If so would you mind giving me a call..

I am not going to be around to check the boards for a little while and I could use some support.. I think my babies have

Heather

I just wanted to add this because I know you guys (I am one of you guys) and I didn't want you to freak out and say get em to the vet right away... (I thought of this after I posted)

They have already seen the vet today we are just waiting on test results and I have never had a sick glider so Id just like some back-up!

I actually got to see the protozoa under the microscope... totally disgusting.. cysts and octopus looking creepies sooooo nasty!

So it was a positive result.. at least it is easy to treat.


I am extending my quarantine time to six weeks for new gliders and getting a set of tent/toys per cage instead of sharing.. I never expected this, I guess we never do.

Really? Last time I checked it was a pretty lengthy process to make sure your gliders are completely clear of Giardia. What did your vet prescribe and how are you supposed to use the meds?

You might want to re-think that 6 weeks. It could be much longer. You also need to clean everything daily from what I have read with a bleach solution.

Please fill us in on what your vet told you. So sorry to hear your gliders have it!

Oh I meant 6 weeks before introducing new gliders to the glider room, not treatment time.

So no one shares something like this, because there are no real signs until its too late and it is NOT a test done in a normal fecal.They had 2 normal fecals done one from the breeder and one from my vet when I brought them home, and they look and act like very healthy little joeys.

The vet sounded confident that it would be gone in 10 days and she is a very glider experienced vet.

The rx was for Metronidazole for 10 days. Retest for the parasite in two weeks and it should be gone.

Yep, everything is going through multiple bleaching's and I had to toss some toys and items that I cant sanitize.

If anyone has experience with Giardia, I would love to hear how it turned out and what you did, how long it took to treat and all that.

I really hope it works! That stuff can't be fun to deal with!

Giardia is one of the harder parasites to get rid of.

Here's some links from The Sweet Spot that might be of assistance...

http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t40-giardia

http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t295-proper-protocol-to-effectively-treat-a-parasite-infestation -- (this link says "except giardia" but it will give you an idea of the cleaning process).

Giardia can be difficult to get rid of. To be sure you are actually rid of it you need to test, retest, and retest again. A fecal float/smear will not always catch it, nor will a SNAP test 100% of the time. Giardia sheds cysts on a cycle, so a negative does not mean the glider is completely clear. If you have any other health problems in the glider(s), Giardia can be much more difficult to clear up, not to mention allergies/sensitivities to Flagyl.

Some people have had success using a combination of medications, others have not. Bleach does not kill Giardia cysts, so if you have access to a steamer, this will be your best option for sterilization.

There are many, many threads in GC's Health & Hygiene 101 subforum on Parasiteshere with personal experiences. Good luck, I hope this clears up quickly for you.

Thanks for the advise I do have a steamer.

Good luck with getting rid of it, it can be a huge pain in the butt to get rid of, I've heard of it taking a month or two even...

If it takes long then it takes long... Nothing I can do but fight for my gliders.

Thanks for all your support and responses, looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me.

No one is suggesting that you are taking this lightly. Many of us have either experienced or heard the long stories about battling Giardia, we are just trying to be helpful. There are certainly people who have treated Giardia once and were done. We just want you to be prepared for the possibility.

I recently posted some info in another thread you might find helpful and relevant.

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/...NAP#Post1085628

I had to take my Piper to the vet a few days after I first got her about four or five years ago . I had to give her meds with a syringe for a pretty long time. The vet gave me double the meds so I could treat Suge as well even though he had no symptoms just in case. She had me give her extra mealies too... she started feeling better with in a few days. The vet suggested that the most likely way she had contracted it was from either dirty water at the breeder or coming in contact with another glider that had it, from drinking dirty water. It is Highly contagious, so be careful. I almost lost Piper to it. But she has never had any other symptoms of it. The vet did tell me it can sometimes lie dormant and that stress will manifest it too...,

Thanks everyone for the support!

I finally got my cleaning done for today. (6hours of holding the steamer hand and micro-cleaning!)

I also made a bunch of big red pouches and vines (My attempt at biohazard humor) that I can trade everyday and throw out every week.

Many of you probably wont agree with me on this but I took out the wheels from the gliders confirmed to have the parasite. I have stealth wheels and the micro-cleaning between each grid of track is almost impossible and since it is reinfected from their poo, it isn't worth the risk to me.

So I have the giardia under isolation to the best of my ability and if I haven't contacted you, then none of the gliders I received from you are affected.

I am watching everyone very closely and doing the full daily clean out, all the gliders are acting fine still and the ones that initially had it are gaining their weight back.

Everyone's eating and drinking wonderfully as well. I have added extra mealies, yogurt (the ones with live cultures that help kill this parasite) and glideraid for everyone daily.

Does anyone have other ideas or advise to help?

I think taking out the wheels is completely fine. You want to reduce the likelihood of reinfection and leaving wheels and difficult to clean toys in their cage just makes it less likely that you are going to get everything clean.

Thanks for your concern. I am not defensive at all, in fact I am very grateful for and open minded to any advise I can get.

I am just stressed about it, these are my fur babies you know.
This is all very new to me. I have never had any pet with a parasite especially a whopper like this one. >< It is a very touchy subject and it is hard to find support because many who have faced it don't want to get a bad rap. Truthfully, there is usually nothing we could do/have done to prevent it. Both the breeder and I did everything by the book and here it is!

I edited my spelling and I must have went a bit too far and erased part of my first post including my phone # which is (970)690- 3154 call/text.

Oh another thing I have learned, is that bleach can kill giardia but it takes 45 mins to an hour fully emerged in a diluted 4/1 solution. If you just wipe or spray with bleach it will not kill it! Just in case anyone else facing this is watching this thread.

My source is my county water department.

When my cats had it I used bleach and something called vet 10 (maybe its a vet cleaner, and its vet and then a number I may be lying about the 10 ) that I got from my vet, I only had to treat my cats one time.

ETA: I for some reason think you are supposed to use cleaner with quaternary ammonium?

The only thing I can add to this, to make your life a little bit easier, is to use a hospital cage. When I was dealing with Giardia for my little rescues, I made up two hospital cages that were a LOT easier to clean, and took less of my time. (since you have to do it twice a day!)

I also did a thorough cleaning of their everyday cages so that when they were all done, they had a nice clean, germ free place to go.

Last, but not least, I made a third hospital cage that I could switch out, while really soaking/cleaning the first... this made life easier on them, and on me.

Hope this helps. sorry you have to deal with this, it is my worst nightmare!

I agree with you taking out the wheels. Not because they were hard to clean but because the runny poo could be slung anywhere. That could cause a health hazard for everyone in the home.

Please be sure after handling the gliders that you wash your hands. It would also be a good idea to change your clothes. Putting your clothes in the washer not the hamper. That way no one has to handle the clothes a second time.

I wish you the best of luck!! Truly~
When my dogs got giardia it was a particularly resistent strain. I had to steam clean the carpets daily and use bleach on tons of stuff... and I had to toss a lot of stuff.


My source was the neighbor kids playing with my dogs~ decided to give them ditch water instead of clean water. ugh... It was a year long battle with our older dog and 3 treatments for our other dog who was a puppy at the time. My research turned up that it can be hard to kill it all in one treatment. (I would even talk to the vet about a 14 day course instead of 10~? I don't know if that is a problem with suggies or not? but that is what finally helped with our dog was a longer treatment.)

I am wondering~~ would making a ton of no sew pouches so there is constantly new pouches be helpful?

I would possibly even be afraid of using the same pouches, hammocks... and so on again. Is there a way to clean that stuff enough that it can be reused or does it need to be tossed?

Again~ I wish you the best of luck here!

The hospital cage is a great idea. You could fill the tub with hot water and bleach and turn the cage every 45 minutes to soak the other side.

I'm confused. If you can stop yourself from getting it, from washing your hands well with hot water and soap, and your clothes in the washer, why do you have to soak everything else in bleach for 45 minutes?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, I am alittle light headed from the fumes of all the bleach in my bathroom. Spraying cleaner, then scrubbing, rinsing well, then bleaching, then rinsing several times, then steaming cages is about to kill me! ( also soaking wheels & hard toys in bleach buckets for an hour each )

Oh yeah, I found an article on a dog breeding site about a vacine for giardia called, "Giardia Vax" It was a beagle site and recommended getting all puppies vacinated with it to stop them from getting giardia. Anyone heard of it and if it would help with suggies? I know my vet has used a dog antibiodic injection for my suggies with any wound or UTI.

The Giardia vaccine I'm sorry to say is [censored].

Well that bites. Wishfull thinking.

My dogs have been given the giardia vaccine. The vet told us all it does it helps with symptoms when/if they get it again. So basically all it does is helps them not have *as bad* of discomfort, diarrhea, vomitting.. but it doesn't actually prevent them from getting it.

What a waste~ It probably shouldn't be called a vaccine in that case.

I have no idea how washing hands and clothes is enough but bleach needs used for everything else.. I threw away a lot of stuff, including dogs beds and *anything* they laid on or came in contact with fecal matter. As for washing hands.. I wore gloves and then washed my hands as well..
I was afraid of just that~ that hand washing and clothes washing not being enough..

We also used stuff in our yard to basically kill the ground.. (you can't imagine how ugly and bare our yard looks now 3 years later) but we did everything to prevent reinfection.

Giardia is a tricky one. It can survive in your yard in the snow even~ and even when exposed to high temps..

Everyone has such different opinions about giardia. Everything from every species has it's own strand to what kills it. My vet is real confident that it won't take more then two 10 day rounds if even that. My babies poo is normal now and I've read everything from after three days medicated your safe from further contamination to they can be contaminated for months years... Ever!

Bleach kills it... Bleach doesn't ... Everyone/thing/pet can get it... Strands are interspecies only...

Over 3 vet clinics with 3-5 vets each and not one had the same opinion!

The good news is we caught it and of all these stories it did get cured and I haven't heard any fatalities over it.

I wish there was more concrete info I'm getting dizzy!

Their is no studies or proof for any of this, so I am gearing for the long road and hoping for the easy street.

There are also studies that show that humans who have been infected then tested a year later still tested posted with no symptoms, making them asystematic carriers, which a lot of people say there is no such thing!