Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Treating asymptomatic Giardia infection in dogs with Drontal Plus
By Bowman, Dwight D et al.·Published in Parasitology research·2009·Department of Microbiology and Immunology, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Treatment of naturally occurring, asymptomatic Giardia sp. in dogs with Drontal Plus flavour tablets.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with Giardia, a common intestinal parasite, were treated with three days of Drontal Plus flavor tablets to see if it would stop them from shedding cysts in their stool. After treatment, most dogs showed a significant reduction in cysts, with some completely stopping shedding. However, a few dogs started shedding cysts again about a week after treatment, which could mean they were reinfected. Overall, Drontal Plus was effective in reducing Giardia cysts, but pet owners should be aware that reinfection is possible.
People also search for: dog Giardia treatment · Drontal Plus for dogs · why is my dog shedding cysts · dog intestinal parasites symptoms · Giardia reinfection in dogs
Abstract
The administration of three consecutive daily doses of the recommended 1x dose of Drontal Plus flavour tablets (Bayer) was examined for its effect on Giardia sp. cyst-shedding in 7 treated and 7 untreated random-source dogs. Dogs were treated on study days 0, 1 and 2. Cysts were quantified using direct immunofluorescent labelling on days -7, -5, -3 and -2, and daily from day 1 through 11. Three treated dogs never shed cysts again during the study, one shed again only on day 4, and the remaining three dogs started to shed again on days 8, 9 and 11. The mean numbers of cysts per gramme in the faeces of the treated dogs were significantly reduced (t-tests using log(10)(counts)) on days 1 and 2 (geometric means: controls = 447,000; treated = 1,050; p = 0.004) and days 3 to 8 (geometric means: controls = 23,400; treated 5.0; p < 0.001). Four controls that had been consistently positive, changed to negative status on day 11, and thus, on the final day of the trial, there were only three positive control and three positive treated dogs. Three consecutive days of treatment with Drontal Plus flavour tablets halted Giardia sp. cyst shedding by dogs. But starting six days post third treatment, some of the dogs started shedding cysts again. Since the prepatent period of Giardia sp. can be as short as 4 days, shedding of Giardia sp. cysts 6 days after treatment could be caused by a reinfection.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19575233/