Avoid Giardia

[3greytjoys]

If you want to avoid Giardia, avoid allowing pets to drink from streams, lakes, birdbaths.

 

"Giardia symptoms:

Diarrhea

Vomiting

Weight loss

Flatulence (excessive gas)

 

Giardia is a protozoan parasite found all over the world. It infects humans, domestic animals and birds. Giardia lives in the intestinal tract and infection may be asymptomatic or can result in gastrointestinal symptoms." http://www.petplace....dogs/page1.aspx

Edited June 11, 2011 by 3greytjoys

[cacky]

Great info, we removed our birdbath just because we were worried about the pups drinking from it,uummm...

Flatulence(excessive gas) isn't that a common greyhound trait, it is around my house.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Flatulence(excessive gas) isn't that a common greyhound trait, it is around my house.

 

Common, but not normal.

[Guest greytlady]

When I was working at our local shelter we had a trailer park that was giardia central and most of the kittens that came out of there had it. I caught it and one of the officers got it also. I don't think I have ever felt so horrible! Raging diarrhea, stomach cramps, muscle aches and just general feeling like hell. Luckly I caught it early and got treated but I always wondered about all the kids running around barefoot in that trailer park playing with the sick kittens.

[3greytjoys]

Flatulence(excessive gas) isn't that a common greyhound trait, it is around my house.

 

Common, but not normal.

 

IMO, in the absence of a medical condition, the type of Kibble has much to do with Greyhound gas levels.

[Guest Swifthounds]

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

Giardia can be very nasty. I was volunteering at a shelter when I was in school and they had a group of about 20 pit bulls that had been seized from a drug/dog fighting situation and they all had it they were so sick; and cleaning the kennels in the mornings, those poor dogs!

[3greytjoys]

Greytlady:

Thank you for adding your personal experience. I always like to hear from humans who have experienced some of these things we go through with our dogs since they can't tell us what it feels like to them.

 

FullMetalFrank:

Ugh, I can imagine...poor dogs, and poor you for having to clean up after them. It's painful, and the dog's diarrhea is hard to clean up without a full face mask!

 

Cacky:

Good call removing the birdbath. Sounds like it was low enough for hounds to access. You may already know this, but birdseed that has dropped on the ground can make dogs very ill also. It begins a dangerous bacteria buildup very quickly, especially when wet.

[Mystella]

Jeffy had Giardia a few months ago, I was actually glad when he was diagnosed because the unexplained weight loss was really starting to scare me. I did catch him drinking out of a planter that holds water plants the other day, sigh, probably time for another round of Flagyl.

[cleptogrey]

felix had it as a puppy, it seemed to take forever to clear up. greyhound pups are skinny, but one with giardia...YIKES

ah...flagyl the wonder drug! and talk about cooking rice

Edited June 17, 2011 by cleptogrey

[3greytjoys]

Bumping in response to a different thread.

[Guest TeddysMom]

It is really contagious too so if you have more than one dog, the others can get it easily.

[Guest Swifthounds]

If giardia doesn't clear on it's own in a fee weeks, there illness or immune suppression preventing the body from ridding of it naturally - or there's a constant source of it causing continuous influx.

[Guest Tim]

Hi

 

My 3 year old grey Bobby has been ill recently with diarrhoea and the lab found Giardia in the stool sample.

 

My vet has prescribed Panacur (fenbendazole) and Diarsanyl plus rather than Flagyl

 

Do you think I should question the vet on this?

 

Also I have been very careful not to let Bobby drink from any water other than that which we have put out so I really don't know where it can have come from. I would appreciate any advice on anything else I should be doing to prevent re-infection?

 

I am worried that he must have got it from something in my garden (which is quite large and he has the run of) - I poop scoop in the garden but should I be disinfecting also somehow as inevitably some "matter" will be left behind?

 

- its mainly lawn and flower beds so cant really scrub down like you would a paved or concrete yard.

 

Any advice is welcome - I am a new dog owner and am perhaps a little over worried but it is awful to see him so ill

 

Many thanks

[3greytjoys]

My 3 year old grey Bobby has been ill recently with diarrhoea and the lab found Giardia in the stool sample.

 

My vet has prescribed Panacur (fenbendazole) and Diarsanyl plus rather than Flagyl

 

Do you think I should question the vet on this?

 

Also I have been very careful not to let Bobby drink from any water other than that which we have put out so I really don't know where it can have come from. I would appreciate any advice on anything else I should be doing to prevent re-infection?

 

I am worried that he must have got it from something in my garden (which is quite large and he has the run of) - I poop scoop in the garden but should I be disinfecting also somehow as inevitably some "matter" will be left behind?

 

- its mainly lawn and flower beds so cant really scrub down like you would a paved or concrete yard.

 

Any advice is welcome - I am a new dog owner and am perhaps a little over worried but it is awful to see him so ill

 

Hi Tim,

 

I'm sorry about Bobby being ill from Giardia. It is difficult to see them suffering. It's hard on you as his caretaker to clean up those stinky diarrhea messes too. Please remember this unfortunate Giardia is only temporary. Once he's feeling better, you'll both be so relieved!

 

It's certainly possible Bobby was first exposed to Giardia in your garden; however, he may have arrived with it. Giardia is seen in some Greyhounds when they retire from racing. As careful as caretakers are at tracks, kennels, and farms, Giardia can spread quickly through highly populated kennel settings.

 

I'm not a licensed veterinarian (maybe a GT vet will see this and reply), but I have dealt with some heavy infestations of Giardia in Greyhounds.

To answer your questions from my perspective:

Panacur is often used as a treatment for Giardia, plus many worms, and I believe Diarsanyl Plus is used to treat diarrhea, etc.. I imagine your vet will require another fecal test after this current Panacur treatment. Hopefully, the result will be negative. If so, it's sometimes helpful to retest again within several months to confirm. (Ask your vet about timing.) If the Giardia is still active in Bobby's intestines, and shed in fecals your vet will likely continue another round of treatment. That would be a time to inquire about Flagyl or other treatment combinations preferred by your vet. Sometimes Giardia infestations can be resistant to one form of treatment, yet helped by another.

 

Re: Disinfecting Giardia in the garden. That's so difficult in a garden setting that you will want to be as careful as possible about picking up every little bit of fecal matter as quickly as possible. While you're doing treatments for Giardia, it's really best to escort and watch the hound during each outing and pick-up immediately (if in dirt, scrape up a little dirt too). Some people place newspaper squares or large paper plates down to catch the stool before it hits grass or dirt, and dispose of the stool with the newspaper. The few things I know of that will kill Giardia: Boiling water, or steam is safest to use around pet traffic areas. Bleach/water solution or quaternary ammonium compounds which require several days before an animal can walk on that surface again. I'd need to refresh my memory re: the bleach/water solution amounts, but you wouldn't be able to do any of those things in a living garden with green grass and plant material anyway.

 

Personally, I wouldn't go overboard worrying about disinfecting the garden since there's nothing environmentally friendly and plant safe (to my knowledge). Since Bobby's favorite business area/s could be infected, one idea is to block that area off from him for several months (temporary plastic gardening fencing could help). Giardia cysts live for weeks to months outside the host in wet, cold environments. I would recommend limiting Bobby's business elimination space while you are treating him. Once he's negative, you probably won't want him to have access to his previous business area for a while. Please try to ensure Bobby does not eat anything in the garden (wild animal excrement, cat feces, toxic plants etc.). As is common for everyone, please wash your hands after poop patrol.

 

Not sure if this idea might help you (or other readers), but the following is what we did in our yard because we have visiting hounds periodically and wanted to make sure our own hounds didn't pick anything up from them. This has been 100% effective which is great considering some of our visitors have had hookworms, giardia, etc.

 

First, we reduced the size of the yard by creating a limited "business elimination area" by using existing fencelines, house, and we blocked off the larger yard by opening up an ex-pen (freestanding dog exercise pen) to create an instant fenceline with it's own ready-made gate. The tallest ex-pens we found are 4' high, and we secured them with 5' tall metal fence posts (buried 1'). So far, the 4' ex-pen fence height has worked fine because it's only an interior yard divider, inside a 6' to 8' perimeter fence; otherwise, I would not expect a Greyhound to stay within a 4' tall fence. (I'd still prefer a taller height.) This project took about 30 minutes.

 

Second, we spread small "tumbled" (no splinter problem) "playground bark" over the ground several inches deep. This bark is a light color so it's easy to see fecal matter. If a visitor hound has diarrhea, we can instantly scoop up every last drop of fecal matter and throw away some playground bark too. That's much easier than trying to dig infected diarrhea out of dirt or grass. We do monitor the hounds and pick-up excrement immediately (otherwise, it would seep into dirt). If we're dealing with a visiting hound's infected diarrhea, we don't rely on reusing a contaminated pooper scooper; instead, we pick-up with clean dog-poop bags.

 

Other benefits to this limited elimination only space: It would be rare for a skunk or raccoon to get inside this double-protected space. The hounds are highly visible to us in this well-lit area at night so we know exactly what they're doing. After a rain or when grass is wet from heavy dew, we don't worry about hounds running zoomies on wet grass resulting in a potentially dangerous slip during a business outing. (This elimination area is not large enough for major play and zoomies. This playground bark material is very good for this elimination area; however, I would not recommend this ground material in a larger space where Greyhounds would be running. The tumbled bark pieces are only about 1" to 2" long which could damage hounds' paws traveling at high speeds.)

(Caution: Please do NOT use cocoa mulch - It is TOXIC to dogs.)

 

Good luck with Bobby's rapid and successful treatment. I imagine he will feel like a new hound very soon!

 

 

[Guest Tim]

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply!

 

The diarrhoea symptoms seem to have gone now thankfully

 

Bobby seems a little listless still and is still on a chicken and rice diet - but I have started to re-introduce his normal dried food in small amounts over the last day or so.

 

As to the garden issues we have had steady rain since he was up with the diarrhoea and so the residual waste material has dispersed into the lawn. Prior to the rain we picked up as much as we could from the lawn.

 

As the location of his "deposits" was widely spread it sadly will not be possible to create a new "exclusion zone". Under more "normal circumstances" though he goes in one particular area, which we can control, so we will be carefully cleaning this area from now on.

 

I was interested in you comments re cat faeces. Prior to getting Bobby we seemed to have cats in the garden all the time and I was constantly removing cat faeces from my lawn area (before cutting!). Needless to say local cats are learning to stay away now a greyhound is in residence.

 

Bobby likes to visit the areas behind bushes and seems to eat everything he finds (I once caught him clearing out a birds nest of all the eggs - he ate them all!) so i wonder if this is where he got it from. Unfortunately it will be impossible to clean out these beds without losing most of the plants and bushes (which seems a shame as a lot of the garden will be destroyed)

 

Anyway we will do what we can to try to prevent any re-infection in the future and I will follow up with the vet later this week for another sample test.

 

Many thanks again for your help

[Guest Swifthounds]

One routine advantage in battling intestinal infestations that people forget to mention is perhaps the simplest - resist the urge to medicate, etc. to halt the diarrhea (it just keeps the nasties in the body to reproduce).

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

I'm resurrecting this topic rather than creating a new one since I just have a couple of additional questions.

 

Mojo is currently going through chemo for lymphoma and I found out on Wednesday that the poor guy has a pretty severe UTI and today the vet called to tell me he has giardia. Since his immune system is already compromised due to the chemo drugs, I'm wondering if there is anything I should be refraining from using to treat these. I don't know what the vet is planning to prescribe for it (I'll pick it up tonight on my way home from work), but I've been reading about Panacur as a good treatment. I have a feeling he will get something stronger. Any thoughts or experiences? Is this kind of thing common with chemo patients? Is there anything else I should be doing (besides thorough yard clean-up) to keep Miri safe?

 

I have a feeling this will be a lengthy struggle to clear up especially since it sounds like false negatives are often encountered. I just hope my baby's system can handle all of this. It's so much for him to go through - he just doesn't deserve this.

[robinw]

I caught giardia after I went swimming in subsaharan Africa. It is nasty nasty nasty, especially when you're camping. I feel sorry for any being that has it.

[Batmom]

Mojo is currently going through chemo for lymphoma and I found out on Wednesday that the poor guy has a pretty severe UTI and today the vet called to tell me he has giardia.

 

Poor guy . I would imagine antibiotics for the UTI and Panacur for the giardia would be appropriate. Hope both things are cleared up fast.

[TwiggysMom]

I'm resurrecting this topic rather than creating a new one since I just have a couple of additional questions.

 

Mojo is currently going through chemo for lymphoma and I found out on Wednesday that the poor guy has a pretty severe UTI and today the vet called to tell me he has giardia. Since his immune system is already compromised due to the chemo drugs, I'm wondering if there is anything I should be refraining from using to treat these. I don't know what the vet is planning to prescribe for it (I'll pick it up tonight on my way home from work), but I've been reading about Panacur as a good treatment. I have a feeling he will get something stronger. Any thoughts or experiences? Is this kind of thing common with chemo patients? Is there anything else I should be doing (besides thorough yard clean-up) to keep Miri safe?

 

I have a feeling this will be a lengthy struggle to clear up especially since it sounds like false negatives are often encountered. I just hope my baby's system can handle all of this. It's so much for him to go through - he just doesn't deserve this.

 

Phyllis,

 

I think dogs are more prone to infections generally while on chemo. Twiggy also had a UTI, and now has some skin infections.

 

The UTI cleared up quickly with a basic course of Clavamox. Hopfully, Mojo's will clear up as quickly. My vet suggested a supplement called UroMaxx to help stave off any further UTIs while she continues her chemo. So far, so good! I bought several bottles of it and have had her on it constantly for about the last 6 weeks. It's a little pricey ($29 for a 6 oz bottle from KV Supply - one bottle lasts a little over a month for Twiggy, Mojo would need a bit more), but if it has been keeping her from getting another UTI, it's worth it. Also, UroMaxx is OK to give in conjunction with antibiotics, some bladder support products are not.

 

I sure hope both the UTI and the giardia clear up quickly - poor guy!