How long after Giardia treatment is it safe to groom my dog?

Related Answers from Veterinarians

• Answered By Karly Macon, DVM, MS, CVA Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

  Veterinarian

  Published on April 7th, 2017

  Don't panic! Some dogs are carriers for life, and this certainly does not mean you cannot socialize your dog or allow her to have a normal life. Some dogs, like people, seem to have Giardia and periodically shed and it causes them no problems whatsoever. Yes, it is possible that eventually she will stop shedding, but we don't know this for certain.

  

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• Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Published on July 30th, 2019

  I suggest you refer to this link about Giarida and how to effectively clean the environment.
  
  ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/giardia-in-dogs )
  
  Unfortunately, giardia is growing resistant to many common anti-protozoal medications – with the result that increasing numbers of pets can become persistent carriers. I don't know what type of giardia test your vet used but if an ELISA was used, they can show positive for giardia for up to 6 months after treatment because it can take that long for the antigens to be cleared from the animal's bloodstream. So, if she is not showing any clinical signs I would not be overly worried. Just keep the environment as clean as possible and I would also recommend you feed her some canned pumpkin (like 1/8-1/4 cup once or twice a day). Sometimes that extra fiber will help "push" the giardia trophozoites off the intestinal lining. Use pure pumpkin, not the pie filling.
  
  Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.
  

  

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• Answered By Karly Macon, DVM, MS, CVA Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

  Veterinarian

  Published on April 5th, 2017

  Don't panic. Like people, some dogs tend to have the kind of immune system that takes a long time to clear some infections. Also, in some people as well as dogs giardia can be detected but not cause clinical disease. I suspect at some point researchers are going to recognize that in some individuals these organisms can function as commensals and not cause harm (and perhaps even be found to have some symbiotic, beneficial relationship to their hosts). I think it is important to reduce the shedding load so that the environs are not contaminated posing a risk to other animals, but not to get overly concerned that the dog always test perfectly negative. Hope that helps!

  

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