DESPERATE. 10 of 16 cats with Giardia - how the hell can I contain this?

[Willowy]

Cardboard litterboxes appear to be about $4 each, which seems a little high for a stupid cardboard box :/, at least for regular use. But for now I think the expense is worth it.

Buying the cheap plastic ones would be cheaper! But throwing away that much plastic would bother me.

I wonder if the dollar store would have any of those file boxes for a buck.

 

[Willowy]

Oh hey, here are some nice cheap ones (Chewy has them too). Less than $2 each.

 

[Talien]

Honestly, if it were solely up to me, I’d have all disposable food bowls AND cardboard litter boxes.

My boyfriend is really much the type to not want to spend money on something he can do himself but those two things - especially the boxes - would save us so much time.

My dad is the same way. Sometimes you just need to put your foot down and say, "This is too much, I don't care whether you like it or not I'm going to do what I need to do so I don't go insane dealing with all this."

I am still working on trying to convince him. I bought a few extra $2 plastic litterboxes for now to help, and told him I’m not cleaning them anymore, it’s his job. He laughed and just said “I know what you’re trying to do”

In the mean time, I’m trying to find a source for some good box trays. We tried the ones for cans like Fancy Feast, but they are too small and the sides too low. They only work for the 4 month olds and 9 week olds, and all of them were still pooping and peeing partially outside the box with them being so small.

Well considering it's his fault that happened to begin with it's only fair he clean the litterboxes every day.

You could get just regular cardboard boxes and cut the sides down, at worst you might have to add extra tape to the bottoms so the litter doesn't spill through. If you know delivery day for stores in your area you could make the rounds and collect as many boxes as you want.

So we went to multiple nearby grocery stores, found boxes a little bigger and with 3-4” siding, took them to managed and asked if they could look to see if they had any and explained why.

They weren’t helpful at all...

So still looking online for a supplier, with a cost that isn’t outrageous (and we actually need to buy in bulk, so hopefully that helps). I have no idea where companies seem to buy these from? I just keep typing any key words I can think of. We’re hoping to find something 12”-14 or 16”, and AT LEAST 2” high.

Once I find those, I’ll just need to figure out how we’ll dispose of them. Trash day isn’t until Friday and we were already full by Monday as is

Try this for disposal.

Bagster® | Dumpster in a Bag

Ready for that big clean out, but don't need an entire Dumpster? Bagster offers smaller, personalized solutions for hauling away waste.

www.thebagster.com

 

[Willowy]

Wow these are super cheap! Made of plastic :/, but it's thin plastic at least.

 

[Furballsmom]

You've got a lot of good ideas from folks but possibly try a coffee company that sells the larger cans maybe? The cardboard trays for something like that could work, if the corners aren't open and the tray is solid all the way around...

 

[Meowmee]

We tried paper plates early on and they were kind of a mess from being so lightweight and paper bowls were a bit cost prohibitive. I ordered some heavy weight mini hot dog/nacho type trays a couple days ago and we’re just waiting for them to come in now. Literally cannot wait!!!

Dixie plates at costco or bj are heavier, bjs has their own brand too.

 

[Meowmee]

Honestly, if it were solely up to me, I’d have all disposable food bowls AND cardboard litter boxes.

My boyfriend is really much the type to not want to spend money on something he can do himself but those two things - especially the boxes - would save us so much time.

I am still working on trying to convince him. I bought a few extra $2 plastic litterboxes for now to help, and told him I’m not cleaning them anymore, it’s his job. He laughed and just said “I know what you’re trying to do”

In the mean time, I’m trying to find a source for some good box trays. We tried the ones for cans like Fancy Feast, but they are too small and the sides too low. They only work for the 4 month olds and 9 week olds, and all of them were still pooping and peeing partially outside the box with them being so small.

So we went to multiple nearby grocery stores, found boxes a little bigger and with 3-4” siding, took them to managed and asked if they could look to see if they had any and explained why.

They weren’t helpful at all...

So still looking online for a supplier, with a cost that isn’t outrageous (and we actually need to buy in bulk, so hopefully that helps). I have no idea where companies seem to buy these from? I just keep typing any key words I can think of. We’re hoping to find something 12”-14 or 16”, and AT LEAST 2” high.

Once I find those, I’ll just need to figure out how we’ll dispose of them. Trash day isn’t until Friday and we were already full by Monday as is

You or your bf need to be more concerned with clearing them of this than buying what you need. Plastic is much harder to sterilize too. It will be alot more expensive to do continual treatments than to buy what you need to help get rid of it asap.

 

[Furballsmom]

If you are near a Costco or Sam's, they may have cardboard trays.

 

[Lyzzie]

However, Ash, the younger/newer kitten (who we suspect introduced the giardia) looks like he also has ringworm now, so..........

If you have a woods lamp (black light), you can check for ringworm yourself, although it can't always be seen with this technique.
Is he losing hair anywhere else? Check the front and back legs, check everywhere on him.
If he is, he needs a trip to the vet to get the meds. I believe he and any other cat he came in contact with or is still in contact with should be treated as well.
I really hope it's not, it can also be passed onto humans, so be very careful if it is.

I wish I could have more positive news for you

 

[moxiewild]

You or your bf need to be more concerned with clearing them of this than buying what you need. Plastic is much harder to sterilize too. It will be alot more expensive to do continual treatments than to buy what you need to help get rid of it asap.

But that is exactly the point. We cannot do what we need when each and every day we are spending hours a day just cleaning and disinfecting over 50 bowls and 17 litterboxes.

We’re both relatively young. I’m in my 20s, he’s in his 30s, neither of us have back and/or knee problems. But after day after day of this, our backs and knees are absolutely killing us from just doing 1/4 of the daily laundry, dishes, litterboxes, and crates. This means that going about the house for more laundry, for picking up, cleaning, disinfecting, vacuuming, etc are incredibly difficult to get done.

We have work (AND school - luckily we just went on break, but at this point we’re considering taking a semester off since we’re guaranteed to still be dealing with this in a few more weeks), we have not had more than 5 hours of sleep since this whole thing started, not for virtually anything else, other than maybe watch some TV or go online when our bodies feel too broken to literally do anything else. We can’t even sleep as much as we otherwise could die to stress right now.

So if we can gain a few hours every day from not having to clean litterboxes or nearly as many dishes, that is significant and worthwhile.

And we’re not going to be cleaning/disinfecting any plastic, I’m not sure where you got that from? We’re using (and hoping to use) paper and cardboard products that we will dispose of after every use. Also, meds and dips are WAY less expensive than what these and other supplemental products will end up costing us.

 

[moxiewild]

Oh hey, here are some nice cheap ones (Chewy has them too). Less than $2 each.

We actually already use the Nature’s Miracle boxes for ferals/TNR, actually. And the kittens before this whole thing happened. I love them them!

Those and the other ones in the 50 pack are still far too expensive (and yes, I was shocked at the cardboard litter box prices too...). We’ll be throwing away - at minimum - 12 boxes a day. For many weeks. Ideally we’d do all 17, but 12 still significantly lessens the load.

And I understand where you’re coming from with the waste. Initially, I didn’t want anything disposable because of that and how many we’ll be throwing away daily.

But I quickly came to realize we’re not going to get anywhere if the bulk of our time every day is spent disinfecting dishes and boxes. I just have to keep telling myself that it’s only temporary (and I highly doubt we’d be doing plastic, which helps a little).

 

[Meowmee]

But that is exactly the point. We cannot do what we need when each and every day we are spending hours a day just cleaning and disinfecting over 50 bowls and 17 litterboxes.

We’re both relatively young. I’m in my 20s, he’s in his 30s, neither of us have back and/or knee problems. But after day after day of this, our backs and knees are absolutely killing us from just doing 1/4 of the daily laundry, dishes, litterboxes, and crates. This means that going about the house for more laundry, for picking up, cleaning, disinfecting, vacuuming, etc are incredibly difficult to get done.

We have work (AND school - luckily we just went on break, but at this point we’re considering taking a semester off since we’re guaranteed to still be dealing with this in a few more weeks), we have not had more than 5 hours of sleep since this whole thing started, not for virtually anything else, other than maybe watch some TV or go online when our bodies feel too broken to literally do anything else. We can’t even sleep as much as we otherwise could die to stress right now.

So if we can gain a few hours every day from not having to clean litterboxes or nearly as many dishes, that is significant and worthwhile.

And we’re not going to be cleaning/disinfecting any plastic, I’m not sure where you got that from? We’re using (and hoping to use) paper and cardboard products that we will dispose of after every use. Also, meds and dips are WAY less expensive than what these and other supplemental products will end up costing us.

Not sure what you mean? I thought you said bf did not want to spend money on paper plates etc. but It is much easier and faster and cheaper in the long run that was my point.

 

[moxiewild]

My dad is the same way. Sometimes you just need to put your foot down and say, "This is too much, I don't care whether you like it or not I'm going to do what I need to do so I don't go insane dealing with all this."



Well considering it's his fault that happened to begin with it's only fair he clean the litterboxes every day.

You could get just regular cardboard boxes and cut the sides down, at worst you might have to add extra tape to the bottoms so the litter doesn't spill through. If you know delivery day for stores in your area you could make the rounds and collect as many boxes as you want.



Try this for disposal.

http://[URL]https://www.thebagster.com/

[/URL]

Oh, I just went ahead and bought the “bowls” so far, haha. It was never a point of contention or anything (we’ve never argued before), and he’d support me no matter what I did, he just disagrees.

I also don’t really consider it his fault. It’s ours, but mostly mine, and also just sheer bad luck.

We’ve been together for a few years now, but I tend to forget he’s still new when it comes to rescue. I am the one who takes the lead, has the knowledge and experience, makes decisions, and gives direction - he just supports me, follows what I say without question, and is always all hands on deck.

I don’t always explain the “why”, or he forgets somethimes when I do (and I forget that he forgets).

But this is one of the very few times since we’ve been together that we’ve had to deal with this sort of thing. We often take in cats with health issues, but it is rarely anything contagious. So he’s had very little exposure to anything like this before.

He may have let Ash out from quarantine early, but this is on me because I am the one who knew better.

I think he thought since Ash had tested negative for FIV/FeLV, then it was safe. I don’t recall ever explaining things like coccidia or ringworm, or other things that may take time to reveal itself.

While I did admonish my boyfriend him when he let Ash out, I could have placed Ash back in the crate myself pretty immediately - long before litterboxes or physical contact was made - but I didn’t.

And now I - and yes, our animals - are paying the price for my failing.

But I can’t blame the person who I put into a situation without doing my due diligence to ensure he fully understood the risks, safety precautions, and the reasoning behind them beforehand.

The quarantine would not have caught the ringworm in time anyway, and we’d still end up here even if we’d followed procedure.

But anyway, we have considered regular cardboard boxes, and picked some up too. Not nearly enough, but at the time we figured having them would at least mean we could take a day off from disinfecting by using them. We’ve also considered cake boxes, but I’m not terribly sure how water-resistant those are...

And THANK YOU for the tip about the disposal/bagster! We’re both still a bit new at “adulting” to some extent I guess, and don’t always know where to turn or where to start, so this really helps!

 

[moxiewild]

You've got a lot of good ideas from folks but possibly try a coffee company that sells the larger cans maybe? The cardboard trays for something like that could work, if the corners aren't open and the tray is solid all the way around...

Thanks, we’ll do that! Neither of us drink coffee or have been to coffee shops or anything like that, so we never would have thought of this.

So many businesses we’ve asked have been relatively obvious about the fact that they don’t care to help. Most wont even search the back or anything, they just tell us they don’t have anything (when that is unlikely), which is very frustrating.

 

[moxiewild]

If you have a woods lamp (black light), you can check for ringworm yourself, although it can't always be seen with this technique.
Is he losing hair anywhere else? Check the front and back legs, check everywhere on him.
If he is, he needs a trip to the vet to get the meds. I believe he and any other cat he came in contact with or is still in contact with should be treated as well.
I really hope it's not, it can also be passed onto humans, so be very careful if it is.

I wish I could have more positive news for you

I had looked for our UV lights at the time but couldn’t find them.

As far as the in office woods lamp is concerned, definitely looked like ringworm to both me and the vet.

He’s not on medication, nor did our vet suggest it for the other kittens in the kitten room (I specifically asked), and she’s aware they’ll have some contact.

He had a dip that day and we’ll take him up there once a week for the next 3 weeks to do it (I’d do it myself but I am not at all comfortable doing it with the lesion being so close to his eye).

And other than that, everyone was dipped who can be handled enough to do so. The only two we couldn’t manage were Titan and Socks, and I wish we’d the forethought to realize we could just take them to the vet to have it done and that Christmas would prevent us from walking in to do so. :/

So far, she only wants everyone else done once, but I think the kittens in the kitten room with him should likely have it done more often at least, so I’m going to inquire about that.

So far, no signs of any lesion elsewhere on Ash, or on any other cats or kittens.

And it’s probably just a matter of “when” for me. Several things contribute to that, but being immunocompromised is chief among them.

 

[Talien]

Oh, I just went ahead and bought the “bowls” so far, haha. It was never a point of contention or anything (we’ve never argued before), and he’d support me no matter what I did, he just disagrees.

I also don’t really consider it his fault. It’s ours, but mostly mine, and also just sheer bad luck.

We’ve been together for a few years now, but I tend to forget he’s still new when it comes to rescue. I am the one who takes the lead, has the knowledge and experience, makes decisions, and gives direction - he just supports me, follows what I say without question, and is always all hands on deck.

I don’t always explain the “why”, or he forgets somethimes when I do (and I forget that he forgets).

But this is one of the very few times since we’ve been together that we’ve had to deal with this sort of thing. We often take in cats with health issues, but it is rarely anything contagious. So he’s had very little exposure to anything like this before.

He may have let Ash out from quarantine early, but this is on me because I am the one who knew better.

I think he thought since Ash had tested negative for FIV/FeLV, then it was safe. I don’t recall ever explaining things like coccidia or ringworm, or other things that may take time to reveal itself.

While I did admonish my boyfriend him when he let Ash out, I could have placed Ash back in the crate myself pretty immediately - long before litterboxes or physical contact was made - but I didn’t.

And now I - and yes, our animals - are paying the price for my failing.

But I can’t blame the person who I put into a situation without doing my due diligence to ensure he fully understood the risks, safety precautions, and the reasoning behind them beforehand.

The quarantine would not have caught the ringworm in time anyway, and we’d still end up here even if we’d followed procedure.

But anyway, we have considered regular cardboard boxes, and picked some up too. Not nearly enough, but at the time we figured having them would at least mean we could take a day off from disinfecting by using them. We’ve also considered cake boxes, but I’m not terribly sure how water-resistant those are...

And THANK YOU for the tip about the disposal/bagster! We’re both still a bit new at “adulting” to some extent I guess, and don’t always know where to turn or where to start, so this really helps!

Ah, I thought you had both been doing this together all along, I didn't realize he was new to rescue work. Yeah he couldn't have known about all the little things that people who have been doing this for a long time would catch.

The bagsters are great, I've used them for debris from construction/remodeling and just regular junk. They're a bit of a PITA to set up because the sides are kinda floppy before it starts getting filled in (especially in a windy area like I live in) but once you get a layer of stuff across the bottom it's no problem.

Thanks, we’ll do that! Neither of us drink coffee or have been to coffee shops or anything like that, so we never would have thought of this.

So many businesses we’ve asked have been relatively obvious about the fact that they don’t care to help. Most wont even search the back or anything, they just tell us they don’t have anything (when that is unlikely), which is very frustrating.

You don't need to ask, just go dumpster diving for empty boxes. Bigger stores sometimes have a separate dumpster just for cardboard which makes it much simpler to find what you need.

Although I've found the best places to get boxes are electronic stores on delivery day, they usually have younger employees who will be more than happy to let you take the empty boxes so they don't have to break them down and throw them in the dumpster.

 

[moxiewild]

Not sure what you mean? I thought you said bf did not want to spend money on paper plates etc. but It is much easier and faster and cheaper in the long run that was my point.

Ah, now I understand! I apologize!

I thought you were saying we needed to stop worrying about buying things (like being distracted by it, rather than being concerned about spending the money, which is how you meant it) and just get to cleaning! This comment put it into better context for me.

Just ignore me, my brain is not working at max capacity right now

 

[Meowmee]

Ah, now I understand! I apologize!

I thought you were saying we needed to stop worrying about buying things (like being distracted by it, rather than being concerned about spending the money, which is how you meant it) and just get to cleaning! This comment put it into better context for me.

Just ignore me, my brain is not working at max capacity right now

Understandable considering how much you are dealing with

 

[moxiewild]

Ah, I thought you had both been doing this together all along, I didn't realize he was new to rescue work. Yeah he couldn't have known about all the little things that people who have been doing this for a long time would catch.

Yeah. Like I said, he’s been doing it with me for a few years, but it’s not like he’s volunteered with a shelter before. Whereas I work in professional rescue, and have been volunteering and fostering since my early teens.

Our dynamic mostly consists of him being like “what do you need from me”/“what do you need me to do” and him doing it, or me just taking care of things that he’s not experienced enough for, and then not teaching him.

I do teach him some things, particularly with medication (he knows most pilling tricks, how to give injections and subqs, and he’s even better at gentle restraint than I am), and general symptoms (but not necessarily what those might be symptoms of) and signs of pain or discomfort to look out for.

(Side note - he absolutely freaked out tonight because Elvira was acting “bizarre” and “crawling around” and “crying”. He was completely frantic and ready to take her to the ER right then and there.

So tonight he learned what a cat in heat looks like )

It’s worked for us until now. Whenever something contagious has come in so far, it was caught during quarantine and I assumed 100% responsibility for that animal while in our care since I knew what I was doing and he didn’t.

But I never took the time to actually teach him or explain what exactly was going on. It was essentially “I’ll be handling this, you take care of the others” because that is the more time efficient option.

This whole thing has been a needed revelation for us. It is a learning experience in itself for him, but once it’s over, we’re going to make an effort to really change things so that he understands what’s going on.

 

[Furballsmom]

(like being distracted by it,

Lol, actually I did too...

I was thinking about this (I apologise if I already posted it above), but warehouse type places like Costco et al might have cardboard trays available.