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I know that many breeders face the issue of coccidia and/or girardia. With coccidia being in your home and yard basically forever once it is there, and it is everywhere due to birds, etc. How do you keep pups from contracting this? It appears that no matter how clean their environment is kept, they can get it from their mother who is walking around outside and tracking into their whelping box, in dirt, bird droppings, ect. and just by ingesting microscopic particles of feces from the mother. It would appear impossible to not contract. What are your suggestions to avoid this from occurring. Environment is cleaned literally every 2 hours 24/7, pups kept indoors in good sized play area, never outdoors to reach bird feces,etc. This seems like a taboo subject to bring up to breeders probably because none of them want to admit to their puppies, past or present, ever contracting these parasites. What are your suggestions?
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I know you wrote this post over 6 months ago so I am sure your puppy is fine by now if all she had was coccidia and giardia. Both of these parasites are common in kennels and easy to treat. Even the cleanest of breeders, even a small hobby breeder who has the one litter of puppies in their home with the cleanliest of conditions, can have their pups contract either parasite. Coccidia is everywhere, it is in bird droppings that are all over your yard. Many adult dogs have the parasite but because their immune systems are stronger that that of a young puppy, they often do not show symptoms. Even pups that are kept indoors can get it from their mothers when they are nursing by ingesting some trace of her feces (almost impossible for them not to do) and by about 6 – 8 weeks of age, the pups start to show symptoms. It is easily treatable with Albon and soon will be a thing of the past. It certainly is not a sign of a bad breeder (although it could be — you need to look at other factors of the breeder) and is more common than people realize. Hope your puppy is well!
