Giardia

[Dirsh]

I have a question regarding giardia. I know this is not specific to rottweilers but maybe someone has info?

I have a 13 month old rott. She weighs about 80-85 pounds and from what I've read this is within norm (don't know where to measure from for height). She eats fine.

When she was about 4 months old she had bad diarrhea so I brought a stool sample in to the vet and found out she had giardia. She also had bad gas during this time. We gave her pills (metronidazole) and the stool got better and everything seemed fine. The only clue I had there was a problem was the diarrhea (very bad diarrhea!).

A few months later she was getting gassy again and diarrhea. Once again it was giardia, we gave her pills, and it seemed to go away.

A couple weeks ago the same thing. This time I waited a couple days to watch her stool to see if it was always runny. It would be bad one day, firm the next couple days, then bad again. Took a sample in and guess what it was.

This time after a week on the medication (it should have been treated by then according to the vet) I took another sample in to see if it actually went away (wish I would have done this the first time 8 months ago). By then her stool was looking fine again. Loh and behold she still had it.

After talking with the vet we really don't know if it ever went away. If it did go away we also don't know where she would be getting it from. Got the cat checked and the cat is ok, fenced in back yard and I've never seen other animals back there but rabbits. She doesn't eat other animals waste when she gets walked.

Anyways my question- the vet told me that about 20-30% of dogs never get rid of giardia and our dog may be one. She's a vet, I work with computers so who am I to question her. Her logic was that our dog looks and acts healthy so don't worry about it unless she starts not eating. She also gave me an option to try another medication (at $75.00 a shot) to see if that gets rid of it- she has no idea if that would work. It does get expensive to keep bringing in stool samples. Another thought of the vet was that the food we feed her may be too rich and switching to a different food may help??? She gets fed eukanuba puppy food and she seems to like it fine.

Thoughts? If she doesn't seem to be sick from it should I just leave it or should I try a different food. If I try a different food we'll then need to get her re-tested and probably need to try the medication.

Like I said above- she is 13 months old and weighs about 80-85 pounds (looks skinny to me but I know she's still filling out). She still has good stools and bad stools. Other than the pain of trying to clean up bad stool I don't see any problems and the vet says she should be ok.

Any insite would be appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

[irenej]

A dog or human for that matter can become infected with giardia by drinking any contaminated surface water. While many dogs will carry giardia in their gut without causing any problems heavy infestiation will lead, as you have already found, to a dog having the runs. In young puppies it can lead to death from severe dehydration. It is essential that you prevent your dog from drinking from stagnant water, i.e. ponds, puddles or containers that are not cleaned on a regular basis. While your dog is taking the Flagyl and for at least 2-3 weeks following supplement your dog's diet with yogourt (1/4 cup plain twice a day) or capsules containing healthy bacteria, which you can get at any health food store, as the medication not only will destroy the giardia but upsets the dogs natural population of bacteria that is necessary for intestinal health.
Hope this helps.

[czechrott]

This is a very difficult problem to correct. I believe giardia is a prototzoan type organism. It can hang out in the intestines, and can be stubborn. I would try changing doog food. Try something that is a little less "rich", like a lamb & rice formula. Nutro makes a lamb & rice formula that is pretty good at firming up loose stools. I know stool samples can get expewnsive, and giardia can be missed easily by tech's not paying close attention. The change of diet should work. Good Luck

[MARYDVM]

The wormer Panacur has also been shown to kill Giardia. Maybe alternating drugs would help with the resistance to treatment.