My puppy has giardia. Do I need to keep cleaning after treatment?

Hi, I'm Dr. Johnson. Thanks for using Boop by Petco! I'm sorry to hear that Loki has giardia. Sometimes it can be frustrating to treat. I am assuming you know Loki has giardia because your Veterinarian checked a stool sample. If that is the case then your Veterinarian will prescribe the appropriate drugs to help clear the giardia infection. There are no over the counter drugs that are recommended. Definitely consult your Veterinarian if you haven't already. There are some cases where giardia can persist despite the appropriate treatment and longer courses of drugs or different medications are prescribed. Some times we need to wait for the puppies immune system to mature. At home you should be preventing Loki from re-infecting himself: immediately clean up all stool, use disinfectant cleaners, do not allow him to eat his stool, if he walks through his stool wash his feet well, do not allow his stool to contaminate his drinking water and take him outside to a designated area of the yard

Hi, thanks for using Boop by Petco! Yes! Sometimes it is difficult either due to the dog or re-infection. I recommend picking up all stool and only walking the dog in designated areas. Keep water and food clean of feces. Be sure feces isn't getting on their fur that they could ingest by licking or grooming. I treat giardia with 7-10 days or metronidazole and 3-6 days of panacur (fenbendazole) and re-test in 4 weeks. Also be aware that giardia is a zoonotic disease, meaning that humans can become infected. Practice caution and good hygiene. If you are having symptoms see a human physician. Good luck!

Hello, it can be challenging to rid giardiasis from a household especially when multiple dogs are affected. The best recommendation would be to treat all 3 dogs, at the same time, until you have 2 negative fecal samples. You should retest the fecals 10 days after initiating treatment for giardiasis and 10 days in-between testings. However, the most important part of this is to reduce environmental contamination, because as though you may successfully rid your dogs of giardia, they can become re-infected at any point. Treating the environment means you have to pick up their stools immediately after they defecate and you must wash the areas where they defecate with water and bleach. Most infections occur via a fecal to oral transmission. So at some point your puppy may have been exposed to giardia, then came to your house and started shedding the giardia onto your environment exposing your other dogs as well. Please wear gloves and wash your hands after cleaning as giardia can also i

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your dogs. Giardia is spread by a fecal-oral route. I typically will treat all pets in the household if one is affected. Adult dogs can be asymptomatic carriers meaning they can have and spread the disease without showing symptoms themselves. You need to scoop all the poop in the yard frequently. The toys and dishes should not be a source of infection unless they have been contaminated with feces. The dogs should avoid dog parks and similar areas where they potentially spread the infection to other pets. Good luck!

Hi there! Usually dogs that are infected with giardia can be tested after treatment to make sure they aren't still shedding the organism. You can always request the client retest after the completion of treatment, which is usually done anyway to make sure the organism is gone. Giardia can be hard to get rid of, so a lot of vets will do this. There is a client handout about giardia that I really like that I will paste below. It also gives you instructions as to how to eradicate the organism in the environment. A way to play it safe would be for you to have this dog be your last appointment of the day and then disinfect if that works with your schedule. Otherwise, I think a negative retest would be sufficient when the dog is finished with the treatment plan from its vet. Here is the client handout with some great information for you! https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952529

I suggest you refer to this link about Giarida and how to effectively clean the environment. ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/giardia-in-dogs ) Unfortunately, giardia is growing resistant to many common anti-protozoal medications – with the result that increasing numbers of pets can become persistent carriers. I don't know what type of giardia test your vet used but if an ELISA was used, they can show positive for giardia for up to 6 months after treatment because it can take that long for the antigens to be cleared from the animal's bloodstream. So, if she is not showing any clinical signs I would not be overly worried. Just keep the environment as clean as possible and I would also recommend you feed her some canned pumpkin (like 1/8-1/4 cup once or twice a day). Sometimes that extra fiber will help "push" the giardia trophozoites off the intestinal lining. Use pure pumpkin, not the pie filling. Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private

Hi, thanks for using Boop by Petco! Your dog can get it if your dog eats her stool or drinks water contaminated by the puppies stool. So your dog should be walked in a separate area from the puppy. As long as you prevent that you should be fine. Though it might be best to not bring your dog until the puppy has a confirmed negative stool. People can also get giardia so be careful. Good luck!

Giardia is very difficult to completely eliminate from the environment. The best ways to prevent infection or spread is to keep water fresh and clean and keep the environment as clean as possible. Pick up stool immediately and disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces with a bleach/water solution (3/4 bleach to 1 gallon water). Allow for a 10-15 minute wet contact time before wiping up. Bowls should be washed daily. Discard anything that cannot be sanitized.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Luna. I recommend having her stool tested again to ensure the infection is resolved before taking her to public places. Be sure to clean your yard thoroughly to avoid reinfection. I hope this information helps!

Once your pet treats tests negative for oocytes (eggs) then that means she isn't shedding anymore Giardia around. Older dogs are less likely to get Giardia because of their developed immune system, which is why we often only see infection in puppies. Puppies are not lifelong carriers but some puppies can become carriers for an extended period of time, and in these cases they will continually test positive, but will be asymptomatic (no diarrhea). To help prevent spread to your other pet, I would recommend picking up the feces and cleaning up any accidents in the home with diluted bleach. But as mentioned earlier it is often predominantly an issue in puppies and immune compromised pets only. Take care of those fur babies and I hope Pepper gets over her infection soon!