Kitten has Coccidia - 4 weeks without resolution

[aarond]

Hi everyone,

My 4 month old kitten has had coccidia for at least the past few weeks. He’s had non-stop diarrhea. It was a nightmare at first because it was explosive (sprayed past the tall litter box to 3 ft up the wall). It also smells absolutely horrible regardless of what I feed him.

I took him to the vet once, they didn’t find coccidia. They gave an anti-diarrhea medication and anti-biotic. He went from literal liquid to just very very wet after a week, but it still persisted.

So I took him to the vet again, alas they found coccidia, but nothing else. They gave me 2 weeks of Albon to be taken for 1 week, then off 1, then 1 week again. We’re now only 1 dose away from being done with all the medication. The stool seems to be the same.

As instructed by my vet, I’ve been cleaning the litter box daily. I decided to use litter box liners to reduce the risk of the pathogen staying in the pan and I always put plenty of fresh litter. This has unfortunately cost quite a bit to do, but it’s worth it.

Until this last week I was introducing my kitten to my cat, they had no way of transferring it over litter or food. This week they have been sharing one, so I’ve had to do the same for all of their litter boxes.

The kitten is drinking and eating fine and he is growing. Overall he seems healthy besides this. I am taking him to the vet on Monday or Tuesday.

My questions are:
1. Is it normal for a kitten to have it this long?
2. Has anyone else’s kitten/cat been prescribed differently that led to resolution?
3. Could food play a factor in this? I’ve been mostly feeding him the same foods as before I adopted him.

 

[jen]

It CAN be normal because they can easily reinfect themselves from the litterbox or anywhere else it might be in the house. You may have to retreat multiple times. Checking a fecal test about a month after treatment is complete to make sure it is gone. If not, you start over. Coccidia specifically can damage the intestinal tract, this is why you see so much gross diarrhea. You can use other things to help like probiotics, something like Proviable or an OTC, I don't think forti-flora is going to work as well in this case. Some canned pure pumpkin to firm things up. I wouldn't change food around so much because it will just irritate things further.

 

[jen]

Also there are a variety of different products used for treating it. Albon is one. It stops their reproduction I believe, it doesn't directly kill the parasite.

 

[Siamic]

I definitely love ponazuril over albon. I have heard a ton of bad things from several top veterinarians in the United States about albon not effectively eliminating coccidia. Ponazuril does that with one dose, and I have used it for years in the rescue environment with success. Ponazuril kills coccidia while albon will only inhibit the reproduction of coccidia.

 

[Siamic]

Also with coccidia, it takes time for the intestinal tract to heal itself again after the damage it causes to the lining of the intestinal tract. Diarrhea will persist in most instances past treatment for a week or better (sometimes 3 weeks or longer for severe cases) and will often result in leaking feces until it is able to heal entirely. Probiotics and digestive enzymes paired with a good diet can speed up the process, but it definitely takes time for a cat to recover from coccidia. The reason we dump the boxes daily is because cats shed oocysts through feces (the non-infectious stage of coccidia) which will eventually turn into the infective stage of coccidia called cysts, but it takes time for this to happen. About two to seven days, with about five days being the average. So dumping the box every day will prevent that from occurring. 1 ounce of bleach per 32 ounces of water will kill coccidia effectively, in my experience as a shelter director and veterinary technician. It has to sit about 10 minutes prior to rinsing.

 

[molly92]

Coccidia is rough, but ponazuril does seem to be a much better treatment option than albon, although not all vets have caught on to this still. I would ask about it for sure.

Make sure you do your cleaning with a quaternary ammonium based disinfectant (let soak for 10 minutes) because bleach does NOT kill coccidia.

 

[aarond]

I took him to a specialist referred by my vet, and I’m quite upset. The bill ended up being $1k for two fecal tests (which I haven’t received results for after 2 days) and a prescription for more Albon and a standard dewormer. This is from a board certified vet, what a scam.

Pet insurance won’t pay because they’re considering it a pre-existing condition since it started during the waiting period.

Now it looks like my other cat has caught the coccidia despite all my cleaning efforts. There’s no way I can justify sending them to the vet more, and I know the average household couldn’t afford this. I’ve had this kitten for only a month and he’s cost almost $2k in bills and supplies so far.

I’m going to the vet to request Ponazuril, but I lack confidence in how that will work. Neither of these vets seemed to have knowledge of it since they basically said “there’s no other medication”

 

[shadowsrescue]

Look into S. boulardii. My son's 2 kittens had coccidia for 2 months. After treating twice with Albon, he started giving S. boullardi twice a day. After a week, the stool started to firm and by the end of the 2nd week, the stool was back to near normal. He kept them on the S. boulardii for another month.


Here are two articles that will help
Coccidia in kittens
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

 

[aarond]

Look into S. boulardii. My son's 2 kittens had coccidia for 2 months. After treating twice with Albon, he started giving S. boullardi twice a day. After a week, the stool started to firm and by the end of the 2nd week, the stool was back to near normal. He kept them on the S. boulardii for another month.


Here are two articles that will help
Coccidia in kittens
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

Thanks for the info. Turns out I’ve been giving him a probiotic with S. boulardii already. He’s been taking it for the past 4 days with no improvement so far.

 

[shadowsrescue]

What kind are you using? You really want to use the Jarrow brand. Also be sure you are giving enough. I can take up to a week to notice improvement, but you have to give the right dosage.

 

[Hannah518]

How did you cat do? Did he recover?

 

[auntarctica]

probiotics encourage all bacteria growth, so do not want to do this while treating something. just when done. ponzuril...not albon.

 

[catwoman707]

Albon only inhibits reproduction of cysts and leaves it up to the cats system to get rid of the coccidia.
Ponazuril actually kills them and is amazing. Liquid gold.
However, if your vets arent familiar with it, they likely wont be willing to spend 200.00 on a large tube. It does have a very long shelf life though, but still.
If you know of anywhere there are horses you may find they have some, and you only need a very small bit.
Ponazuril was originally for horses with coccidia.