My puppy has giardia and won't eat. How to get her appetite back?

Poor girl. Giardia can very well be the cause, but it can’t be confirmed without a Giardia test done through your vet. Other possible causes of dereased appetite, diarrhea and vomiting is parvovirus (if Khaleesi isn’t fully vaccinated) or a bacterial infection. I would definitely take her in to your vet at this point since it seems to be a continued issue that isn’t resolving with a conservative bland diet. The most concerning symptom right now is the fact that she doesn’t want to eat. I would recommend taking her in right away. If you can’t get her in until morning, you can try offering Khaleesi slightly warmed cans of baby food (meats and vegetables) to see if that will entice her to eat and give her some much needed nutrition. Best of luck with your puppy Khaleesi and o hope she is able to make a full and speedy recovery from her illness. Take care.

Hello, sorry to hear about Lucky. This may or may not be related to his giardia treatment at all. You can try to offer different forms of food, including plain white rice, skinless and boneless boiled chicken, and low fat cottage cheese. If he is not eating like his normal self in 2-3 days, is acting lethargic, has vomiting, or recurrent diarrhea then Lucky is gonna need to be re-evaluated by his veterinarian. Re-infection with giardia is always a possibility, but there are also other causes for a decreased appetite such as dietary indiscretion, ingestion of foreign material, liver or kidney disease. Please have Lucky evaluated is he is not better in 2-3 days. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Is he eating? Is he acting energetic? If he is eating and acting normally, I wouldn't be too concerned--he's likely getting enough fluids. He's pretty small so it won't necessarily look like much is gone from the bowl. However, if he doesn't want to eat or if he seems to be feeling dumpy, take him to your vet for an exam. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Even with the vitamin supplements, this is not likely a complete and balanced diet. There is not anything you can give him to improve his appetite. This is likely behavioral and nature. It’s hard to get a pet adjusted to eating pet food once they are used to eating something like human food or jerky treats. You may try cooking his food or try different commercial diets to find one he likes. If you want to cook his food, you will need to contact a veterinary nutritionist to make sure that the diet is complete and balanced. A recent survey found that the vast majority of the homemade diets found online were unbalanced. Any food you choose needs to be AAFCO tested and certified. This information will be on the packaging. You will also need to decrease the amount of jerky you are giving him. Best of luck.

Poor Nova! Offer him a bland diet. A bland diet can consist of 25% boiled white meat chicken and 75% boiled white rice. This should all be plain. I also recommend to call the veterinarian and ask about medications to soothe the stomach and prevent nausea like Cerenia, and antibiotic like Metronidazole, a probiotic like FortiFlora and an appetite stimulant like Entyce. I recommend to treat him symptomatically and aggressively. I hope Nova starts feeling better quickly! Please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello, thank you for your question about Charley. Giardia can be very frustrating to treat and many puppies require multiple rounds of deworming to completely treat the infection. I suspect that she likely has a more resistant infection and not that she is immunocompromised. I would not recommend adding any supplements/immune boosters at this time. Hope this helps!

Poor Luna! Is she underweight? If not, I wouldn't be overly stressed about how much she is eating. Also some dogs are simply scared of eating from dog bowls. I would just feed her from the floor or in a paper plate. If she is underweight, I would talk to your vet about doing a GI panel. It is a blood test that checks for Vitamin B12, folate, and two different pancreatic enzymes. Sometimes this will guide the vet to what she may be deficient in and once you fix that, their appetite will increase. You could also talk to them about just putting her on an appetite stimulant if you want to try a more conservative method first. Finally, if all of this is normal, I would consider finding a holistic veterinarian who specializes in acupuncture and Chinese herbs. There are some great things with alternative medicine to help with appetite. I hope this helps!