Hi All my 4.5 month old black lab puppy was diagnosed with giardia last Friday after a positive poop sample he is on a 5 day course of panacur. He had horrendous diarrhoea on and off for a week with numerous trips to the vets before the diagnosis but this settled down with a plain diet of boiled chicken, turkey, white fish and sweet potato. We slowly started to introduce his kibble again over 3 days and yesterday he was back to full ratio of kibble he seemed so well but then poor little man developed explosive diarrhoea again. I was up most of the night checking on him as he was howling in his crate when we left him in the kitchen with his crate open and he was quiet and slept out of his crate with me letting him out every hour or two to toilet, no messes in the house. Poor little guy must have been worried about messing in his crate hence his horrendously noisy protest when we put him in last night. It may be his kibble that is too much for him (we have recently transitioned from Eukanuba to Acana large breed puppy) or it is the giardia. He is back on a plain diet today. I would be very grateful for any tips on a few things: - how to clean up the lawn and prevent reinfection/minimise the risk? Our vets have given us a tip sheet but I have no idea how to clean up the diarrhoea short of digging up the offending patch of grass. I am so mindful that we do not want to be washing it away and spreading it across the lawn. (I am in the Uk so the weather is around 10 degrees) it is damp so the lawn will not dry out. The vet suggested a bucket of water and pet safe disinfectant which we have and plan to use today but I’m concerned about Huey then being on the lawn to toilet as it won’t properly dry out? Any suggestions on how we clear the lawn or will the above be ok? - I have been regularly sterilising his chew toys and bowls (daily and rotating toys) and washing his bedding and soft toys in dettol wash and rotating these to help prevent reinfection. Also regularly mopping the floor etc. We will start keeping our shoes outside too. Not sure there is anything else we can do? Apologies for the long post, sleep deprived and concerned about my gorgeous pup. Thank you in advance for any suggestions on lawn clear up and general survival tips of giardia.
Hi there, I am so sorry for you. It's a horrible thing to have to cope with. As you know Giardia can live quite a while in cool damp soil. But not indefinitely. We put our playpen onto a concrete area so that we could disinfect it. If you don't have anywhere you can do this then your best bet is probably to have the puppy restricted to one area area of the lawn with a playpen, so that the cysts can die off in the rest of the area. This takes around 7 weeks. This page has some useful information https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/prevention-control-pets.html. I couldn't find any evidence of any disinfectant that is effective on grass without destroying the grass. There's also info on that page on disinfecting indoors. Heat is your friend, giardia cannot survive for long in a tumble dryer. Cleaning the waste up from the lawn is as you suspect, a question of digging the turf up - and disposing of it. It's a nasty disease, and can be resistant to treatment so don't hesitate to go back to the vet with another sample if it doesn't clear up very quickly. It's worth shampooing the dog thoroughly on the last day of treatment to help avoid reinfection. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Thank you for taking the time to reply Pippa. This forum has been a wonderful place as we navigate puppy hood. Last wormer tomorrow fingers crossed it is so hard poor little pup he has been full of energy the last 2 days though and nice to see him feeling ok. I am obsessively cleaning everything. Just trying to get his food sorted now. We could do with some cold frosty weather in the UK to kill off some bugs a lot of horrible things going around at the moment.
Hi there. I hope your puppy is doing well. I read your posts and was looking for an update. My 8 month old puppy is also experiencing Giardia. I’ve been fighting this battle since October. I’m very diligent with cleaning everything etc. and am still having no success. It was suggested that I focus on firming his stool so that’s what I’m doing now. I’ve done longer Panacur treatments and two rounds of 10 day Metronidazole treatments. Hope u can help me. Liz W.
Hi, so sorry I have only just seen your post. Sorry to hear that you have been battling giardia for so long, how is your pup now? Huey tester clear after 7 days of met Hi, sorry for the delayed reply, my phone had signed me out so I didn’t get an alert. So sorry to hear you’ve been battling giardia for so long, how is your pup now? 7 days of metronidazole seemed to work as he tested clear after that. It was a very long 6-8 weeks. We switched his food to help with his stools we put him into Butternut Box and once he was clear switched him onto raw. Really hope your pup is doing ok.
