[losul]

I am glad your vet is trying panacur first as a first line defense. Most vets just indiscriminately give metronidazole first which I would consider a dangerous antibiotic, not very effective against giardia anyway, and can cause many other problems. Or many often regretfully prescribe metro as a “catch all” for practically any digestive ailments. Giardia is not a bacteria, it’s a parasitic protozoan. And many vets don’t even know about using panacur for giardia, because giardia is not a worm either.

Panacur is a relatively very safe OTC intestinal dewormer that just so happens to also be the most effective thing for giardia, I believe. It’s an “off label” use of panacur for giardia.

Your vet is right, it can be tricky to get rid of giardia, and can also be very difficult to detect in feces, as the giardia do not always shed cysts in feces. The giardia alternates between an actively swimming trophozoite and an infective, resistant cyst.

If I were you, I wouldn’t fool around with it, i would go ahead and give your pup a second round of panacur for 4 to 5 days, 10 to 14 days after the first round, even if your pup is no longer showing any symptoms. It can burrow into the intestinal mucosol lining and encyst, waiting for opportune times to again cause problems.

Some dogs can beat giardia or keep in check very easily, others cannot, more severe cases can end up with severe damage to the intestinal villi, mucosal lining, and other intestinal damage.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by losul.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by losul.