Chronic giardia

Question
I am trying to justify keeping my 7 month old Dachshund pup.He has had a giardia infection since we bought him,our vet tells us that some dogs have a chronic giardia infection that will never go away. Is this true? We have treated him for 15 days with panacur and he still is positive!Is there anything else you would recommend? I should add that he likes to eat his stool,but he has been supervised on every outdoor visit and muzzled when not supervised,we are doing everything possible to prevent re-infection.Our Veterinarian can not give us an answer about what to do next,we are lost.I would appreciate any help, this dog is loved dearly.Thank you!!

Answer
Well this is a tough one, but I have yet to see a dog with Giardia become chronic. We have treated with both Panacur and metronidazole. I don't recall that any of these pets became chronically infected. Cleaning the area is a must however. They can and do re-infect themselves. I would try and get some monetary help from the breeder on this one. No one should be selling dogs with this disease.

I have found an article for you to read that should help some. It gives you a run down on the whole problem with this protozoan and what to do about it.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2090&aid=739

I am confused as to why your vet cannot be of more help? Is this something he has not come across before? If he cannot help with something this important, then I would let my fingers do the walking in the phone book for a vet that does know what to do.
Now one treatment with Panacur isn't going to kill them all, and maybe that is where the confusion lies.

You need to do a second course because of the cysts that hatch in between treatments.
Read the article- it tells you all of this.

I hope it helps and also helps you form a plan of action. Please let me know how it goes with him.