Giardia Problems

[Milliway]

Hi all,

I have two dogs, one 4.5 months old and one 7.5 months old. I live in the Seattle area and as you know it is frequently wet around here. We have a large fenced backyard with lots of grass and dirt.

When we got our yougest she had diarrhea from the get-go and she was diagnosed with Giardia. The vet gave her pancur(sp?) powder to mix in her food. This helped a little but her symptoms came back within two weeks of treatment. Again the vet gave her pancur but this time it didn't help her symptoms so he gave her Flagyl at the same time. This cleared her symptoms and she was fine for over a month. Then last week our older dog started having symptoms (runny, pudding-like stool, greasy with white/clear mucous in it) and we started her on Flagyl this monday. Her stool is just starting to get better today but now the younger one has diarrhea again!

Everything I’ve read online says that you really cannot get rid of it in your soil/grass and the only thing that will help is a long dry hot summer. Not a great chance of that happening up here. So is there anything I can do to end this cycle or should I just accept the fact that they will always have it? I can't keep them indoors all the time and we don't have a huge house. I feel so bad for them, they look very uncomfortable when they have to go when they are having symptoms, our youngest sometimes squats for 2-3 minutes before she gets everything out. It's really hard to cleanup and I end up hosing down the grass to get the residue off.

Has anyone here delt with this situation and can offer advice? I'm at my whits end! :confused:

[lindsayanng]

I have giardia in two of our four cats, and the one thing with giardia is that it is generally transmitted through POO.. so it is VERY unlikely that your dog just got it from the grass.. do any of your dogs have a habit of eating poo? Or do they go to dog parks regularly? Dog parks, vets offiices, and kennels are the main kulprit for Giardia..

So if they are pooing in your hard, if it is possible, you can make a dirt patch that they HAVE to go in, then you can scoop the dirt out and just pour a pot of boiling water over the area where they just went.. The dirt will let the water sink as far as it needs to to kill the parasite, and it will be easy for your to just scoop up.. even if its just a temporary dirt patch, it will make cleaning A LOT easier.. then after they go, DO NOT let them go anywhere NEAR the spot where they poo.

ALso, you will want to be very sure that you whip their behinds with some doggy whipes because if one sniffs the other;s butt, he will get re-infected.

With my cats, its hard because of the litter box. its not like you can watch every time you cat goes potty, they go on their own terms..

BUT this is controlable.. just designate a poo area that is doused with boiling water each time it is used. I PROMISE you it will kill off ANYTHING.. and the dirt area will keep it all from spreading.

this is really the ONLY way to be sure that it isn't spread through out your whole yard.. but i really dont think your dogs got it from your yard, they probably got it from an outside source and brought it home..

You should also be sure to disinfect their beds by putting them in the washing machine on HOT cycle to kill it all off..

The only REAL way to get rid of it is boiling hot water, or drying out.. so since you can't dry out your yard, you're going to have to dump the boiling water over their poo spot.

[lindsayanng]

oh yea.. you will prbably want to treat BOTH of your dogs at EXACTLY the same time so they dont start giving it to each othe back and forth.

also, i would try to figure out the source..do you have mice living in your house? They can get it from mouse poo, thats how our cats got it.. also like i said, dog parks, kennels, ect.. and contaminated water, but it would have to be water that has been sitting there for a LONG time, and would be really gross, so go through your yard and get rid of any standing water.