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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP: Giardia Anti-Bodies
I just got a call from our vet saying that Jackson tested positive for Giardia anti-bodies - not the parasite itself. He explained the difference and pros/cons of treatment, but I'm just curious if anyone else has any experience with this. Do you have any words of advice?
Re: XP: Giardia Anti-Bodies
They tested his stool for Giardia and found nothing? I'd see if he still carries the parasite--a positive stool sample. If not, it means he had the infection and has cleared it--he's no longer at risk and no drugs are going to help.
If they find parasites it means he's actively infected and can experience severe diarrhea and all the complications that go along with that. I think dogs CAN transmit Giardia to humans so you would want to be careful about where his poop (and his butt) go.
Disclaimer: I know little about Giardia in dogs, specfically. This is based only my experience with human parasitology.
Our Share of the Harvest:How a couple cooks from a CSA share. Pick Up Day Week 15
Apparently dogs produce the anti-bodies once they contract the parasite. So, he clearly had the parasite and all that is left is the anti-bodies - but the vet still wants to treat him, just in case.
The treatment is 5 days - it's a powder that we mix with his food. He is giving us a can of wet food to use since Jackson only eats dry food. We'll bring him in to re-test his stool in 6 weeks to see what, if anything, has changed.
Do you think 6 weeks is a little long to wait to re-test?
Maybe they want to wait 6 weeks just to make sure that he isn't re-infected?
Also how long are the anti-bodies present?
But couldn't he be cured and re-infected in that 6 week time frame? And I don't know how long the anti-bodies are present - I don't think enough research exists to show that anyway. I think our vet just wants to be on the safe side and treat him, just in case. If the medication won't prove to be harmful, then I'm okay with it.
I don't know the lifecycle/timeframe of Giardia and I don't know how long you would be medicating him for.
We went through a similar situation with Daisy- she tested positive for Lyme's- the antibodies or titer for it- I am not sure which- but the vet gave us 3 options- 1) to do a more specific test that would determine if she currently had Lyme's or if it had already passed- but that test cost like $75 2) to treat for Lyme's- cost of $40 3) not to do anything and just watch her for symptoms. We chose to treat.
Antibodies to some parasites stick around for a lifetime and others wane over time. I'm not sure for giardia so your pup could have been infected last week or last year.
I think I would go ahead and treat. Shedding of giardia is off and on, even if there's an active infection, so if your vet did the smear in an off-shedding time, you wouldn't see the parasites but your doggie would still have them.
ETA: Did they do a fecal smear to ID? A google search tells me some vets use PCR or ELISA which are more sensitive methods and can detect bits of DNA or protein instead of needing to visually see the whole parasite.
Our Share of the Harvest:How a couple cooks from a CSA share. Pick Up Day Week 15
Thank you for all for your insight - I appreciate it.