Well Sierra has been taking 1.5 pills 2x's a day since last sat. her poo has firmed up and we had about a week left of treatment. Last night I woke up at 11:30pm to Sierra puking the grosses puke yet from her. the then started drinking a ton of water and her whole body was twitching and she was walking funny, her breath was fast and was hanging her tongue out and was dripping Saliva all over. she did not want to eat anything. we spent some time out side and she peed and pooed and had trouble getting back up on the deck, got her back upstairs and just tried to make her feel safe. we thought we could go back to bed and turned off the lights and then she made the most scary yelp that ken and i both jumped up to see if she was ok. by 4am she had gone to the bathroom in our room somehow and we had also taken her back outside, she seemed to not be breathing so fast and was just clingy to us on the bed. i called the vet first thing today and asked if the meds could cause seizures, she said it has been known to. we are stopping the pills and i need to keep an eye on her and her poo, if she goes mushy again i can give her a smaller dose as the dose we were giving was on the higher end. My poor baby girl has had a bad month she seemed better today and wanted to eat and is looking almost normal. I just wanted to let you all know that this medication can cause seizures since i was not told it did. We were so freaked out last night and just had no idea what to do for her other then be there for her.

Poor Sierra! I'm glad she's doing better. We've used metronidazole with both dogs before and not once did the vet mention the potential for seizures. Good to know.

Ask Becca from the other forum about her experience with Metronidazole with Charger. Neither she or myself will use the stuff unless absolutely necessary. Hope Sierra gets better soon.

Val, is that other forum still running?

after last night i wanted to let everyone know what happened just in-case someone else has the same experience we did, i will ask for another kind of med next time!

Poor Sierra! I hope she's feeling better today!
Thanks for the info and heads up on the meds too!

My vet didn't tell me, but when I googled metro there was mention of side-effects. Thats really terrible and I hope that Sierra gets better. I think you can also use pancur for Giardia. My vet gave Rue a combination of both when he had it.

Also I've read about Para-Gard recommended by some holistic vets on the internet as another approach to battle Giardia.

Jenn, if Sierra still needs an intestinal antibiotic you might ask thevet about this. It is used extensively in chickens. I used it for Sebo even after he was giardia negative but still had liquid stools with mucus in it.

http://www.vetinfo.com/canine-diarrhea-treatment-tylan.html#b

Biko just finished a 10 day period also of Metro last month when he was sick. He only had to take 1 pill twice a day not 1.5 X 2 a day. My guess would be to much of the antibiotic for her size.

Unfortunately I doubt if there is any drug that is prescribed out there that is 100% safe for all. Sierra just happen to be on the wrong side of the reaction. Give her some yogurt for the next few days to help rebuild some of the good bacteria in her gut. I wish her well.

we did the metro for Dakota but he only had 1/2 pill twice a day 7 days and it didn't kill the parasites but the panacure seems to have we've had 3 days solid poop after stopping the meds. hang in there and i'd suggest asking the vet to switch meds

Metro is a VERY rough drug. Many vets will recommend a simple round of two of Panacure dewormer first as it usually gets rid of the problem and is virtually 100% safe. We've seen Metro side effects in a few dogs (115 dog rescue kennel, more or less constantly treating lots of them for giardia) that range from mild to scary. We treat with Panacure first now and only resort to the metro if absolutly necessary.
If she does go back to mush, you maybe should consider at least asking about the panacure before giving the Metro again. Of course your vet knows best, but if she were my dog, id be terrified to give her any amount of something that she had that kind of reaction to
Hope your girl is back to normal for good!