My 34 lb dog was diagnosed with Giardia 2 weeks ago. We took him to the vet on 9/19 because he had diarrhea for 5 days prior. The vet had us put him on chicken and rice for a week and 250mg of Metronidazole twice a day for a week.

The diarrhea seemed to be getting better after 4 days and by the end his stool was mostly normal. We spent 2 days transitioning him back to his normal food and then on the 3rd day he was back to his normal 3/4 cup of Evo twice a day.

His diarrhea came back (not sure it was every 100% gone) and now he has the squirts. He woke me up 3 times last night to go and then today I took him out, left for an hour and came back and he had gone in his crate.

He squirting just started today, yesterday he went on a 4 mile hike in the woods with some swimming, but the water is clear and from a waterfall so its generally clean. We think the Giardia came from when he was swimming in a pond and the water was dirty.

Sorry if the order of all the information isn't the best, I am looking for advice and figured I would post as much information as possible.

To add, the Giardia was diagnosed by a fecal exam.

Giardia isn't something from dirty water, it's really common in rocky mountain streams. It is hard to knock out. It can take 3 wks of medication.
Go back to the chicken and rice and get some more medication would be my plan.

Thanks we got some more medication. Refill of the same stuff and some deworming powder. How much chicken and rice would you use for a 34lb dog (pretty muscular and active, its 20% more than normal recommended amount of evo for his weight)

Connie would be a great resource for a question like this. IMO I'd go with 1 cup twice daily along with his medication and dewormer. I would leave him on it for however long his medication is for, plus 1 week. If you want to add some fiber to his diet in small quantities, go with sweet potato or pumpkin. Just make sure the majority of what your feeding him is meat.

I've had 3 dogs in my life that have had giardia. None of the vets have ever had me take them off their normal food - we feed raw. I love the vet I have now, and we just had a bout of giardia with my son's cat, and she didn't change his food either.

Just wondering if that's necessary? All our dogs, and the cat (he was a rescue), had firm poops after a few days on the Flagyl even with their normal food.

 Quote: Lori Hall

... we feed raw.

'nough said.

You wouldn't transition from raw to kibble when your pets sick would you? Of course not. Now, going from kibble to the two staple food groups is always good for a sick dog imo.

 Quote: Ben McDonald

 Quote: Lori Hall

... we feed raw.

'nough said.

You wouldn't transition from raw to kibble when your pets sick would you? Of course not. Now, going from kibble to the two staple food groups is always good for a sick dog imo.

My point was, that I didn't think it was necessary to change to chicken and rice for giardia.

"mostly normal" sounds to me like his body got ahead of the Giardia, but didn't quite kick it and once he was taken off the meds, it regained a foothold.

I'd put him back on meds, and not stop giving them until his stools are completely normal. I'm also not sure why the vet had you change his diet though, it will be hard to tell when the dog is normal again, if he's not on his normal food.

Got a refill of his meds and also a dewormer for 7 days. I switched him to chicken and rice for today, should I go back to kibble? Oddly, since his feeding at 8am this morning he hasnt had a single bowel movement, whereas yesterday he had 9 by this time in the day.