The results came back on Taser (my little buckling I lost). He had giardia. The Vet apologized because she didn't think he had it...but I guess the symptoms for Cocci and Giardia are pretty similar. We're looking at treating everyone now with Panacur(goats, sheep, dogs, llama, etc). Not sure where it came from but seeing as we live in a fairly remote area with lots of wildlife I'm guessing they brought it in. We also have a little stream that comes from our fenced in spring fed pond and some swampy areas on the 4 acres that they all have access to. From what I started reading about it is it hits the young, old and sick with devastating results, but healthy animals are seldom bothered by it (similar to cocci)? Any thoughts?
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Length of time in Washington has nothing to do with hearing about it. I first learned of it when my son was nearly dead from it and I've lived here since I was a few months old (all my life). When I called Bob (the reporter), he is the one who explained it to me; I don't even want to go to the place we would be if I had not called him and he had not been so knowledgeable about it, recognized the symptoms and put it together. I called him because I recalled he had written an article about the ground water movement in Yakima County and how dangerous it was in some areas moving from septic tanks to wells. There are times that God has his hand in things - I remembered the article, the reporter's name, his name was in the phone book, he answered his phone, and he knew about Giardia.
Years later, when I took journalism, our instructor told us that good reporters soon become mini-experts about many things. It is true; a good reporter has a nodding acquaintance with literally every subject at hand. My son and our family were the benefactor of a good reporter. The Army would have watched him die and contacted us afterward, proof of that is he was so sick and had not been even examined medically. When my son told me on the phone that night that two recruits had already died, as you can imagine I was terrified for him.
As has been mentioned, it involves a separate test which translates they have to be looking for it.
without dogs and cats in my life. But thanks for your concern Shannon.
Exactly my sentiments. Thanks for sharing so much detail with us Glenna. I hate your son and your family endured all this, but am thrilled you were able to secure him the help he needed. Apparently you not only gave him life, but also saved his life from something, that as you say is a dirty, dirty disease.
And believe me I can absolutely understand about the weather. You know that is where we were last weekend. That is were LD (Little Dennis/Jr.) was for his basic and were he just finished his Ranger Training on the 13th. In fact he is going back today. He reports tomorrow to start Airborne. Texted me this week to say after Airborne he thinks he will request Special Forces. My kid just WON'T quit.
Oct. 9th is when my William (just turned 18)goes to Ft. Benning. He should still be in school not going to war. He returned to school for the 2011/12 school year and they refused to let him test into 11th grade. He had been at home for school and they would not give him credit for his 10th grade or test him. Instead they made him go into 10th, so after about 2 months he decided, No-Way. He knew what he wanted already and wasn't waiting any longer. He dropped out and signed up to take his GED. Made TWICE the required score to pass. Went straight to the recruiters office with his test scores, Aced the ASVAB and signed up but hit a road block when they realized that because he was a non-graduate he would have to be 18 yrs. old. So they sat on everything for another month til his birthday April 11th and then shipped him off to MEPS. Set him up to start training in Oct.
And his brother, LD will be leaving in Oct. to go to Afghanistan. I still don't figure how some people don't understand that being a MOM is the hardest job there is to be done!
Giardia is a dirty, dirty word in our family. My middle son almost died of it in basic training in 1988. He had gone swimming in the Washougal River (later found out it was infamous for people getting it there) the last week before he left. He was at Fort Benning in August - for those of you familiar with the area and anything about boot camp, you imagine the hell he went through with the heat, humidity, vomiting, diarrhea, and a drill sargeant who thought he was "faking." My son, who was underweight when he went in, lost over 30 lbs. before he managed to get to a telephone one Sunday night and called me. That night I called a local reporter who had written an article about water movement and disease in Yakima County thinking it might have been something caught from the water at my sister's house at his going away party. Bob told me that it sounded like Giradia to him, called beaver fever locally because people caught it while swimming up there near the beaver dams; he said it only takes a small amount of water in the mouth. He also told me to call the Red Cross first thing in the morning to get him immediate help.
Early Monday morning, I called a family acquaintance who was then commander at Fort Vancouver Barracks - that was the day the nut took control of the cannon and was threatening to fire it so Lt. Col. Pollard didn't get back to get the message until later in the day. (The cannon now has concrete in the barrel.) Lt. Col. Pollard called me immediately then had his next in command call Ft. Benning and tell them what was going on. I also went to the County Health Department as soon as they opened, they contacted the Red Cross down there who stamped "Contagious" on his file. He was sitting in the office awaiting transport to the hospital when the call from Fort Vancouver came in so now he also had "Colonel's Interest" stamped on his file so he got the medical help he so desperately needed (and no more bullshit from his D.S.). I am very aware had he not risked serious discipline to call me that he would have died that week. To this day, the faking thing amazes me since he was literally skin stretched over bones at that point!
I am relaying this to impress on you how very serious this disease is that is so innocently caused by a minute amount of fecal manner from a wild animal. Not wanting to scare you, it is vital you watch the people as well as the animals for any trace of this terrible disease. If any of your family or friends has any vomiting and diarrhea, get medical help immediately and tell the doctor he/she has been exposed to Giradia as they will *not* test for it and will tell you it's the flu.
Right Margaret! I should have expanded on that. They tested the fecal at the Vets for the normal worms/cocci but sent it out to be tested for giardia and another thing that I can't remember right now (but he didn't have).
Yea, I think what she means is that although it is a fecal test it is not necessarily something that they see if they are checking a fecal sample for worms. They actually have to be looking for giardia. Now I hope that is right!
it's a separate test though
fecal
How do they test for this?
Just a sampling of the list of animals that can carry/spread giardia (besides humans): coyotes, beaver, cats, deer, dogs, cattle, sheep, muskrats, and raccoons, and birds!.....I know that we've had coyotes, raccoons and possums on our property (until the guardian dogs see them and chase them off), and keeping the wild birds away is an impossibility.
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