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Comment by Susan Stanton on February 10, 2010 at 4:33pm

So glad to hear that. So you stuck it out with the same vet? Do you like him any better?

Comment by Jane Christensen on February 8, 2010 at 9:14pm

Oh I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo glad!

Comment by Sky and Lyla on February 8, 2010 at 8:26pm

Things are looking up. The vet pulled him off the Flagyl for the day, and started a little homeopathic therapy. This afternoon he started drinking and tonight he started eating again. Tomorrow we will start the Panacur and hopefully things continue on this up and up! Fingers and toes crossed!!

Comment by Leonardo Felin on February 8, 2010 at 7:46pm

I (yes, I) had giardia. It's really awful. Maybe you should go for a regular medicine approach on this one. I just had one pill and 2 days later was fine again.

Keep Brando hydrated and all should be fine.

Comment by Kari & Jackson on February 8, 2010 at 4:24pm

OMG! My housemate's dog was just diagnosed with giardia this weekend and she is on meds to help pass it. She's 8 year old border collie but does not seem to be having such advanced reactions to the parasite. She is on the panacur now ($59 for the rx) and will hopefully be getting over it this week.

I took my corgi's poo in today to be tested for it - I'm so worried that he might be carrying it too. My vet seems to think that Jackson was the carrier it since puppies are more prone and that he passed it along.

I'm anxious for results because Jackson has only been outside a handful of times and definitely has NOT had any access to bad water. And we've only romped in the dog park ONCE! So I hope it's not from him. :-/

I wish you the best of luck with yours. My vet says it is very treatable and it's "going around" in our neighborhood right now. Ugh. I posted a discussion about worms and the lovely Wendt Worth Corgis commented that bleach is your best friend during a giardia outbreak. Keep your house and your pup clean!

<3

Comment by Joanna Kimball on February 8, 2010 at 2:53pm

I am SO sorry this has hit him this hard.

It's very safe to syringe fluids as long as you're doing it into his cheek pouch and letting him swallow at his own pace. I syringe-watered Ginny for ten days before she took a bite of food (right after we got her from the shelter). I'd use pedialyte or make up some ORS (it's basically water, salt, sugar). The sugar/salt solutions are more easily absorbed by the body and go further in hydration.

The flagyl should be effective but you need to get water and food into him. If you have an oral syringe you can water down canned food (I am not a great fan of commercial foods but I absolutely do use them when the dog needs something easier to digest) and syringe it in the cheek pouch like you did with the water. It won't hurt him to fast for 24 hours but after that he needs to be getting little bits in if possible.

If he ends up in urgent care again because you can't get liquids into him - and hopefully he won't - ask them if they'll give you a bag of Ringers and show you how to do sub-q fluids. It's a LOT less stressful to him if you can give them at home and it's super easy.

Comment by John Wolff on February 8, 2010 at 12:28pm

When Brando's back to health and you have time, I would appreciate a concise, detailed account of this episode: where you think he picked it up, incubation time, first symptoms, treatment, and particularly how weak he was.
My particular worry is a sick dog in remote backcountry. A corgi is borderline small enough to carry out, but... 20 miles carrying a corgi with diarrhea at emergency speed? Ew. Although I routinely drink untreated water in the Washington Cascade mountains, I'm a lot more finicky about my water sources than the dogs are, and I can't entirely prevent them from drinking out of yucky sources. Gonna be more careful.
I'm going to read up on Giardia, flagyl, panacur, tylan, Baycox and Marquis (see below) and talk to the vet about what to do in such an emergency.
Thank you for this cautionary tale. Hope he's OK soon.

Comment by Susan Stanton on February 8, 2010 at 9:50am

I agree with the others that you need a new vet. I can also tell you from personal experience that when you have a really acute giardia, you pretty much believe that you'll never take anything in again, it's really that awful. There's no way I could get water down, I had to take a strong anti-nausea via suppository (ugh) in order to get watered down Gatorade down, and the doc was still threatening hospital with IV. My Bertie has had giardia twice and it was really tough on his system, and one of those times, he was in the hospital on IV and anti-nausea meds overnight, until he could drink some water and nibble at the i/d bland diet. So if your pup is still really low, I would push your vet harder or find a new one. Good luck, we're thinking of you!

Comment by Jane Christensen on February 8, 2010 at 9:36am

Glad you took him in...poor boy! Is this breeder going to help with the costs you inccured???

Comment by Jane Christensen on February 8, 2010 at 9:14am

Is he eating yet? Also just a word of caution...you say you are squirting water down his throat...which he absolutely needs BUT be careful not to squirt too hard as that could cause other problems(I believe) if done too forcefully!Poor boy my thoughts are with you and him for a speedy recovery!

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