Dug,
I've never known any dogs to get giardia. Did you discover the giardia by taking your dogs in for their annual checkup or were you prompted to take them to the vet because they appeared to be not feeling well? I'm just curious to know if there are symptoms to look for in a dog with giardia.
Is giardia in a dog curable?
I thought if a person got giardia they would have it the rest of their life. I thought it lies dormant in a person's body for a long time, but then flares up occassionally so I thought this would be true for a dog too.
Lynn - We rescued a Toy Fox Terrier puppy last Sunday. Monday we took her to the vet for a well puppy check and to get her info entered into the vet's computer. The doc said she overall looked healthy but her lungs sounded "wheezy". After factoring in her previous living arrangements at the rescue he sent home a specimen tube to have things checked out. He also told us to monitor her stool and to advise if she picked up a cough.
The sample came back positive for giardia and while waiting for the results we noticed a looser stool. Unrelated to that she picked up a night time cough (like she had a hair ball) that progressed into a cough while running (chasing) the other dogs.
I picked up meds for both this morning. My other Toy Fox Terrier had some loose stool so I took in a sample of that a few hours later.
The giardia is treated with a four day medication that she gets once a day. The main symptoms to look for in a dog would be upset stomach (eating grass, not appearing to feel well) and loose stool.
We caught Whitney's before any symptoms because the vet wanted to run tests on a stool sample for all the puppy mill/rescue/kennel dog stuff because of her history...................DUG
