Post Giardia Questions

[Ebsyn]

We are about 1 day out of finishing our panacur course after being diagnosed with Giardia.
I'm so ready to let these two kittens out into the rest of the house. But, I'm apprehensive at the same time.

What's the best way to go about this?

I already am planning a deep clean (talking steamed carpets & sanitizing blankets, beds etc) for the room that they've been in and constant litter box duty for everyone. What else should I be doing to protect my other cats?

 

[nunnc84]

Hmm... ok. I guess there are cats in a room with guardia who have finished treatment. Think like infectious disease control. I am going to take a guess at this.
One, contain infected cats.
Two, contain non infected cats.
Three, deep clean everything.
Four, ensure infected cats stool no longer contain guardia. Get a sample run it over to the vet. They'll run it. Doesn't take long.
Five, after clear sample; let them loose as long as they get along of course to intermingle.

Bowls, dishes, anything they lick, rub the butt on, track, clean deep clean.
Of course you could bath them ensuring no feces is on them that could contaminate things.
Execute this plan like a surgeon. Of course don't take my word for it. Ask your vet.

 

[FeralHearts]

One thing I wasn't told about Giardia - well two - it can be transmitted to humans (small chance but still) so do watch yourself for GI symptoms and two get them rechecked to make sure it's gone. :-) XOXO

Nice info fro mCDC that should hopfully help too:

Giardia & Pets | Giardia | Parasites | CDC.

 

[lesliel76]

We are about 1 day out of finishing our panacur course after being diagnosed with Giardia.
I'm so ready to let these two kittens out into the rest of the house. But, I'm apprehensive at the same time.

What's the best way to go about this?

I already am planning a deep clean (talking steamed carpets & sanitizing blankets, beds etc) for the room that they've been in and constant litter box duty for everyone. What else should I be doing to protect my other cats?

Hi I am curious how your post treatment went? I just brought in a new cat with this. I have 3 other cats and kept them all separated. I actually put him into a boarding situation where he got his medication for 10 days and then came home.

Hes now mixed with my other cats and still has foul smelling diarrhea so I'm freaking out a bit.

Let me know how yours went maybe it will help me!!

I don't know if I should start cleaning like a crazy person or what.

 

[Antonio65]

Keep in mind that steaming the house does not help you get rid of Giardia protozoa. As a matter of fact, the heat and the steam are the best way to make them grow and spread.
Bleach does not help much either, unfortunately.
The best way to get rid of them in the house is to wash and clean everything, especially in the fissures of walls and floors, with quaternary ammonium cations cleaners.

My cat had three bouts of Giardia, and she went through three courses of Panacur last year. Though we were very careful with the cleaning of the house and the therapy, the parasite came back quick, until I did the following.

Panacur AND Metronidazole at the same time for 5 days (Panacur + Metronidazole) and 5 days (Metronidazole only). Meanwhile I would clean the whole house daily with the product I said above. I would also wash and clean the litter box daily with the same product, I would change her blanket every day and wash it. Her dishes as well. I would bathe the cat with a Chlorhexidine foam daily for about a week.
And I crossed my fingers.
Well, so far things went fine, we're fine since last July/August.

 

[lesliel76]

Keep in mind that steaming the house does not help you get rid of Giardia protozoa. As a matter of fact, the heat and the steam are the best way to make them grow and spread.
Bleach does not help much either, unfortunately.
The best way to get rid of them in the house is to wash and clean everything, especially in the fissures of walls and floors, with quaternary ammonium cations cleaners.

My cat had three bouts of Giardia, and she went through three courses of Panacur last year. Though we were very careful with the cleaning of the house and the therapy, the parasite came back quick, until I did the following.

Panacur AND Metronidazole at the same time for 5 days (Panacur + Metronidazole) and 5 days (Metronidazole only). Meanwhile I would clean the whole house daily with the product I said above. I would also wash and clean the litter box daily with the same product, I would change her blanket every day and wash it. Her dishes as well. I would bathe the cat with a Chlorhexidine foam daily for about a week.
And I crossed my fingers.
Well, so far things went fine, we're fine since last July/August.

Oh God wow. Well he just got here so my house should be clean of it except for the new he is spreading.

Everytime he goes to the bathroom I pick up right away and have been washing food and water dishes. I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth in the litter box which is a natural drying agent safe for cats. I read that the parasite dies in dryness.

I bought the rescue cleaner on Amazon but won't get till tomorrow.

He did get both the Panacur and Metronidazole. The Panacur he had 5 days the Metronidazole 10 days....and he didn't enter my house till that was over. He stayed at a boarding facility. All the vets I talked to said it should be ok to mix with your other cats now. So I did.

He will get another round of the Panacur in 3 weeks and then recheck.

I hope it wasn't dumb to let him around my other cats but I couldn't afford to keep him in boarding forever. I also live in a 1 bedroom apartment in New York with now again 4 cats with this guy. I don't have space to do quarienteening.

Starting to panic again. Will be so hard to pill all of my cats if they get it. This new guy doesn't trust me enough to do it. He spent some time on the streets and I have another one that used to be feral too that we only do petting. I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Antonio65]

Everytime he goes to the bathroom I pick up right away and have been washing food and water dishes. I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth in the litter box which is a natural drying agent safe for cats. I read that the parasite dies in dryness.

I heard of it before, but I don't know it.
Yes, the parasite dies in the dryness, but I also read that it is able to survive in the environment, if untreated, for months!

I bought the rescue cleaner on Amazon but won't get till tomorrow.

What is a rescue cleaner?

He did get both the Panacur and Metronidazole. The Panacur he had 5 days the Metronidazole 10 days...

You did great

Starting to panic again. Will be so hard to pill all of my cats if they get it. This new guy doesn't trust me enough to do it. He spent some time on the streets and I have another one that used to be feral too that we only do petting. I'm hoping for the best.

You'll all be fine

 

[Antonio65]

Forgot to say.
Though the quaternary ammonium cations cleaners have a scary and difficult name, they can be easily found in most shops or on the web under different names and brands.
I found the one I used in the local pet store. I live in Italy.
It comes in 1 liter bottles. It can be diluted or used as it is.
I put some of the product in a sprayer and sprayed the floor of a room at the time, let it sit for ten to fifteen minutes, then rinsed.

 

[gilmargl]

Don't panic! Human beings living in poor conditions often have giardia. Most people don't know they've even got it. If you do get it, it will disappear on its own in about 3 weeks, unless you have other health problems. It's the same for cats, except for the fact that they are always licking themselves so become reinfected. The giardia "learn' to hide in other parts of a cat's body to get away from Panacur or whatever else the cat is given to kill these tiny one-cell beasts so they can keep reappearing.

I can't remember the exact details, but 4 years ago I had to foster 4 orphaned kittens (3 to 4 weeks old) with giardia. Three kittens survived and a month later were pronounced clear. However, my own 4 adult cats caught the pests (or at least one of them did - they do not each have a litter box with their name on it!). I had no hope of giving Panacur to these ex-foster mad cats, I would have had the paste everywhere except inside the cats. I took them to a vet (a more hands-on type of vet as opposed to a clinical doctor) and she prescribed tablets, and we practiced giving them (not very successful but I was optimistic). The pills had to be halved, or quartered depending on the cat's weight. They were probably intended for dogs but they worked!

But, what may help you. I'd bought a bottle of Halamid on the internet but the vet gave me (free of charge) 2 litres of the disinfectant she uses to kill giardia and filled up one of my spray bottIes. I hired an industrial carpet cleaner and I spent a weekend cleaning. If I hadn't kept the half-dead kittens in my living room, and if it hadn't been such a chaotic battle trying to get them to drink and, at the same time, keep them clean, I would have saved a lot of extra work. No doubt my clothes were full of giardia and my cats would have easily picked them up on their fur. Fortunately, they were healthy cats and, although I needed help giving them tablets, the giardia soon cleared up - never to return.

It's not a good sign L lesliel76 if your cat still has foul smelling diarrhea. Better get him tested again and/or continue the treatment. Sorry!

 

[lesliel76]

Yes not a good sign at all. The funny thing is he always had bad smelling poop but when I first took him in no diarrhea.

I can't retest him or retreat for 3 weeks. At least that is what the vet said. He just finished his round of medicine 2 days ago.

He has been through a lot eating who knows what outside and then he got neuter had to be put under again bc the neuter site got infected. For a while he was in this tiny windowless basement space where he and I were both miserable trying to do everything. Then he went to boarding. And now he was dropped in my house with 3 other cats. Plus he's still crying to go back outside so the stress is high and the food variables have changed a ton along with lots of drugs in his system with vaccines, flea stuff, and the neuter and this indestructible parasite that apparently can survive an atomic bomb. I wonder if some of the diarrhea is stress of all the change and drugs.

I gave him some probiotics this morning I hope help.

This is the rescue disinfectant. Someone posted in another thread about. So at 3 am I bought it today lol. I'm trolling Giardia threads and websites bc I'm freaking out all hours of the night.

I guess I'll just keep trying to do the right thing without losing it and if my other cats get I will have to try to pill all of them too. Maybe I'll get lucky!

He has been a project for sure and now we are at the can all the cats get along phase... another huge stress.

Rescue Ready to Use Disinfectant, 32 oz

 

[Ebsyn]

Hi I am curious how your post treatment went? I just brought in a new cat with this. I have 3 other cats and kept them all separated. I actually put him into a boarding situation where he got his medication for 10 days and then came home.

Hes now mixed with my other cats and still has foul smelling diarrhea so I'm freaking out a bit.

Let me know how yours went maybe it will help me!!

I don't know if I should start cleaning like a crazy person or what.

Post Giardia Life - was interesting. I definitely deep cleaned the house and disinfected litter boxes. I still (even now) change the litter box every day. To be honest, I wasn't washing every item in the house every day and we were fine.

My little guy's diarrhea continued though and no one else in the house was getting sick. He was also not really eating well and starting to get slender. So, we ended up moving on and testing for other things. His GI panel came back fine. We put him on a round of Clavamox, I got appetite stimulants and some other things. We finally found a wet food he will eat every day. Once I started getting a probiotic in him every day that really helped as well and he started prescription kibble.

He's doing better after this round of antibiotics. Soft but formed poop. No liquid which is a huge improvement and he's eating every day now.

 

[lesliel76]

This is super good to hear. I hope that the diarrhea is just a side effect of everything he has been through. The smell is so bad but I'm hoping the parasite is gone with the medication.

I just bleached all my floors. I noticed he had stepped in his poop and it was on his paws. I pretty much lost the Giardia fight to my other cats with that alone. I am washing everything right now. I just can't get every little thing. This is a lot of anxiety. I am trying to pass off like I'm working today too....I took on too much with this guy for sure and wondering if I should give up for adoption. I do have a nice lady who wants him. She has another cat too though. I just got kind of attached and spent so much money and time on it, and was hoping for the best.

I'm hoping the 10 day early separation with medication did the trick but with the foul smelling diarrhea poop I have a feeling I'm in for it. I am not sure there is much I can do. I might be cleaning and treating all my cats for a long time. Please God no!

 

[Ebsyn]

This is super good to hear. I hope that the diarrhea is just a side effect of everything he has been through. The smell is so bad but I'm hoping the parasite is gone with the medication.

I just bleached all my floors. I noticed he had stepped in his poop and it was on his paws. I pretty much lost the Giardia fight to my other cats with that alone. I am washing everything right now. I just can't get every little thing. This is a lot of anxiety. I am trying to pass off like I'm working today too....I took on too much with this guy for sure and wondering if I should give up for adoption. I do have a nice lady who wants him. She has another cat too though. I just got kind of attached and spent so much money and time on it, and was hoping for the best.

I'm hoping the 10 day early separation with medication did the trick but with the foul smelling diarrhea poop I have a feeling I'm in for it. I am not sure there is much I can do. I might be cleaning and treating all my cats for a long time. Please God no!

I totally understand being overwhelmed and anxious! I definitely felt that way when I could not figure out what was going on with our continual diarrhea.

Sometimes, its best to just mentally take a day or take a really long bubble bath to evaluate things. You are doing everything right. You are doing the best you can. Do not beat yourself up!

Also - I totally get attachment. I took in these two feral kittens (George with the GI issues was one) despite having a dog and two other cats. They were neighborhood ferals who were living on my patio and following me around. George in particular would wait at the door for me if I walked back inside. When I brought George + his brother inside, it was really hard to manage them in quarantine in the guest bedroom and my other animals. I was taking the dog for walks, spending time with my other cats, but then had to go into the bedroom to socialize the kittens, meds and whatever else. It did feel really overwhelming like I was being pulled in different directions. I also kept wondering if I had gotten myself in over my head. When I feel that way, I make sure to do something nice for myself. Or give myself an hour to unwind.

It's hard. But, it's important to always remember that these things are temporary and they will get better.

 

[lesliel76]

Your totally right I'm starting to let this over take me. I need to chill out.

I'm kind of telling myself that it's not fatel if everyone gets so just take moment. I am also reminding myself he did have the medication for this already its not like he wasn't treated and before that my house was not contaminated bc he never was in it.

We have a massive snowstorm today so my vet is out but I'm going to call tomorrow and see what they think of the diarrhea. I started the probiotics this morning and will try that for a few days.

Thanks for reminding me to calm down. I want to just massively clean every surface and if I wasn't working I probably would. But I think I'm getting a little carried away with all of this.

 

[Ebsyn]

Your totally right I'm starting to let this over take me. I need to chill out.

I'm kind of telling myself that it's not fatel if everyone gets so just take moment. I am also reminding myself he did have the medication for this already its not like he wasn't treated and before that my house was not contaminated bc he never was in it.

We have a massive snowstorm today so my vet is out but I'm going to call tomorrow and see what they think of the diarrhea. I started the probiotics this morning and will try that for a few days.

Thanks for reminding me to calm down. I want to just massively clean every surface and if I wasn't working I probably would. But I think I'm getting a little carried away with all of this.

I totally get it. Just remember to be kind to yourself.

Also about them not wanting to take pills - you have options besides pill pockets. You could of course always shove them down their mouth lol. But, I found that putting a little bit of those Churu lickables made my former feral eat any pill happily. There is always a way!

 

[lesliel76]

Well I spoke to the boarding place today that he was at for 10 days where he got his medication and they said he didn't have diarrhea there. That kind of was a good sign to me because it could just be the change of food and stress of new environment with new cats. They agreed and told me not to get too crazy.

They told me to keep up with the probiotics and if it doesn't get better to do a more bland diet. He reassured me that he definitely had his full dose of meds and that he even got more than the usual cat. He said normally they do 7 days but he got 10.

He said he can still exhibit symptoms but is no longer contagious or shedding the Giardia. Hope that is true!!

That made me feel much better.

I did get a little nuts last night and bleached everything and again did a small area by the box this morning. I also cleaned and disinfected the litter box put fresh litter in....the moment I did that he went in and took a nice fresh diarrhea poop. Lol.

I will let you know how it goes!

 

[lesliel76]

So I'm taking my guy back to boarding and he's going to have to stay till he is better or test negative. His diarrhea is not getting better and this morning was pretty bad. He stepped in it again. I tried to reach out to some people to get foster for a month but no one got back to me. So I will spend. Pretty penny but that is what I'll have to do. I feel bad for him also but they give him his own room there so its not a cage.

 

[Ebsyn]

So I'm taking my guy back to boarding and he's going to have to stay till he is better or test negative. His diarrhea is not getting better and this morning was pretty bad. He stepped in it again. I tried to reach out to some people to get foster for a month but no one got back to me. So I will spend. Pretty penny but that is what I'll have to do. I feel bad for him also but they give him his own room there so its not a cage.

Just wanted to check in and see how you two were doing!

 

[lesliel76]

Just wanted to check in and see how you two were doing!

Not great....While at boarding he tested positive for Coccidia...negative now for Giardia. But I am a little nervous about a false negative. So he was treated for Coccidia, then halfway through treatment, the place lost electricity and power. So he had to come home early. I treated him the full course, and was super careful getting rid of the entire litter after he pooed pretty much every time, except for once. So I hope my other cats are ok.

He still had diarrhea so I started to give him pumpkin to try to firm up. I was super excited once morning because it was firming up that I took a photo to have something to compare to. I was horrified when I checked the picture and saw worms. I went back to the box and saw that the worms were moving. Seems like not a big deal but in person its straight from a horror movie. So defeating after everything. He was dewormed 2 times, plus on Giardia he had the Panceur which is a dewormer I thought. Also 2 fecals didn't show these guys!? I am not sure if the pumpkin brought them out? I read something about pumpkin paralyzing worms.

Hes now back to the boarding for a 3rd time. I cleaned my place again for like the 5th time. They didn't tell me what type of worm yet, because they have been really busy. They said they gave a pill and to call back Friday... but I sent a picture to my regular vet and they think its tapeworm. I got medication to treat all my cats for this just in case. Which I should get today...to top the whole beautiful thing off my normal vet is closed due to someone getting Covid so I had to wait for the meds to arrive in the mail.

I plan to keep him in the boarding till he is clear of everything...and the next fecal is done. Which will be next week. I am also going to test all my cats fecal next week.

Its been very emotional, I feel bad having to bring him back and forth and at this point he has spent more time in boarding than in a real home, but I am giving him the best option I have available to me. If I had an actual home to separate everyone it would be easier but a 1 bedroom Brooklyn apartment is a nightmare for me to try to keep cats separate and clean for parasites and worms.

I am just praying now all my cats are fine because my hands are raw and I developed a rash on them from cleaning agents and I am kind of at the end of my rope.

Arn't you glad you asked how it was going hahah!