Intestinal Biopsy: Is it totally safe?

Caspers Human

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I agree with others. A biopsy is a fairly invasive procedure so performing one should be farther down the list of options.

I like to think in practical terms: If your car has a minor engine problem, why should you tear down and rebuild the entire engine when changing the spark plugs might solve it. Maybe a major repair is called for but not until you have eliminated other, simpler, causes.

Like the old saying... "Try the easy solutions first." :)
 
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Antonio65

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Update.

More than three weeks later, there are improvements.
I have tried with the suggested S. Boulardii. The first ten-twelve days 125 mg twice a day, then once a day.
The kitty's poop has improved a lot and now I'd say we're back to normal. She only had one single day of soft poop three times a day.

Meanwhile, I had her visited and checked at the clinic, in order to have her spayed. They did a fecal test (I insisted for this, they didn't want to do it, the soft poop was on the day before the visit), a blood test along with a clotting test, an x-ray and a chest US scan.
The fecal test returned she still has giardia, so we have put her on a five-day Panacur course which has ended today.
The chest scan revealed some slightly possible myocarditis that the vet would like to investigate further next time. The x-ray revealed some bronchus slightly inflamed. For this I'm doing an aerosol session with cortisone every other day, for about ten days.
The blood test was fine, but the clotting test (which I strongly asked for) says the kitten has a very slow clotting, and this could be a problem during the spaying surgery. The vet said that giardia can cause this, so he said that two weeks after the course of Panacur we could repeat the clotting test. This should be around July 6th.

As for the appetite, she is always hungry, no matter how much food I give her. I started giving more food before going to bed, around midnight, in order to try and buy some sleeping time, but I got the opposite, she is waking me up at 5 am instead of 6 am.
The only thing I can cling to is that after the spaying she will be less hungry. I am waiting for this since March, but there has always been something that has stopped me...
 
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verna davies

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Lets hope the giardia goes and she can be spayed then hopefully things will settle down for you all. She is so lucky to have you.
 
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Antonio65

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Do you think I should keep on giving her the Saccharomyces Boulardii for some more time?
She had it into her meals twice a day from May 31 to June 14, and then once a day till next Thursday (when the box is over). Is it enough? Would it be bad to continue?
 
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Antonio65

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daftcat75

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You can use it indefinitely. It's talked about here. About halfway down the page.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

There's an emergency stop diarrhea protocol that is smaller amounts given more frequently. But then there is also a maintenance dose that can be given daily as long as it is needed. If you want to take her off and see how it goes, you can always reintroduce it.

When Krista had clostridium, a truly nasty bug, I was giving her half a capsule four times a day for at least a month. Then it was half a capsule twice a day for another month after that. She finally got sick of the stuff and I gave her a break. Thankfully we haven't seen a return of the clostridium. But I keep a bottle of the s. boulardii in the fridge just in case.

I have also used it with a touch of food and fish flakes as a make-shift pill dough for her prednisilone. The s. boulardii when mixed with a tiny amount of moisture (her food), becomes tacky/sticky enough for the fish flake to wrap around the pill. Unfortunately, we just had a very painful realization--a particularly bad middle ear infection--that the fish flakes have been an inflammatory trigger this whole time. That's a whole other story.

But yes, you can give the s. boulardii daily as long as you think she needs it.
 

She's a witch

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did your vet mention the need to clean your apartment, especially her spots and completely change and disinfect the litter box while you're treating her? It's very easy to get re-infested with this bug. I remember there are some posts about giardia cleaning protocol but I can write what we did while we dealt with this if you want.
Panacur should be repeated after 10-14 days, especially since she was already given it and one round did not help. It's also possible that Panacur itself is not enough as it's pretty mild medicine, and sometimes unfortunately metronidazole is needed (as it was in my case).
Good luck with this horrible thing and all the best to Giada!
 
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Antonio65

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She's a witch She's a witch ,
No, the vet didn't mention it, but a person I know did, and told me sanitize not only her spots and tray, but the whole house as well, with steam, possibly, and several times. I thought about it and I decided that it would have been nearly impossible to do a thorough cleaning, so I gave up.
I know that giardia is a terrible bug, and I can't understand where she got it from, since she's always been an indoor cat, and her mother and three siblings are fine, as far as I know.
If a second round of Panacur might be required, I should inform the vet anyway and the spaying will be postponed again...
 
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Antonio65

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Hi all,
A bit of update.

Giada's poop is rather fine, if I can say something good about poop. She's producing once/twice a day, most of the time normal, a few times a bit softer than normal.

What hasn't changed is that the kitty is always hungry and eager to have something to chew. She sniffs everything is around her, whatever she finds she tries to chew and swallow it in the attempt to have her stomach satisfied, be it cardboard, a rock, plastic, and whatever thing she finds on the floor, and insects (flies, ants, mosquitos, moths, bees, etc) and spiders, all the time, and she's driving me crazy.
I don't know if any of these bugs can hurt her, so I have to spend my time checking her on every step.

Can giardia give a cat an insatiable appetite?
Can a bug give a cat some kind of tummy parasite or else?

I don't what to do with her anymore. Furthermore, she wakes us up at 5 am because she's hungry. I'm trying to feed her at precise times of the day, but her times are every 30 minutes.

P.S.: she hasn't learned her name yet... :headscratch:
 
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Antonio65

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I thought it was time for a new update.
In the past 4 months I kept adding this S. Boulardii powder in her food twice a day in the first phase, then once a day in th second phase.

Next, she had a change in her diet, as per vet advice, and I fed her boiled hake for nearly two months. She had grain-free dry food available as well.
Eventually, she was spayed, despite the issues she had encountered on the path to the surgery (a second bout of giardia, she was diagnosed with hemophilia, and has Type B blood).
Then we slowly resumed the canned food which saw me adding that powder twice a day since a week before the transition, and as from today we are back to one dose a day. In about two weeks I will wean her off it with a dose every second day, then I'll stop, and see what happens. I'm being very cautious, I fear to find myself back to square one if I do something wrong.

Hep poop is still fine and she's regular in her litter box.
I'd say she's fine, thanks to V verna davies for the very helpful suggestion!

Oh, and the cat has learned her name too, at last :lol:
 
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Antonio65

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The last famous words... :(

Today she pooped three times in less than 12 hours. And the last time she produced a very soft and smelly poop!
Tonight she didn't ask for food, absolutely not her. She's sleeping in her bed at 8pm, definitely not her.

What happened?
A few days ago I rescued a tiny hedgehog. Over here, this kind of wild animals are taken care of by the local Veterinary University.
This hedgehog stayed with us a few days because I hadn't the time to take it there.
It was kept in a box with a dish for food and a bowl for water. Until two days ago. Then it was taken to where they can help it.
I forgot to remove the water, though, and I found out tonight that Giada had been drinking from that bowl a few times since the hedgehog was gone. This is the reason why she wasn't drinking from her own bowl in these last two days.

Now I suspect that the water in the hedgehog's bowl has been contaminated by some parasites from that wild animal, and now Giada's tummy is upset.
Does anybody know what kind of parasite a hedgehog can pass on to a pet's tummy?

I can't start it all over again, I am tired, and I do not have the time to have her tested dozens of times like it happened between May and August.
This time she has to fix the problem on her own.
I can't believe it! :frustrated:
 

FeebysOwner

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A few days ago I rescued a tiny hedgehog. Over here, this kind of wild animals are taken care of by the local Veterinary University. This hedgehog stayed with us a few days because I hadn't the time to take it there.
It was kept in a box with a dish for food and a bowl for water. Until two days ago. Then it was taken to where they can help it.
I forgot to remove the water, though, and I found out tonight that Giada had been drinking from that bowl a few times since the hedgehog was gone...Now I suspect that the water in the hedgehog's bowl has been contaminated by some parasites from that wild animal, and now Giada's tummy is upset. Does anybody know what kind of parasite a hedgehog can pass on to a pet's tummy?
What will the Vet university do with the hedgehog - would they run it through any testing? If so, is there anyway you can contact them, tell them about Giada, and ask if they found any parasites/illnesses?
 
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Antonio65

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What will the Vet university do with the hedgehog - would they run it through any testing? If so, is there anyway you can contact them, tell them about Giada, and ask if they found any parasites/illnesses?
Actually no.
Basically they keep these animals safe and fed, cured if ill or injured, till they are ready to go back to the wild.
This tiny hedgehog was too young to face the winter and the hibernation, so they will keep it in a safe place till March.
I don't think I could contact them and have it tested for parasites or else.

Giada is still sleeping.
By now she should have asked for food twice.
She's not purring either.
She just smells very bad...
 
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Antonio65

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Hopefully it's just an upset tummy which will pass in a day or two, she can't be in better hands than yours Antonio.
Thanks V verna davies , I hope so, but she's always had a very sensitive intestine, and I fear this will be the beginning of a new nightmare... :(
 
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Antonio65

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The article says that some protozoa can cause intestinal disease and diarrhea.
The hedgehog I had was in good health, as far as it seemed to me.
It was eating fine, no signs of external parasites, no sneezing or coughing, no breathing issues or difficulties, its eyes were fine and clean, the poop was fine.
Here it is
IMG_20201021_222412.jpg
 

FeebysOwner

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You could consider taking a sample of Giada's stool in for the vet to test - not just for parasites but for bacterial issues??? If something shows, then at least the vet could treat it - and, no vet visit needed for Giada.
 
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