Fall brings more than beautiful leaves and cooler temperatures. Parasites also come out in force! Most people know about fleas and ticks, but you should also be aware of Coccidia and Giardia – two parasites that cause watery diarrhea and dehydration.
Always take diarrhea seriously. It does not take long for your dog to become dehydrated. Once a dog’s electolytes go off balance the results can be quite serious, even life-threatening. Insist that your vet take a stool sample and run a culture test if your dog has projectile or watery diarrhea. Sometimes the sample is negative because both Coccidia and Giardia are so tiny they can be missed.
A friend who owns one of my basset puppies phoned me in a panic a week ago because his vet had not taken a stool sample, but just sent him home and told him to give his dog a bland diet for a few days to see if that solved the problem. When it did not, the man phoned his vet again, and the vet suggested he had an opening in two days for the dog. That’s when the friend called me. I suggested he needed to find a different vet who understood the seriousness of projectile, watery diarrhea in a 9 month old puppy!
I called a friend who lives in the same state as this man, and she gave me a recommendation for a different vet close to the man. He took his dog in the next morning – the vet examined a stool sample – and Giardia was diagnosed. Within less than 24 hours the man had his dog feeling better, and the crisis was averted.
Giardia and Coccidia are in the environment, and flourish in cold, damp weather. Your dog can pick up one or both of these parasites just by going for a walk in the woods, along a stream, where other infected dogs have been, or in your backyard. Birds will transfer Coccidia, so any place a bird can fly over is a place you may find Coccidia. Many vets used to blame dirty kennel conditions for the appearance of these parasites, but that is no longer an accurate representation of how these parasites transfer. The egg stage of these parasites can live for years in soil or on grass! Extreme cold does not kill them, nor does bleach. Only boiling water and borax are effective in the control of these parasites.
If you ever see a dog with diarrhea at a dog park, my recommendation is to never return to that park. If one dog has it, you can bet more will get it.
Acute treatment of these parasites is very effective, but long-term control or eradication is difficult. Treat all diarrhea seriously, and don’t be afraid to get a second opinion if your vet tries to put off treatment. Educate yourself on some of the ways to control parasites, and ask your vet to work with you on an effective program. You dog’s health is woth the effort!
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