Hi Sue66b,
I know you are trying to be helpful, like everyone else, and I truly feel for you and Patch.
You might find it counterintuitive, but I actually thought Betsy’s suggestion for trying ACV was a reasonable and sensible one with little harm done if it didn’t work. It works or it doesn’t. I think there’s a decent chance it could’ve helped, and if it were me I would have been willing to give a try, if only for a short period. It’s inexpensive, non-toxic, and could actually have been a simple solution. It would have been much better if it had been tried sooner before Lisa’s pup’s situation became as dire, but at least it’s good that her pup is now going back to the vet today.
You actually said “ask ur new vet can you have a script & try the Metronidazole,” ( I’ve seen you say similar to others) Vets know all about metronidazole and prednisone without asking them or pressuring them to “try” it. Metronidazole is a very important antibiotic/drug, but can be dangerous and one that shouldn’t be taken indiscriminately, especially not to just to “try” it for diarrhea without knowing what may be causing it. It has some immuno-suppressive and anti-inflammatory effects in the digestive system, but how often is that temporary and not getting to the root problem? It’s a good thing human doctors don’t prescribe it as freely as some vets seem to, or at least I hope they don’t, and especially with repeated and/or higher dosage rounds. Ask any woman that had to take flagyl(metro) at high and/or repeated dosages for certain bacterial infections. Chances are they then expirienced serious yeast overgrowth, or a new yeast infection,- oral thrush, esophageal thrush, vaginal candida, etc., and then had to take fluconazole for the yeast infection. There’s also the issue of certain bacteria selectively building up resistance such as clostridium, staph species, etc. In some humans, sometimes even vancomycin is sometimes no longer very effective against serious c. difficile infections. Hopefully for those folks, whose benificial bacterial flora has been obliterated and can’t seem to ever get the upper hand, fecal matter transplants from healthy donors could hold the key. And maybe some day for dogs also….
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My intent is NOT to scare folks from metronidazole altogether, just to make them more aware, not to take it’s usuage lightly. As I’ve said, it’s a VERY important drug when it’s really needed.
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Nothing to do with you Sue, but for others-I’m a firm believer that it should not be used as a first line defense for giardia, when there is a safer, cheaper, usually more effective, non antibiotic alternative-fenbendazole (panacur).
Here’s what CAPC Companion Animals Parasite Council says;
No drugs are approved for treatment of giardiasis in dogs and cats in the United States.
Metronidazole is the most commonly used extra-label therapy; however, efficacies as low as 50% to 60% are reported. Safety concerns also limit the use of metronidazole in dogs and cats.
Albendazole is effective against Giardia but is not safe in dogs and cats and should not be used.
Fenbendazole (50 mg/kg SID for 3 to 5 days) is effective in eliminating Giardia infection in dogs. Fenbendazole is approved for Giardia treatment in dogs in Europe, and available experimental evidence suggests that it is more effective than metronidazole in treating Giardia in dogs.
and their reccomendations;
CAPC recommendations for treatment of dogs
Administer fenbendazole (50 mg/kg SID) for 5 days.
Alternatively, fenbendazole (50 mg/kg SID) may be administered in combination with metronidazole (25 mg/kg BID) for 5 days. This combination therapy may result in better resolution of clinical disease and cyst shedding.
If treatment combined with bathing (see Control and Prevention) does not eliminate infection (as evidenced by testing feces for persistence of cysts), treatment with either fenbendazole alone or in combination with metronidazole may be extended for another 10 days.
http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/giardia/
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Metronidazole is known to cause cancer in mice and rats, it’s not proven to do so in humans or dogs, but here’s what the U.S. National
Toxicology Program (NTP) says;
“Metronidazole is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals”
http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/twelfth/profiles/metronidazole.pdf
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