flagl and panacure as well as some antibotics. They had been on this as well but not all at the same time. I am currently in Pittsburg on business and my wife and daugter say thier stools are firming up since I have been gone. I wonder if I am the one that is stressing my pups out. At the same time we are adding the pumpkin and slowly tranistioning to Royal Canine which a breeder here suggested i do. I was feeding costco puppy as the first ingredient is Chicken, then chicken meal. The rest of the costco ingredients seem to be very good. Previoulsy, Innova, Blue buffalo and eukanuba did not work very well.
I am keeping the dogs seperated and have bleached my yard and the dog's room and cages. I am hopeful for firm poops...

Thanks for all the posts everyone!

F

[Tihanna]

Originally Posted by bdragonladyt

will do the bland diet again. i sure hope it works. thanks.

If it isn't fesiable to cook rice and boiled chicken breast/LEAN ground beef for your dog daily, you can also get a Gastrointestinal Diet from your veterinary that is made for this sort of thing.

At this point, besides the dogs meds, the most important thing is the food she is eating. You should feed her the bland diet for her EXCLUSIVELY (no treats) for sometime and it should at least help with the clinical signs, at least help firm up her stools - therefore leading to a happy dog w/ a better feeling bum!!

[Nishasmom]

I wonder why you refuse to do the bland diet??

Getting Giardia is like sandpaper to your intestines; feeding a harsh (not to mention crappy) food such as royal canin only aggravates their stomach more and more!! Each time they eat a food that is not bland it is like rubbing sandpaper all over again; this results in a vast delay of the healing process.! They will never get better until you switch to a bland diet. .

I was feeding costco puppy as the first ingredient is Chicken, then chicken meal. The rest of the costco ingredients seem to be very good. Previoulsy, Innova, Blue buffalo and eukanuba did not work very well.

These foods did not "work very well" because they are not BLAND!!!! I wonder why you are willing to try 4 different formulas of food, but not the bland diet .

Since my last post I have decided to use a different food. Wellness Simple Solutions with duck. The main 5 ingredients are duck, rice, and 3 different oils. I would suggest this to you, but obviously, you will not take the advice. . Nisha will be on this food for 1 month so that her intestines have time to properly heal.

I wish you would do the same for your dogs; it HURTS!!!! their tummies to be eating the food you are providing . I really hope you change to the bland diet...poor dogs.

All Natural Dog Food - Simple Food Solutions - WELLNESS® here is a link, but it sounds like you refuse to try it :(

[DinoGina]

I was trying the other foods prior to reading this post. I did not know the importance of feeding a bland diet until now. We are going to start feeding boiled chicken and rice in the coming week. I have not started it yet as the flagly, panacure and G shot appear to be working ( firmer stool and I did not want to drastically change the diet)
I also need to slowly incorporate some pumpkin.

we have been drastic in keeping the yard clean, cleaning up the mess and spraying clorox immediately for fear of reinfection.

Thanks again everyone for your replies!

[DinoGina]

plain canned pumpkin mixed in with costo puppy is doing the job! stools are like rocks.
I have sent for a full fecal as well as another Giardia tests. I had my pup on rice and salmon, egg, boiled chicken etc. the bland diet did very little until I upped the amount of pumpkin.
I should have the results from the lab tomorrow. I was really tired of cooking!
Thanks, I will keep my fingers crossed

[Luvtails]

Originally My vet put my dogs on eukanuba low residue diet (after a week of bland) which is supposed to help them absorb more and I think It has fiber to bulk up the stools. I have been dealing with giardia off and on for the past 5years due to poor water drainage from our yard. the only thing that works for me is to treat them with panacur about 2 times a year if no signs of diarrhea. I will ocassionally treat them is their stools are consistantly mushy. As soon as someone gets diarrhea lasting for more than 2 days or is water and smelly (giardia diarrhea is very foul smelling in the active phase) I start them on flagyl. My dogs test negative for it as not all dogs test positive. Giardia is a tough one and can be very expensive. I nad a hard time keeping weight on the dogs and found that feeding raw has actually helped all around. they are in good health, good immune systems (very few mushy stools or other ailments), good stools, and good weight. I love the raw diet. I have noticed however that the grain free foods if fed ALONE and not as an addition to the raw will actually increase the amount of stools and make them softer. I was feeding timber wolf with a little raw and the dogs were pooping 6 times a day! now I am lucky if they go once on just the raw. My friend who feeds Annemet noticed the same thing.

[Shane]

As for animal digest, I usually just think of it like the animal version of Soylent Green. It's much quicker to explain that way. Except to young people. :)

[DinoGina]

Test came back negative for everything and stools are tough still! Yeay! Sad that the dogs poop could make us so happy LOL!.
I am interested in the raw diet and would like to introduce it slowly. I will look through the forums for instructions on how to feed.
Thanks to everyone for the replies,
F