Giardia-baby Grey

[Guest Sula]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to Greytalk and would upload a pic if I could figure it out!

 

But I have a question that I could use some help on. I have a four month old Greyhound rescue girl. I wanted an ex-racer but my kitty wouldn't take a big dog and a litter came available through the rescue org so I scooped up my sweeeeet girl, Stella.

 

One of the litter tested positive for Giardia so I got Stella tested and she was positive. She had sorta soft stools soon after I got her about a month ago but after a week on Flagyl her stools became even looser. So I'm now on a week of Panacur and her stools are *still* loose and unformed.

 

She's gained nine pounds from weeks 10-12 and then another 5 pounds weeks 12-13.5 to bring her to about 30 pounds--I have no idea if this is the right weight for a four month old Greyhound.

 

I guess the next step is to test her again for Giardia after she's completed the Panacur and see if I'm still dealing with that or some dietary issue. I gradually moved her from Eukanuba puppy to Inova puppy--not sure if this is an issue or not--seems to me Giardia would be more the culprit than the food but I don't know.

 

Anyway, any thoughts/insights/experience would be appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

Sula and Stella

 

[Guest Tenderhearts]

Sula, welcome to GT!

 

I'm bumping this back up to the top in the hopes that someone can help you as I have no personal experience with giardia.

 

If you'd like a picture of your sweet pup posted, feel free to e-mail one to me, and I'll be glad to post it

[Burpdog]

Try boiled hamburger or chicken (no rice, no potatoes) for a day or two and see if she firms up. If she does, you will know it is the food.

 

If you are in the States and can get frozen BilJac you can try it, but--puppies need a little more in nutrition than this straight.

[Guest ThunderPaws]

Poor baby...

Looks like you and your vet are doing the right thing. I did a quick search and found this: http://www.canismajor.com/dog/giardia.html

[Guest IGmom4now]

Hi,

My IGs and Lab mix got giardia somehow a few years ago, and it was "explosive" and scary. My boy was at the vet hooked up to IV for four days before he stopped vomiting and passing blood...

Sounds like you and your vet have this under control. Sorry I don't know anything about greyhound pups. I bet she's cute. What's your kitty gonna do when she grows?? :unsure

[gracegirl]

I got my little man Fenway when he was four months old. He was about 30 lbs when I got him. He also had giardia when I first got him, but was asymptomatic (ie no loose stools) so the vet wanted to let his body fight it off. She is of the school of thought that it’s healthier in the long run for the body to learn to fight off these foreign bodies as long as the dog’s health is not compromised. Several months later I did work with Panacur, I worm both my dogs every six months. Your problem could possibly be food related. If the Innova is richer than what she is used to, it might be making her pass loose stool. Fenway’s bowel movements became looser when I put him on a high end, very protein rich food. Now that he is back on a food with less protein, his BM are more firm. I second the idea to try a bland diet of chicken or beef with rice for a few days to see if the problem is dietary. I hope you can figure it out soon!

[GeorgeofNE]

YOUR name is Sula? That's cool! One of my old dog's best friends was named Sula Peace! I've never heard the name before, or since!

 

If the stool samples come back normal now, I'd suspect that the FOOD could be making her loose--perhaps temporary, or perhaps it simply doesn't agree with her?

[Guest Tenderhearts]

Here is a picture of Miss Stella! Is that face not to die for??!!!! :wub: :wub:

[Guest vahoundlover]

AWWWWW she is adorable!!

[beledi]

What a baby doll. Welcome to the board. I have learned so much from the people here.

[Guest simile]

Welcome to the board!! And your pup is an absolute doll!!! She is just beautiful.

 

I got both my greys as pups. My understanding is that greyhounds are considered a giant breed and shouldn't be fed puppy food as puppies, and there's even a school of thought that says you shouldn't even feed giant breed puppy food to giant breed puppies. In any case, I fed mine a high quality adult dog food all through their puppy months and that seemed to agree with them. The only time we had loose stool issues was when I first got Jack (we got him first) and he was on puppy food. As soon as I switched him over to adult food, it was all good.

 

There is a lot of VERY good dog food out there, and if you check out this board you'll see posting of people with experience with just about every brand and type of food. The one common element I've seen posted (and have to agree) is to avoid dog food with corn as a main ingredient, or as an ingredient at all if you can manage it. Dogs just don't process corn very well.

 

Good luck with that gorgeous puppy!!!!

[Guest wmlcml6]

Our pup was 4 months old when he got Giardia, too. He was originally being treated for something else and we thought we were going to lose him. HOwever, subsequent testing was positive for giardia and after 3 days of the panacur treatment and he started coming back to life again.

 

It took quite a while to get firm stools again, but we didn't worry as long as he was eating and not "exploding". We found that plain yogurt helped a lot, as did Natural Balance tubed beef and later, Blue Buffalo kibble.

 

Good luck. Giardia is very scary, but 2 weeks after treatment, Hawk was running around outside with his siblings, having gained almost all of his pre-illness weight back.

 

The most important thing is to keep your baby hydrated. I cannot stress this enough! A pup can go 10 days without much food, but a day or two of dehydration is very bad.

[Guest KaylyRed]

Steeeellll-laaaaa! You are one ADORABLE little girlie girl!

 

Quin went through bouts of giardia, too. He had it before we adopted him, and then again shortly after he made his forever home with us. I can totally sympathize--it's awful stuff. Our vet gave us metronidazole to clear up the last of the diarrhea associated with Quin's giardia. It absolutely did the trick with him. But it sounds like you have things well in hand with your own vet.

 

It's tough when food can also be the culprit. You have to sort out what's food related and what's a result of the giardia. In my experience, my greys have had Big D for 6 weeks or more when switching to a new food. In fact, we had Ella nearly 8 weeks before she started having normal stools. I was just about to give up on the food I was feeding her and try another brand when suddenly she pooping like a pro. But just a week prior to that she'd been having nightly accidents in our master bath because she just couldn't hold it.

 

Hang in there--I'm sure things will work themselves out sooner or later, especially with the guidance and help of a good vet and the Greytalk community. And congratulations again on that gorgeous puppy girl of yours! She's truly a doll.

[Guest argolola]

Prayers for your precious girl. What a cutie pie.

[Guest IrskasMom]

That Face is to die for ..... awwwww . Gorgeous Hope you got Giardia under Controll.

WELCOME to GT...... Sula

Edited September 25, 2007 by IrskasMom

[Guest FrostyBottoms]

Oh is Stella precious! I never had a dog with giardia....but I have had c.diff and was put on flagyl...the flagyl gave me worse diarrhea than the c.diff. So they then put me on vancomyacin...I had diarrhea for a couple weeks after going off of the strong antibiotic...It may be the medicine that is making her stool loose...Although I am speaking from human experience. Good luck, oh and welcome to Grey Talk!

[Guest trevdog]

What a cutie! Greyhound pups grow at different speeds, but it sounds like 30 lbs is about right for your pup. Mine was smaller at that age so she weighed much less. No idea about giardia, but Innova is a rich food, so that may have something to do with the looseness. We use it here, but mix it with another brand. Dallas stopped eating puppy food at about 4 months, showed no interest in it, amd preferred Ossie's food, so we switched. I agree with the hamburger and rice for a few days, that should help. Definitely give all the meds and have her checked again in a few weeks.

 

 

[heartdogs]

Your girl is so beautiful. When I got my first boy he looked very much like her & since he also had a terrible case of giardia plus other intestinal problems it took a long time to get him straightened out. I agree with no puppy food, just use a good adult food as puppy food makes the long bones grow too fast. The "Little Woment" girls are eating the same food as our adults & are doing just fine on it. Welcome to GT.

[Guest Sula]

Thanks so much everyone for your helpful comments and for saying she's cute!

 

I think I'm going to try some of these really good suggestions--possibly go to the bland diet and then to adult food from there assuming she tests negative.

 

It's really hard to say if she's acting "punky" or not--she gets up late and takes a while to want to eat--I can't tell if this is going to be her personality or if she's just not feeling well. When I first got her she was up and at 'em and wanted to greet the day--now she drags. She does end up being energetic and she does end up eating but it's like a teenager getting up, reluctantly, in the morning. If anyone has any comments around this that'd be great. I'm at a loss b/c I don't know her baseline personality yet since I only got her a month ago and she's still so young. But she's definitely a notch down in terms of affection since she started not feeling well a few weeks ago.

 

Thanks again you guys!!!

[Batmom]

It's really hard to say if she's acting "punky" or not--she gets up late and takes a while to want to eat--I can't tell if this is going to be her personality or if she's just not feeling well. When I first got her she was up and at 'em and wanted to greet the day--now she drags.

 

Not normal for a young dog.

 

If you can, I'd get her back to the vet for a recheck on the stool now and include complete bloodwork. GOOD LUCK!!!!

[Guest Tenderhearts]

I wonder if the dragging in the mornings isn't a combination of just not being well this long, and perhaps a bit of an upset belly?

 

[Guest Sula]

I talked with my friend who's a real Greyhound person and she had me feel her nose (dry, warm) and also see if her neck skin bounced back (it didn't) so she thinks she could be dehydrated. Also, she's been straining to pee a tad bit--had an accident yesterday (first time in three weeks) and has been licking herself down there. My friend thinks she could possibly have a bladder infection. Oh man.

 

I have an appointment w/ a new vet--a Greyhound specialist--this afternoon. I will keep you posted.

 

Thanks again--I appreciate everyone's comments/concerns.

[Guest Sula]

Hi Guys,

 

I have an update. She's negative now for Giardia--yay. I also had them run a full blood panel because I'm a worry wart and I also want a baseline--that was normal too.

 

The doc suggested a bland diet of rice and chicken for a few days to see if that'll firm her stools up. After two meals (dinner last night and breakfast this morning) her stools were normal! She went from cow paddy to a real poop overnight! I couldn't believe it.

 

I have also never seen my pup eat a full meal in one setting so quickly and so delightedly. It was amazing. The girl has not liked her food ever and it was bumming her tummy out this whole time. I want to feed her all the time because it's so great to see--but I won't--don't worry!

 

In a few days I will need to decide on some adult doggie food as I was told that she should be taken off of puppy chow and moved to adult. Looks like there is a ton of info Greytalk about food so I'll need to set some time aside!

 

Thanks everyone for your help and support--really appreciate it!

 

Hugs,

 

Sula

 

 

[Guest Giselle]

In a few days I will need to decide on some adult doggie food as I was told that she should be taken off of puppy chow and moved to adult. Looks like there is a ton of info Greytalk about food so I'll need to set some time aside!

 

Thanks everyone for your help and support--really appreciate it!

 

Hugs,

 

Sula

She is BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE button ears!!

 

Just wanted to add, that whole thing about puppy food being bad is, more or less, a lot of hot air. Puppy food is theoretically bad for large breeds because they are very high in calories which encourages rapid growth (which, in turn, promotes weak bones/joints and maybe hip dysplasia). However, kibble companies are now churning out large breed puppy formulas which contain less calories. Therefore, there is not a lot of difference between feeding a maintenance adult food versus a large breed puppy food. The simple solution is to look on the side of the bag, which will tell you how many Kcals/cup. Adult Innova has about 550 Kcal/cup, whereas Innova large breed puppy has about 360 Kcal/cup. But simple logic tells us that feeding more of the puppy food will make it "high-calorie" anyways. Sooo, my point is, it's not the food's fault - it's how much you feed

 

Also, re: weight. At 6 months, a puppy is roughly 1/2-3/4 of her weight. Therefore, if your puppy's parents were around 60-70 pounds, she should fall in that range, too. I say 30 lbs is a tad hefty for 4 months, but just try to keep her lean and mean. Trim is better than chub

[gracegirl]

It's really hard to say if she's acting "punky" or not--she gets up late and takes a while to want to eat--I can't tell if this is going to be her personality or if she's just not feeling well. When I first got her she was up and at 'em and wanted to greet the day--now she drags.

 

Not normal for a young dog.

 

If you can, I'd get her back to the vet for a recheck on the stool now and include complete bloodwork. GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

Will someone please tell Fenway this is not the normal way for a puppy to act! For the longest time I could not get him to eat kibble, and after posting here I found out that often youngsters go on a "hunger strike" when they have growth spurts. In addition, Fenway is still lazy as can be in the AM. After he eats breakfast I have to D-R-A-G him outside for a walk. Every dog is different, this may well be her personality.

 

In response to the food topic, I found that Canidae promotes their food as "All Life Stages". After trying several others, I think we may be going back to Canidae very soon. Their Lamb and Rice formula seems agree the most with Fenway. Everyone has their own opinions on the "best" food, but in all honesty you may well just have to try a bunch of different foods out. Keep them on the same food for at least three weeks (that's my rule of thumb) to give them a chance to get it all through their systems, that is unless they have explosive D. I switch all at once, no mixing....and I've never had explosive D. Good luck, keep us updated!