Not a dog, but my kitty was diagnosed with giardia last year. The vet gave her flagyl, which made her pretty sick. If that is what your vet gives you, keep an eye on the dog and make sure he isn't acting strange, like losing balance.

What I can share with you is that we think she probably had it for quite a while before it was caught. She has health problems that make bowel problems common, so we didn't think much about her loose bowels. The vet almost didn't do a stool test on her that day, thinking that this was in indoor cat without much chance of contracting parasites like giardia. She had always shared a litter box (and everything else, and mutually groomed) with her brother cat, and he never did contract giardia. Neither did any of the human members of the family. I wouldn't knowingly take chances, as you stated, but also wouldn't worry a whole lot about it without seeing some signs that indicate there might be a problem.

If you do think you might have contracted it from your dog at some point, you go to your doctor for testing and get an RX for probably the same medication your dog will be taking. It's very treatable, and again I wouldn't worry about catching it until you experience something questionable.

I hope that helps some, or at least makes you feel a little more comfortable that there's probably a good chance you won't end with it.

Thanks quasifish,that helps a lot! That is interesting your other cat did not catch it since he may have been in contact with the infected feces.The vet seemed especially worried about my other pets catching it and I told her he was my only pet.
I will definitely try to be careful,but I appreciate the reassurance.

You'd basically have to eat infective cysts to get giardia. Most of the time, if more than one pet in a household gets giardia, it's because they are eating/drinking the same contaminated water (usually yucky puddles outside). If you got a dose high enough to cause any problems, which is HIGHLY unlikely IMHO unless you make it a habit of eating dog poop, you'd get malabsorption syndrome. In other words, you wouldn't be able to absorb all the nutrients you ate, and you might have diarrhea as a result. Most people have no symptoms and therefore treatment isn't needed. And most people get giardia the same way their pets do- eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Most people do not eat their pets' poop or eat the soil where their pets poop, so for most people, this isn't an issue. I personally have never warned a client about the possibility of getting giardia from their pet because even the CDC doesn't list that mode of transmission in their factsheet.

Here is a link that might be useful: CDC link on giardia

Thank you so much for the info Meghane! I'm a first time dog owner,so I haven't really heard of any of this stuff and I really appreciate it.
My little guy was given 1.5cc of Panacur to be given once a day for 5 days.Stop for two weeks,and then same dosage again for 5 more days.
I don't make a habit of eating dog poop,LOL,and I feel much better knowing that it isn't something to be overly worried about.