Poor Gunner was so sick...`

[WannaBe]

I took him to the emergency clinic and turns out he has Giardia. I'm sure he got it from MeSo. Vet gave me metronidazole and a 3 day wormer for both of them. I was so terrified he had something bad! He is feeling so much better today. I'm hoping I can give him a bath tomorrow (I did wash his bum and face), but he is still stinky. Thank goodness for walk-in emergency vets!
Keep a good eye on your small babies, they go down very fast! He started getting sick yesterday morning and by the time I got home from church he could barely walk and we were only gone and hour and a half!

[MarkFromSea]

Speedy recovery for Gunner! Gucci occasionally drinks from a pond, stream or lake, I stop him every time but he certainly gets a few licks in. I do worry about it, try to avoid it but, it happens. I never worried about my bigger dogs drinking from the same.

[Graneet]

What is it?

[SirTeddykins]

How scary...


Good thing you had access to an ER vet and good thing your timing was so quick!


Wish him a speedy recovery x

[margaritaville]

Poor baby, I hope he feels better. It just tears your heart out to see them sick.

[WannaBe]

Originally Posted by Graneet

What is it?

Giardia is a tiny celled creature that causes terrible runs and some vomiting. I'm sure he got it from MeSo since I was worming her on Friday, so she must of shed some of the cells and he got it. His sugar went so low because of the runs that he could hardly walk. That is dangerous, so right the vet we went! I was giving him nutrical, so that helped. He is feeling much better today, but still not playing with MeSo. I'm sure he will be by tomorrow.

[matese]

Poor lil Gunner, hope he gets better soon. I would rather be sick then see these lil babies of ours be so sick. Cody says get well soon Gunner.

[MarkFromSea]

My recollection of giardia is from backpacking as a kid. Backpackers or campers would get it fairly often when drinking from available water sources, streams, rivers or lakes without boiling the water first. Also known as beaver fever and various other nicknames.
Giardiasis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[yorkiefan_]

Originally Posted by MarkFromSea

My recollection of giardia is from backpacking as a kid. Backpackers or campers would get it fairly often when drinking from available water sources, streams, rivers or lakes without boiling the water first. Also known as beaver fever and various other nicknames.
Giardiasis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boy, that must be a nasty recollection. Never had it, but it sounds horrible. Sometimes I still cut corners and drink water unfiltered if it's from a fast moving source or away from horse trails. Probably still pretty dumb though.

[BobbiB]

Hope he gets back to 100% soon! It's scary when they get ill. I'm really thankful for our local emergency vets, too...I'm also really lucky that they are great vets running it.

[MarkFromSea]

Originally Posted by yorkiefan_

Boy, that must be a nasty recollection. Never had it, but it sounds horrible. Sometimes I still cut corners and drink water unfiltered if it's from a fast moving source or away from horse trails. Probably still pretty dumb though.

I never caught it. Boy Scout, trained, we boiled our water or drank water from it's source coming out of the ground or from a snow bank or glacier. Filters won't eliminate the bug(might reduce the count), chemicals or boiling only.

I did have a reaction to eating wild onions in the Bob Marshall though... 25 miles to the nearest road! LOL I was fine after a couple days of hiking at 11 or 12 yrs old, no biggy! The fishing was well worth it!

[Graneet]

Awe it sounds aweful hope he gets over it quick .

[yorkiefan_]

Originally Posted by MarkFromSea

I never caught it. Boy Scout, trained, we boiled our water or drank water from it's source coming out of the ground or from a snow bank or glacier. Filters won't eliminate the bug(might reduce the count), chemicals or boiling only.

I did have a reaction to eating wild onions in the Bob Marshall though... 25 miles to the nearest road! LOL I was fine after a couple days of hiking at 11 or 12 yrs old, no biggy! The fishing was well worth it!

The tablets take a couple of hours to work on cold water though, so I always use a pump and a filter in the backcountry. Tempted to try the Steripen though.

[MarkFromSea]

True, and I never liked the taste... giardia is one of the bad ones, but just read up on it a bit, be selective on where you get your back country water, it's avoidable. I once saw someone air lifted out of CO back country... giardia, diarrhea, dehydration, and that brought about... I think they called it altitude sickness.. That was my understanding at the time... Altitude sickness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[yorkiefan_]

Originally Posted by MarkFromSea

True, and I never liked the taste... giardia is one of the bad ones, but just read up on it a bit, be selective on where you get your back country water, it's avoidable. I once saw someone air lifted out of CO back country... giardia, diarrhea, dehydration, and that brought about... I think they called it altitude sickness.. That was my understanding at the time... Altitude sickness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah, dehydration can be a big factor in getting AMS, though AMS isn't too bad; HAPE and HACE are the bigger worries at altitude. I have had HAPE while backpacking and it's really nasty. You walk 10 feet and you're completely out of breath.