Giardia Disease in Dogs (often have no symptoms).

What is Giardia? 

Giardia is a flagellated protozoan or single-celled organisms, which are found not only in the small intestine of dogs and cats, but also found in almost all wild animals and, in fact, in humans! 

There are many unknowns about the parasite Giardia. Until now not known exactly how many species there are or which infect animals. Also not known anything about the life cycle of this species of giardia. 

Giardia is usually in the rivers, ponds, puddles and many other places. Giardia is zoonotic, meaning that if the dog has giardia or a member of the human family have it, all the other family members, both human and domestic animals can be infected. 

The puppies were obtained from puppy mills and other facilities that have a lot of dogs usually carry the parasite Giardia. 

How Giardia infection can occur? 

A dog can become infected with giardia cysts swallowing infected contained on dirt / feces of other animals. Contamination can occur directly or indirectly through contact with an infected cyst. 

The most common route is through water that has been contaminated with feces. Giardia parasite prefers humid and cold environments. 

Once inside the small intestine of dogs, the cyst opens and releases the active form of the parasite. This active form can be moved and attached to the intestinal wall, which they then multiply by division. 

In the end, the active form of Giardia cysts will form around them and get out of the dog's body through the feces. The feces contaminating water sources, grass, soil and other surfaces. 

Also, if a dog tested positive for Giardia, licking the back, and then licking the other dogs, cats or humans, then there is potential for transmission. 

Symptoms of Giardia 

The majority of Giardia infections are asymptomatic, meaning there are no clear signs that your dog is infected. When symptoms do appear, the most common being diarrhea, which can be acute, chronic, or volatile. 

Many dog owners do not consult a veterinarian about their dogs that the mushy stool, because the liquid will often improve again. Sometimes when the owner of the dog was about to make an appointment with the vet, even feces returned to normal shape and looks good again. 

Due to the nature of diarrhea on and off in Giardia, many dog owners who then thought that it might be due to eating the wrong dog. Therefore many cases of undiagnosed Giardia. 

After a week, a month or sometimes several years undiagnosed infection giardia, Giardia positive dogs may develop acute diarrhea, weaken, and bloody. Most dogs with symptoms of diarrhea in Giardia infection is not to lose their appetite, but often in chronic cases, they lose a lot of weight. 

This is because the giardia infection interfere with digestion and inhibits the absorption of nutrients from food. In addition, it can also damage the lining of the intestine. 

In fact, the parasite is the root of many cases of inflammation of the GI (gastrointestinal) infection in dogs. In addition, sometimes there is also some dogs with chronic diarrhea, malabsorption and other digestive problems which turned out to be positive giardia. 

How to diagnose giardisis? 

Giardiasis is very difficult to diagnose because the protozoa are very small and do not always come out with the feces. Tests on stool samples (one stool every day for three days) are often required to find these organisms. Special diagnostic procedures, in addition to routine stool examination, necessary to identify Giardia.

To view the active form of Giardia, a small amount of feces mixed with water on a microscope slide and examined under high magnification. Because the active form have flagella, you can see it move on the slide. The active form is more commonly found in watery stool, while the more common form of cysts found in the stool solid. And, the active form has a unique anatomy that makes it seem like having a face no eyes, nose and mouth. 

In 2004, a diagnostic test using ELISA technology has been available in the United States. This test uses a small sample of stool and it only takes 8 minutes to check it out. This test is more accurate than stool tests. 

Not uncommon, sometimes negative test results can occur in infected dogs. If there is a negative test, regular vet would suggest to repeat the test. 

Then, how to treat Giardia? 

There are several treatments for giardiasis. Fenbendazole is antiparasitic drug that kills some intestinal worms and can help control giardia. This medicine may be used alone or with metronidazole. Metronidazole can kill some types of bacteria that cause diarrhea. So, if the diarrhea is caused by bacteria, and not Giardia, the bacteria can be killed and the symptoms can be eliminated.

Unfortunately, according Peteducation.com, metronidazole has some drawbacks. This drug was found effective only capable of removing 60-70 and Giardia from infected dogs. And also, can be toxic to the liver for some animals. And also suspected of being a teratogen (an agent that causes physical defects in the developing embryo), so that this drug should not be used in pregnant dogs. 

After treatment, the dog should be re-tested to determine whether there are still remaining giardia or is completely lost. Dr Karen Becker (healthypets.mercola.com sites) suggest fecal test done in 3 to 4 months after the first treatment is completed. 

How to prevent my dog ​​is not infected with giardia? 

Giardia cysts can live several weeks to several months outside the host in a cool environment, wet. So, lawns, stables and other areas contaminated by animal feces can be a source of infection for your dog. As much as possible you have to keep your dog away from areas contaminated by the feces of other animals.