# Panacur for Giardia



## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

I think my pup might have giardia. She is not really sick or anything, but has the light coloured stink stool that is pretty darned mushy for a little while now. Last night my husband said she burped and it smelled like sulphur. I know in people that is a sure sign, not sure about dogs.

Her energy, appitite and so on are normal. She is just eating kibble, no recent change in diet. She drinks out of puddles and still has a mouthful of various wildlife crap (elk and bear being her favs) being that she is a pup and we pretty much live in the bush.

I have Wed off if I need to make the trip to the vet for stuff. I know that Giardia can be difficult to diagnose and treat, depending on the cycle that it is in. I see some info about forgoeing antibiotics and just worming with Panacur, that it works for Giardia?

Any feedback, experience here?


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## Richard Rutt (May 14, 2009)

Panacur alone works pretty well if Giardia is is the early stages. The normal dosage is 1/2 ml per Kilo of body weight, 1X daily for 5 days. It seems to work much better if you put the pup on probiotics gel at the same time. The best probiotics I've found is ProBios Equine paste,from Bomac Vets Plus, inc. and the dosage for dogs is 1 cc per 10 Lbs. Both are really safe to use. If the Giardia reoccurs or is more severe you will need to do another course and add Flagyl (metronidazole) It's a good idea to keep them on probiotics for a few weeks after treatment. Hope this helps, It's worked for me everytime.


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## Richard Rutt (May 14, 2009)

Sorry Jennifer, I didn't read your complete post. if your pup is drinking water contaminated with animal feces or eating it you could also be fighting coccidia or leptosporosis. It would be a good idea to start the Panacur and probiotics right away, but I would definitely get a stool sample and have it tested for all 3 ASAP, so you know exactly what your dealing with. I have treated puppies with giardia and coccidia effectively with the Panacur, Metronidazole and probiotics, used together. I've never had to deal with Lepto, but I believe that comes from drinking the contaminated water, and there is a vaccine for it. Again good luck


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Richard Rutt said:


> Sorry Jennifer, I didn't read your complete post. if your pup is drinking water contaminated with animal feces or eating it you could also be fighting coccidia or leptosporosis. It would be a good idea to start the Panacur and probiotics right away, but I would definitely get a stool sample and have it tested for all 3 ASAP, so you know exactly what your dealing with. I have treated puppies with giardia and coccidia effectively with the Panacur, Metronidazole and probiotics, used together. I've never had to deal with Lepto, but I believe that comes from drinking the contaminated water, and there is a vaccine for it. Again good luck


Yah, I am likely going to bring in a stool sample on Wed. It is my first day off, and there are no vets in my town. She doesn't have outright liquid poo at all, it is just sloppy for some time now (think cow pattish), no change in diet. She is not getting worse, and seems fine except for some soft stool.

She is not drinking out of any sources that every other dog in this area doesn't drink out of (puddles, creeks, streams)...maybe most adults have it and are asyptomatic, not sure. The drinking out of those sources is never going to change unfortunately. 

The poo eating is changing though. There is literally amimal poo every ten steps in the woods around here and she is over thinking most of it is interesting....but the she is not above the odd quick sample while on the move

She is due to be wormed again anyways, so even if they find no giardia, I will likely choose to worm with panacur this time around as it seems to be effective against giardia when some other wormers are not. Then if she shows up with anything else in her stool, I will grudginly go with the metro... My other dog has been on it once before and it made him really barfy.

I will see what good quality probiotics I can get too.

Thanks for sharing your experience.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Be aware with leptospirosis that a dog may have symptoms that resolve, then reoccur severely about a month later.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Anne Vaini said:


> Be aware with leptospirosis that a dog may have symptoms that resolve, then reoccur severely about a month later.


Thanks Anne, I will bring it up if I go to the vet for sure, but lepto is not too common here. Also, there has been no resolve of the mild symptoms she is having (very soft poo, being the symptom).


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Update.

Well after talking to the vet on the phone, she didn't seem overly worried about the symtoms as I described them and didn't really think an appointment would be warrented at this time. She told me to come in and get the Panacur from the front desk.

The stink burp my husband reported seems to have been a one off thing:-&

If the poop turns to liquid, if she looses any energy, or is not into eating...then come in. If she still has intermittant soft poop in a few weeks, I could bring in a stool sample. 

Nice of her not to charge me for an appointment to tell me the same thing.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Is she teething by chance?


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Nicole Stark said:


> Is she teething by chance?


 Oh eff ya. Another reason the vet seemed to think it could just be puppy stuff.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Exactly what I am thinking too. All of my puppies seemed to have gotten kinda weird/gross around teething time. Seems that they went through everything from rotten carcass breath and sulfur burps to the shits, runny eyes, and weird ears. Come to think of it I really didn't like it when I was changing my teeth either but at least it happened over a few years rather than a few weeks.

Heck think of the fuss and trouble babies go through when their first set start coming in. Fever, wild crying, etc...


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