There have been a lot of posts lately about giardia.  According to my vet,
giardia is very easy to misdiagnose.  It can be missed if the test is not
performed for at least 3 days in a row or over-diagnosed if yeast or other
parasites are diagnosed as giardia.  I've summarized some of the data from
experts (which I'm not) and knowledgable people.  You can look through the
FML archives at: http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html
 
Special note to keep in mind!
Summarized from post by Nancy Winter, CVT (7/15/98 FML)
"Be sure they look at your ferrets food under the microscope to be sure
they aren't calling the yeast Giardia.  The yeast, which is added to many
pet foods as a nutrient, looks very similar to the Giardia cyst (egg).
Some of the differences to look for are the yeast vary slightly in size.
Giardia cysts are all exactly the same size.  If you have real Giardia you
should be able to see the adult form of the protozoa called the
trophozoite.  You will never see that with the yeast.  I have sent ferret
stool to more than one veterinary lab and had them call the yeast Giardia."
 
Visual exam (under a microscope)
From:    Erin Ennis (5/24/98 FML)
"The cysts, which you are more likely to see (I'm assuming you're using a
microscope for scans) should have 4 nuclei locate in one half of an
egg-shaped cyst with a clear division between one side of the cyst and
the other.  There should also be a pair of sickle-shaped dark bars in the
non-nucleated end of the cyst."
 
Diagnosis
From: http://www.flatcoat.com/giardia.htm
"We diagnose the infection by looking for microscopic Giardia cysts in
fresh stool samples.  It is often necessary for us to examine several
samples before we find the cysts, since they are shed on an irregular
basis.  This means that the sample may be negative one day and positive
the next."
 
Treatment
From:  "Michael Dutton, DVM, DABVP" (12/28/95 FML)
"Recent studies in dogs have shown that fenbendazole is more effective in
treating Giardia than the traditional metronidazole.  I use the cat dose of
Panacur suspension for three days in a row, then repeat in two weeks."
 
          -Carla
 
Save a life today! Visit the Ferret Friends
Disaster Response International website.
(http://www.worldaccessnet.com/~ferretma/ffdri1.html)
[Posted in FML issue 2651]