Hi there.

I have a 5 month old husky pup who has been battling Giardia his whole life.

I have spent $150 on fecal exams and meds every week for the last 3 months trying to get rid of this shit and I don't get it.
I have no idea what to do anymore. He's been on panacur and metrozonidol (sp?) for about 6 weeks and he isn't getting rid of it, but he also isn't showing any symptoms besides extra foul smelling poop.

He doesn't eat poop or dirt, I've been keeping him away from other dogs, I have bleached and disinfected my house and yard with copious amounts of bleach and hospital grade disinfectant, washed toys, bathed him, scrubbed bedding and upholstery at least 12 times and I'm not sure what is happening here.

I drink the same water from the same tap that he does and I haven't been infected. He works at a kennel with me once a week but their water was tested a week ago and came back clean, none of the resident dogs have or carry it, and he's not out of my sight long enough to eat/smell anything questionable.

I've even tried keeping him home and he's STILL getting reinfected.

Am I doing something wrong?

More importantly, am I disinfecting my house too soon? I usually wait a day or two in to treatment to disinfect, so should I be waiting until he's done with the meds or should I do it before I even start treatment??

This is so frustrating! How have you guys gotten through it?

So im pretty sure my girl has it in her ALL THE TIME as the min she drinks running stream water she gets it, or goes to the dog park and eats poop she gets it, sometimes i don't even know she has it as her poop is fine but she will puke. Metronidazole seems to do the trick for cleaning her up, maybe you need a different dose of it?
i have never cleaned my house when she is sick, i do wash the water and food dishes and keep on top of picking up poop but that's it.

are you sure it is giardia and not a worm? maybe talking to a different vet?
it sounds like you are doing all the right things, that is why i suggesting maybe a 2nd option from another vet

I've talked to 3 different vets because I was afraid my vet was trying to squeeze cash out of me since this has been a lot of money and a head ache, but they all say it's Giardia and that he doesn't have anything else at all.

I've tried the metronidazole and the panacur but idk. Is it possible he's just a carrier? He's eating fine, drinking fine, playing fine, and gaining weight normally.

Once a dog has had it they are much more likely to get it again. My boy had it when I got him. Our routine consisted of him going out on a leash to potty. I would wipe his butt and feet down with lysol wipes after he did his business before coming back inside the house, pick up his poop and discard it then bleach the grass where it sat. Once a dog is really susceptible to it all they have to do is walk through an infected puddle and then clean their feet. A dog with a lowered immune system is even worse. That being said there is some suggestion that a large majority dogs have some level of giardia in their system and as long as it isn't causing the major symptoms like diarrhea then it's not so prevalent that it's worth putting too much worry into. If his poops are fine, just smelly, you may need to take some time off the meds and focus on rebuilding his digestive health. The metronidazole is a rough drug and being on these things too long can destroy the digestive balance in his system which can be harder on him than the giardia. Make sure you have him on quality food and look into adding a probiotic like kefir or goats milk for a while and see how he does. Nurse his ravaged GI tract and then in a while give the panacur a try again. It's the less hostile of the two drugs.

Thank you so much.

He doesn't seem to have any stomach issues but I will try giving him some forti flora and some goats milk for a while.

He's on a quality diet and takes an immune health vitamin every day and some fish oils and I'm not totally convinced that the smell isn't a direct result of that.

As for the metron, we have only been prescribed it once for 4 days at a half dose. My vet thinks that it's rough on their nervous systems and didn't want to give him too much since the panacur is usually more effective at getting rid of it anyway.

These last results said that he has a very small infection and isn't shedding any cysts right now.

So the question remains:

When should I start disinfecting everything again?? If I do it too early he's going to reinfect and if I do it too late he's going to have trouble fighting it off.

I did it as soon as I got home with the diagnosis. He went outside while I cleaned the whole house. Then I carried him in, gave him a bath and then started the routine of wiping him off before letting him come back in the house. As long as I didn't miss a clean down before he came back in I didn't worry much about the house after that. I have everything a good mopping once a week, which is kinda my typical schedule anyway and the rest of the time I had lysol spray, which is supposed to be effective at killing giardia on the surface, and just sprayed stuff down as I saw fit. Usually just if I was rushed in my cleaning of him before he came back inside. I had my girl at the time I was trying to keep him from passing giardia to and I was able to successfully keep her giardia free with that process.

At only 4 days and a half dose of met if he was very badly infected then it probably wouldn't stop it. We did 3 dose panacure and 10 days met when we did it and it nipped it the first go around. As harsh as met is, if panacure on its own won't clear him, you may need to do the full round of met to clear him out. Since you do take him to a facility where other dogs are often getting him completely clear at some point will probably be important for you and the other dogs. If he's not shedding cysts right now then I would wait and retest in a week or so. As long as he's not shedding then other dogs are relatively 'safe' from him.