Giardia in pet rabbit

Question
Hi Dana,

My rabbit has been diagnosed with Giardia.  Initially we tried the metronidazole which is what I understand to be the most common treatment and it seemed (at least to the vet) to make it worse.  Initially she saw only a few of the Giardia but when I took him back after treating him with the metronidazole she said his fecal smear was just swarming with the Giardia.

We then tried the panacur, 7 days on, 3 weeks off, 7 days on and no change.

I've had this rabbit for about 2 years in my care now, he was initially a stray and then stayed in one foster home for ablut a year before coming to me.

He had a few bout of stasis in 2004 and 2005 and I'm thinking perhaps the cause was the then undiagnosed Giardia.  We had done bloodwork and fecal floats at the time too but the Giardia didn't show up at that time.

His poops are run from very runny, diarrhea like to gummy and mucous like.  He still eats fine and hasn't lost any weight though.

Any advice on other ways to treat Giardia?

Thank you
Sarita

Answer
Dear Sarita,

If neither the panacur nor the metronidazole worked, then I have serious doubts about whether this is truly Giardia.  If I'm not mistaken, Giardia are *very* difficult to visualize without special stains, and not everyone can make an accurate I.D.

I would ask the vet to take a fecal sample and send it to a large parasitology lab (e.g., Micrim, or a university veterinary pathology lab) for positive I.D. by an expert.  I've not heard of Giardia being *that* resistant, though I suppose it's possible.

Things other than Giardia can cause runny stool.  Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

And if you would like to find another vet for a second opinion, you can check here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana