Comments on: How to treat — or not treat — giardia in your dog

By: Miki

Miki — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:02:32 +0000

And sometimes the Big D isn’t about giardia at all, even though it shows up in stool samples. My standard poodle kept having on and off bloody diarrhea - and tested positive for giardia. He was treated with Flagyl, it would clear up for a while, then he would have another episode. This continued for about a year until he had his first (and only) Addisonian crash. His Addison’s has been well controlled for about 7 years now, but he’s become one of the “lucky” dogs who can’t take Flagyl (he developed liver problems from it, now reversed).

By: H. Houlahan

H. Houlahan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:23:36 +0000

If I was as sick as Grahund was when he got the Montana Munge, and the metronidazole wasn’t working, damned right I’d dose myself with fenbendazole! It would be panacur or a bullet if that went on for long.

I’ve had giardia, and fortunately the flagyl worked (I’m not in CA — don’t know what the resistance is among our PA cooties.) It is not the worst intestinal distress I’ve ever suffered, but it’s in the top three (right after life-threatening food poisoning and colonoscopy prep).

When it gets bad enough, it’s not the fear that you are gonna die, but the much worse fear that you will NOT that dominates.

The dogs do not appear to be nearly so distressed when they are affected. Advantage of the carnivore intestine.

By: Grahund

Grahund — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:29:19 +0000

Years ago I found a JVMA article that reported that 60% of giardia in California is resistant to metronidazole. The article recommended fenbendazole and metronidazole in combination as the treatment of choice. I have never even heard of a vet suggest anything other than metronidazole. I no longer go to the vet for giardia. Fenbendazole is available OTC in several forms. You can find the dosing info for giardia on the Net. The nice thing about fenbendazole is how incredibly safe it is.

When I got giardia last summer, the doc prescribed metronidazole. It worked. So far as I know fenbendazole is not approved for human use. For sure I would not take it.

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:59:44 +0000

Want to hear something really scary? I was at an obedience trial a few weeks ago and overheard a conversation about treating “stress diarrhea” with metronidazole. The handler said that her vet let her buy a huge bottle of it and she uses it for a few days at a time whenever one of her dogs pops up with diarrhea at a trial or what have you. Great stuff! Really cheap!

I found this distressing on so many levels.

By: Dee Green

Dee Green — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:33:42 +0000

Excellent post, thank you. I also avoid “treating a disease” that is asymptomatic. I prefer to avoid prescriptions until the very things you’ve mentioned (probiotics, herbs, grain-free diet) have proved to not resolve the issue. Far too few people question the use of Flagyl and other antibiotics in dogs, IMO. I’ve often wondered if so many vets prescribe them because they dispense, as opposed to things like probiotics, herbs, etc., which they don’t?

By: ericka

ericka — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:52:38 +0000

This is interesting. My many vets over the years I have lived off and on in Florida have often checked for Giardia. When positive (often) they warns me about potential harm to my kids and our neighborhood kids who may be barefoot on our lawn.
I used to get so freaked out over “zoonotic” diseases.

I like your approach for this specific issue- if no symptoms no treatment.

By: Ingrid King

Ingrid King — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:47:58 +0000

It would be interesting to hear feedback from vets as to why Metronidazole is still used so frequently, despite the potentially serious side effects.

When I adopted my kitten at 7 months of age, she had blowout diarrhea and tested positive for giardia. The vet clinic I adopted her from treated her with Panacur and Metronidazole. The Panacur made sense to me, the Metronidazole made me cringe - seemed like a heavy duty drug for such a young kitten, considering the potential side effects. By the time I adopted her, she only had one dose left, so I finished it out. She still had raging diarrhea.

They sent me home with a small bag of dry i/d (a bland prescription diet high in by-products and grains) because that’s what they started to feed her when she started with diarrhea. I had no intentions of feeding dry food, let alone dry i/d. After two days on a grain-free canned diet, probiotics and digestive enzymes, her diarrhea resolved. From blow out diarrhea to normal stools in two days by taking the grain out of the diet and providing digestive support? Maybe it was also a case of the drugs kicking in, but I thought it was pretty impressive. Two months later, her fecal test came back negative.