Larks was diagnosed with Giardia yesterday. I know it's easily treatable and not a big deal since we caught it quickly but I'm feeling like a bad dog mum. I have the medication from the vet and instructions to bathe her frequently but do you all have any other suggestions to make sure we get rid of this as soon as possible and so that it doesn't come back?
Sorry to hear of this , I haven't any experience of Giardia , but please, don't blame yourself , these things happen and its usually not our fault . All I can say is to make sure you run the full course of medication , and to wish Larks well for a speedy recovery
No medical advice from me, but I second @kateincornwall not to blame yourself. Giardia is a weird one - sometimes despite all actions to prevent it, it just happens. My first puppy nearly died of it three days after I got him, and this despite the breeder and I both being obsessive with not exposing him to anything bad and me taking him to the vet right away. We never did figure out how he could have been exposed but he was a tough little nut and recovered just fine. Sounds like Larks will do the same.
Thank you! I know these things happen despite our best efforts it's just frustrating. Larks doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it so hopefully the next 5 days go quickly so we can make go out on the trails again. I'm too paranoid about another dog catching it from her to go anywhere right now!
Oh poor Lark we can't prevent everything happening to our lovely dogs, we are only human, afterall. Look after yourself and Lark. xx
If they are going to swim in ponds, lakes and rivers, they are likely to be exposed, and will probably get it at some point. Cooper had it about a year ago. No noticeably effects, and it cleared up with medication. The boarding kennel we take our dogs to has 70 acres with a large pond where they normally take all of the well behaved dogs out and let them run, play and swim twice a day. They routinely treat the dogs that are boarding with metronidazole. Our Vet thought it was a good idea.
She does love to swim in the river, although we haven't been in a few weeks because parts are frozen. We did have a lot of rain last week and the vet said she could get it just from walking through a puddle, so I guess we'll never know how she got it. She is on the metronidazole for 6 days.
