>From:    Lynn McIntosh <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Giardia:  Other Meds than Flagyl?
>Hi there.  My beloved big boy Tarzan has been diagnosed with giardia (wall
>to wall in the fecal sample says his vet).  We started him on Flagyl last
>night, which wasn't pretty.... he projectile vomited the Flagyl on me (a
>couple times).  We gave him a bit more and stuck ferretone up to his snout,
>which he began madly licking.
 
Wylie seemed to take Clavamox is a similar manner.  What I ended up doing
was mixing his dose in with a bit of FerretVite and let me tell you...I
couldn't keep him away from the stuff.  I just mixed it up in a spoon and
viola!
 
>Is there anything else out there as effective (or more) against giardia as
>Flagyl?
 
Well, my knowledge is limited to people, but Flagyl is the top-gun as far
as I know.  Apparently many doctors won't prescribe is to people due to its
toxicity and its alleged carcinogenic status.  The result is that folks
suffer on inferior meds for months when the Flagyl would nail the bugger in
no time (but it also does a number on the host).
 
As for doing fecal scans, the mature parasite looks a lot like a
heart-shaped Rastafarian face.  There are two cells apparently fused
together.  Each nucleus would be an 'eye', and the cillia make up the wild
hair and beard.  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.
 
Do you know where they picked the parasite up?  _Giardia_ has the slang name
'Beaver Fever' due to it's prevalence in the slow moving backwaters formed
behind beaver dams.  It's not THAT uncommon for streams and rivers (or any
other untreated water source for that matter) to harbor _Giardia_.  Good
luck with the Battle!
 
                                       -Erin...
 
=========================
   Mr. Erin M. Ennis    |       Any sufficiently convoluted argument can
 eennis(at)zoo,uvm,edu  |       be made to appear to be science as the
 Water Resources Major, |       layman equates incomprehensibility with
     Biology Minor      |       science.                -Unknown
    Uni. of Vermont     |
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[Posted in FML issue 2319]