Quote Originally Posted by No Quarter Kennel View Post
OK - This dumb son of a bitch totally missed the fucking boat.
No protozoa problem of any kind, I've got fucking PARVO! How the hell does someone go into a vet and say, "I have a PUPPY who has diarrhea, throws up some and won't eat" and he NOT do a PARVO TEST?!
So now,,,,,,what the hell do I do with the siblings? I have one I know is coming down with it! She's eating and doing "ok", but I know she's got it b/c of how she acts. What do I do preventatively?

Honestly my friend, at some point you have to take some responsibility yourself. How long have you been in dogs and why haven't you bothered to learn all these things yet? I wrote an article on treating parvo, back in 1993, that clearly stated any time a pup is really sick it should be tested for parvo, coccidia, and giardia. That information has been on every website I have ever had, it is also in my book, and although I haven't yet re-posted it on this one since I changed servers 2 month ago, the fact is taking any sick pups in to have these 3 tests run is basically "Pit Bulls 101" for any breeder.

Also, you have to ask yourself, "Why do I continue to go to (and ask questions of) a vet who has proven himself indecisive and incompetent?" Because, personally, if any vet I went to proved himself so uneducated that he recommended I use a drug on giardia that I knew (or later learned) would not handle the problem, that would be the last time I would ask that ignoramus anything. I would be furious if a so-called vet were guilty of basic malpractice like that. I mean, this is basic stuff here. And, honestly, with as much experience as you have in dogs, good sir, you should know this already yourself if you bothered to read any basic book on dog care.

Because, actually, the first symptoms you described (pale stools) is a sign of giardia. So it is entirely possible your dog has parvo and giardia. Your vet may have accurately identified the giardia, but that doesn't mean parvo wasn't present as well. So, although I do agree that a concerned vet should recommend a parvo titer if a dog is not eating/vomiting/ and has diarrhea, ultimately it is also your responsibility to have read enough by now about "what can go wrong with pups" so that you ask the vet to check for parvo and coccidia/giardia as well. That is the very first step any owner should take, if his pups are sick, is ruling out these 3 most-likely problems.

These 3 diseases are not "rare," or a big mystery; the truth is anyone who's bred dogs for a year or two should know about them, if they had the curiosity and concern for their animals to read some basic books on puppy raising. So I honestly don't think you can dump all of this on your vet.

Jack