Dogs – Poison Oak, Giardia

yes. my girl is a vet and gets pretty upset if i let her dog drink from a creek.

she gets much more concerned about leptospirosis. it will shut down the dog's kidneys and is fatal. there's a shot you can get your dog, that is like 70% effective, which is better than nothing. it's contracted teh same was as giardia/crypto is

"I'm really sensitive to poison oak, work hard to avoid it as I get a real bad reaction. How in the world do I keep my dogs out of it and/or keep from getting it from them?"

Not much you can do about this, short of keeping your dog on a close lead or strict heel. Or just don't touch your dog until after you get home and give him a good bath!

Yes, dogs can get Giardia: I had an Alaskan Malamute that had a serious case. The most difficult thing about it was getting a diagnosis. From what I was told, most vets do not see very many cases of Giardia in dogs and so are prone to seek other causes first.

As far as poison oak or poison ivy is concerned, dogs can transfer the urishinol oil from their fur to human skin. I don't think you can keep them out of it even on-leash.

I am not (yet) sensitive to urishinol oil, my brother-in-law is highly sensitive to it. A few years back, my dog got into poison ivy and transferred the oil to him and presumably me. He got a major case on his legs, hands, wrists, ears, nose and private parts. I was spared. We used a paint roller to apply the calamine lotion to his affected areas.

He complained constantly that I was not suffering with him. He was a Clinton supporter so I just kept telling him that "I felt his pain".