Albendazole for puppy?

Long story short my little over 3 month old puppy has Giardia.
Sidenote: she goes to Daycare at my vets office 3 days a week. I love them but they also frustrate me. They are great but they are a business and businesses need to make money.

anyway,

She had diarrhea, anorexia somewhat etc..
She was tested for Parvo and a slew of things and Giardia was positive.

She was first prescribed Metronidazole (sp?) but it didn't work.
during the time she took it I cleaned and disinfected the whole house especially her bedding and toys and food stuff. I changed her pee pads every time she went to the bathroom and wiped her privates to clean off any cysts. I didn't let her lick. Because she is pee pad trained for now we didn't let her out back for fear that she got it out there.

I did clean everything I could think of that the cysts might cling to she would not re-infect as she was going through the medicine.

I don't think they were as diligent at the daycare; they didn't even know what I was talking about when I explained the cysts and re-infection (staff at daycare; not vet).

Well we thought it was working but then the diarrhea started back etc and she also vomited this time once... so they wanted to do an X-ray. This place upsales a lot (I have had many dogs there, one that I put through chemo; and she still died 3 months and $5000 later) so I would not let them at this point.

I asked why would we jump to that when she is being treated for Giardia. I explained that her vomiting could be side effects of the medicine. They said no it is blockage. I would not allow it assuming she does not have blockage and that this all started with the Giardia.

(We have already in the month she has been there for this and other things spent $100s on various things; I just don't want to jump in with more money going out)

So after a lot of them, trying and succeeding in making me feel guilty they said they would talk to the Vet and see if he insists on xrays.

He said the med is not 100% effective so he put her on Albendazole. 2 times a day for 2 days.

Which finally leads to my question.

I didn't know when she was put on it but I now know that this med is very strong and it has been tested and known to get the cysts ect... when other meds fail but... the side effects are horrible.

The first day she ate all her food but was lethargic and had diarrhea. The second day she ate very little and did vomit once. Today is her first day on no meds...she is playful and happy but tires easy. She is still eating but not a lot. She is drinking. She has not vomited yet. She did have diarreah this morning (last dose was at 8pm the night before) and vomited once at 4am.

I see you know about this drug and the side effects.

Do you know how long after the last dose the side effects will start to go away? Like half life ect...

Thanks so much,
Barbara

Thanks so much for your quick reply. Actually they did give her Albendazole.

She was actually tested for Parvo first and was negative.

Then they tested her for Giardia and it was positive.

They started with Metronidzole but it didn't work (she may have licked or something and re-infected... so they gave her the Albendazole (I am reading and writing exactly what is on the label). It is a liquid that we gave her 4 times over 2 days. We got strict on cleaning all surroundings and cleaning her as well.

I have been told Albendazole can have severe side effects especially in puppies so I was hoping you may know how long those last after the last dose.

Today she is finally getting some appetite back and knock on wood, has not vomited. She is still weak but playful and happy when we engage her.

If she does vomit again; now that she has completed all the meds... then I will take her for Xrays. I just wanted to finish the treatment first and let her get over the side effects before jumping into that.

I guess I just felt like they didn't even realize that vomiting could be a side effect. We are in the middle of treating for Giardia (even the Metronidzole has been known to have side effects); she vomits and they wanted to do X rays. I just wanted to wait to make sure this treatment was done and then see what happens.

That is why I wrote. I was hoping you may know how long after the last dose the side effects would start to pass.

I love my vets office very much. I agree I don't think they would prescribe things just for money. But I also didn't want to jump right to the next thing until we completed this.
I think I was hurt by the "guilt" comments like... "that is what you need to do when you take on the responsibility of a puppy, etc..." that the front desk said to me. Those comments make me feel like they push things on me.

So far she has not vomited again and looks to be improving. Now that she is off the Albendazole if she vomits just once I will take her right in... if they are closed I will take her to the ER.

Thanks again so much. Not just for helping me but for your web site.